TheBridge profile: Howard Kass

Name: Howard Kass

Current city: Washington, DC / New York, NY

Current job: Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs at CLEAR

Past job: Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at American Airlines

Q. Favorite spot for a coffee meeting? Sofitel Hotel DC

Q. Describe how a skill you learned in a previous job helped you in your current job. Advocacy and communication skills are critical in our knowledge-based economy. Learning advocacy in a law firm is a skill that is used every day no matter your job.

Q. Job advice in three words? Execute, Execute, Execute.

Q. How are you (or your company) currently bridging the gap between politics and tech/innovation and regulation? We are demonstrating to regulators every day that innovation can make their jobs easier, save taxpayer money, and improve the experience for all.

Q. What can innovators teach regulators? Innovators can help regulators move beyond their comfort zones to further public policy goals.

Q. What can regulators teach innovators? To think broadly about the downstream impacts of change and how to balance the competing interests.

Q. Favorite book you recommend? Cronkite by David Brinkley — a great telling of a wonderful man’s life and his impact on our nation.

Q. Looking back, what advice would you give yourself in the beginning of your career? Relax and breathe, it is All Good! 

Q. What is one piece of advice you are trying to master? Same advice I would give my younger self - relax and breathe, it is All Good! 

Q. Is there a living person you admire? Bono — still relevant and making great music 40+ years on.

Q. Most underrated virtue in an employee? Friendship — anyone can work at a job, but friendship is how you build teams.

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