Our Team
CONAWAY GRAVES GROUP LEADERSHIP
The Conaway Graves Group team applies the same collaborative approach we used on Capitol Hill. Building on nearly two decades of teamwork inside the beltway, we assembled a team with the reputation of problem-solving at the highest level of government while maintaining a foundation of integrity.
Mike Conaway
Founding Principal
Mike Conaway
Founding Principal
Mike Conaway served eight terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing 29 counties in Texas’ 11th Congressional District, including the cities of Midland, Odessa, and San Angelo.
Mike ultimately served as Chairman of both the House Agriculture Committee and the House Ethics Committee. In the 111th Congress, he was selected by then-House Speaker John Boehner to serve on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HSPCI), a role he continued for 12 years. In the 110th Congress, then-Majority Whip Eric Cantor selected Mike to serve as a deputy Republican Whip, a position he held the remainder of his tenure with proceeding Whips Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise. In 2017 Speaker Paul Ryan tasked Mike with chairing the HSPCI investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential elections. Mike also held various leadership positions in the House Committee on Armed Services serving as the Chairman of the Panel on Defense Financial Management and Auditability Reform and the Ranking Member of the Armed Service Committee’s Panel on Defense Acquisition Reform. He was also appointed to the Board of Visitors of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point serving from 2012 to his retirement from Congress in 2021.
A native Texan, he grew up in Odessa and graduated from Odessa Permian High School in 1966 after playing on Permian’s first state championship football team. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting from Texas A&M University-Commerce in 1970.
After serving in the Army at Fort Hood from 1970-1972, he rejoined Price Waterhouse & Co. in Dallas and became a Certified Public Accountant. He moved to Midland, Texas in 1979 with Price Waterhouse. After leaving Price Waterhouse he worked with George W. Bush as the chief financial officer for Bush Exploration. Soon after Bush was elected governor of Texas, he appointed Mike to the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy, where he served as chairman for five of his seven years on the board. Mike also spent six years in banking.
Scott Graves
Founding Principal
Scott Graves brings more than 15 years of experience crafting public policy, having served as Staff Director at the House Committee on Agriculture under Chairman Mike Conaway. He previously served as Conaway’s chief of staff, having worked for Conaway since he was first elected in 2005. Throughout his career on Capitol Hill, Graves worked closely with House Leadership and their staff on major legislative initiatives and is widely recognized as a strategic and effective voice for agriculture and related industries. He played an important role in crafting the 2008 and 2014 farm bills and helped guide the focus of the 114thand 115th Congress towards successful completion of the 2018 farm bill. He also advised the congressman, who served as Chairman of the House Committee on Ethics in the 113th Congress, on all issues that fell under the purview of the committee.
Scott grew up in Bronte, Texas, a small West Texas town, where five generations of his family have been involved in ranching and farming. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and Applied Economics from Texas Tech University.
Throughout his career on Capitol Hill, Scott was also involved in overseeing policies that pertained to national security and intelligence issues and simultaneously earned a Master of Arts Degree in Strategic Studies with a concentration in counterterrorism from the National Defense University. This unique combination of national security and agriculture expertise was further developed through Scott’s congressional travel across the globe with extensive visits throughout the Middle East, Asia, and both Central and South America where he was able to meet with foreign dignitaries and gain an on-the-ground perspective regarding an array of U.S. policies.
Previous to the formation of Conaway Graves Group, Scott led the agriculture and nutrition policy practice for one of Washington, D.C.’s top lobbying firms. He works with a wide range of clients and stakeholders encompassing nearly all areas where agriculture and public policy intersect.
Matt Valesko
Director of Government Relations
Most recently, Matt Valesko served as a Government Relations Manager at Williams & Jensen, LLC where his focus was government affairs for the firm’s agriculture-based clients. In this role, he served as a liaison to congressional staff and administration officials on various agriculture issues.
Prior to Williams & Jensen, Matt worked at the National Cotton Council as Government Relations Representative where his primary role was assisting in the management of NCC’s Political Action Committee and PAC events. He also oversaw the management of a policy portfolio that included agricultural innovation, biotechnology, big data, and research.
Matt currently lives in Washington, DC and holds a degree in Political Science from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC.
Brittney Matousek
Director of PAC and Political Operations
Brittney Matousek
Director of PAC and Political Operations
Brittney Matousek founded Ethos Advisors, LLC in December of 2016. She is a premier fundraiser in the agriculture industry and brings with her an exceptional set of relationships across the industry spectrum focused on, but not limited to, financial services, space, technology, judiciary, taxes, health care, defense, and energy.
Brittney has experience in Political Action Committee (PAC) Management and is the PAC Director and Treasurer for an agriculture industry trade association. In that role, she is responsible for creating content for solicitations, raising funds from the association’s membership, creating and overseeing the budget and disbursements, and annual meeting logistics. In addition, she has experience executing large-scale events, such as the Bipartisan Inaugural Ball Celebrating American Agriculture and convention planning for other trade associations.
Prior to founding Ethos, she was a Political Director at Epiphany Productions, Inc. Before that, Brittney worked on Capitol Hill for multiple Members of Congress from the Missouri delegation in addition to working within competitive congressional campaigns within the state.