Senior Vice President

Donna Jo is a Senior Vice President at Cassidy & Associates, helping clients successfully navigate the fast-moving political and regulatory landscape in Washington, D.C. With more than 25 years of policy and government relations experience, she develops and executes strategies in legislative affairs, appropriations, regulatory policy, federal marketing, and related advocacy. 

Drawing on her multigenerational agricultural background, Donna Jo provides specialized expertise in food, nutrition, and federal appropriations, while advising clients across agriculture, research, technology, education, and commerce sectors. She combines industry insight with deep legislative and policy experience to help organizations anticipate challenges, seize opportunities, and adapt to shifting policy priorities. 

Before joining Cassidy, Donna Jo served as Director of Legislative Affairs for the United Fresh Produce Association, where she led the produce industry’s International Trade Council and represented industry interests on USDA’s Agriculture Technical Advisory Committee for Fruits and Vegetables. She also spent more than a decade in the U.S. Senate as a senior Legislative Assistant to Senators Mary Landrieu and J. Bennett Johnston, gaining first-hand experience in the inner workings of Congress and the appropriations and policymaking process. 

A native of Southwest Louisiana, Donna Jo earned a BS in Agribusiness with a minor in Political Science from McNeese State University and pursued advanced studies in global policy and commerce at George Mason University and University of Oxford.