WASHINGTON, D.C., April 12—Jonathan Alexnder, a veteran of the Office of Congressional Affairs at the U.S. Customs Service, has joined The MWW Group as director of federal affairs. Alexander will help manage the firm’s lobbying efforts on behalf of clients in the several areas, including trade and appropriations.

While at U.S. Customs, a part of the Department of Treasury, Alexander worked at the toms, he specialized in international trade, appropriations, seaport security, law enforcement issues, and helped write the U.S. customs authorization bill. He also has Capitol Hill experience in senior-level positions, having served as legislative director for former-Representative Joseph Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Representative Elijah Cummings (D-Md).

Alexander is the second major lobbying hire in a month by MWW, which is a subsidiary of Golin/Harris. It recently hired Jeffrey Walter, a former lobbyist with The Washington Group, as second-in-command of its Washington office.

The firm has lost several lobbyists over the past year-and-a-half, including James Link, who moved on to become chief lobbyist for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores; John McAllister; and Jennifer King, who joined GPC International.

Robert Sommer, who heads the public affairs practice at MWW, says “everyone who has left has been replaced.”