Polly Lawrence

Principal, Michael Best Strategies

Polly Lawrence is a Principal at Michael Best Strategies.  A former member of the Colorado General Assembly, where she served as House Republican Whip and Assistant Minority Leader, Polly is an accomplished government relations professional, adept at monitoring lawmaking trends, assessing potential business impacts and recommending solutions that optimize client interests. A skilled collaborator, Polly partners with executive teams to identify organizational priorities and positions, forms coalitions with like-minded organizations and forges productive alliances with government leaders—on both sides of the aisle— to pass relevant legislation. She frequently articulates policy positions to lawmakers, provides organizational leaders regular updates on the progress of their policy action plans, and manages media messaging.

As a former three-term member of the Colorado State House representing the 39th District, Polly supported business owners, law enforcement, public safety and government accountability/transparency initiatives. As House Republican Whip, she developed caucus positions on bills, orchestrated floor debates and prepared members to persuasively present bills to the full House on second reading. As Assistant Minority Leader, she drove critical House activities, from crafting thoughtful and stakeholder-informed policy to managing election fundraising efforts to helming efforts to reach out to leaders of business and industry.

Prior to entering the public sector, Polly served as operations director for Lawrence Construction Company in Littleton, CO, a heavy civil construction and infrastructure development company, where she managed several strategy-enabling functions, including contract management, estimating, labor/union relations, human resources, project management and finance; collaborated with minority contractors for bidding opportunities, negotiated construction contracts, resolved labor conflicts, managed subcontractors/suppliers and partnered with project owners to flawlessly execute initiatives.

For almost three decades, Polly served as legislative liaison for the Colorado Contractors Association, monitoring state and federal rules, regulatory schemes and legislation affecting the civil construction industry; advancing the industry’s legislative priorities by supporting the election of infrastructure construction-friendly political candidates; and consulting and partnering with the Colorado Department of Transportation on budgeting, regulations, and industry issues.