Penn officially retained BGR Group, a D.C. lobbying firm, on May 22 to lobby on behalf of the University.
Credit: Abhiram JuvvadiPenn has retained BGR Group — one of Washington's largest lobbying firms — to advocate on its behalf with federal policymakers, according to a recent disclosure filing.
The University’s contract with BGR Group took effect on May 22, according to the disclosure record, and the firm will “provide strategic counsel and advocate on issues related to higher education and research appropriations.” Penn’s team at BGR Group consists of four high-ranking lobbyists who have served in federal-level government positions within the past two decades — including one former appointee from President and 1968 Wharton graduate Donald Trump’s first administration.
BGR Group currently ranks third out of the nation's top-earning lobbying firms in 2025, according to the campaign finance and lobbying watchdog organization OpenSecrets. The group has experience representing a client portfolio that includes a number of foreign governments, defense contractors, and pharmaceutical corporations.
"Penn regularly engages with policymakers and diverse partners to advance work that helps power economic opportunity, drive medical and scientific breakthroughs, and expand access to learning and wellness for communities across the country," a University spokesperson wrote to The Daily Pennsylvanian.
A request for comment was left with a representative of BGR Group.
The four BGR lobbyists who are listed as representing Penn on the disclosure are David Urban, Dan Murphy, Remy Brin, and Bob Wood.
BGR Managing Director David Urban — who received a Master of Public Administration from Penn in 1994 — served as a senior advisor to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and is credited with securing the President’s victory in Pennsylvania. In 2018, Urban was appointed by Trump to serve as the 11th Chairman of the American Battle Monuments Commission, as well as the United States Military Academy at West Point’s Board of Visitors.
Principal Corporate Counsel Dan Murphy has handled “significant civil and criminal matters where the client’s business and personal reputations were at stake” during his time with BGR Group, according to his company profile. The page also notes that Murphy has extensive experience navigating “Congressional oversight” and “government investigations.”
Before joining BGR Group, Health and Life Sciences Practice Head Remy Brim served as Senior FDA Policy Advisor to members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. She was also a Bioethics Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institutes of Health from 2011 to 2013.
Chairman and CEO Bob Wood served as the Chief of Staff for the Secretary of Health and Human Services from 2001 to 2003 during former President George W. Bush’s administration.
The DP previously reported that the University spent $250,000 lobbying the federal government in the first fiscal quarter of 2025. The figure marked the most money Penn had spent lobbying the government in a single quarter since 1999 and came amid the second Trump administration’s escalating attacks on higher education.
Penn currently faces a foreign funding investigation from the Department of Education, three demands regarding the University’s violation of Title IX from the same agency, and an antitrust probe by Congressional Republicans into financial aid collusion among the Ivy League institutions.
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