The Public Private Strategies Institute (PPSI) is a nonprofit that supports policies encouraging the government to provide greater support to small businesses in the United States, particularly those owned by racial minorities.

Public Private Strategies (PPS) was founded in 2017 by Aspen Institute senior fellow Rhett Butler as an LLC to promote government support for small businesses through research and surveys. In 2020, Butler established PPSI as a charitable organization to support PPS’s work. According to Butler’s LinkedIn page, there is also a sister lobbying and advocacy organization. ¹

Activities

The Public Private Strategies Institute runs Business Leader Briefing, a series of events to inform small business owners on political developments. Event speakers have included Biden administration U.S. Small Business Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman, Deputy U.S. Commerce Secretary Don Graves, former U.S. Representative Steve Chabot (R-OH), and Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO). ²

PPSI runs Build Up Local, a program to help small businesses take advantage of benefits provided by the Biden administration Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. ³

PPSI runs Building a Better America: A Small Business Resource Community, a network for helping businesses take advantage of benefits provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the American Rescue Plan, and Made in America. Speakers for network events have included White House senior advisor Mitch Landrieu, White House National Economic Council deputy director Bharat Ramamurti, U.S. Representative Judy Chu (D-CA), former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner (D), and Congressional Black Caucus Institute executive director Vincent Evans. ⁴

PPSI runs Reimagine Main Street, a network of business owners, investors, and policy analysts that develop “data-driven insights to shape and inform market opportunities and policy.” Reimagine Main Street is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Small Business Association, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Center for Inclusive Growth, PayPal, JP Morgan Chase, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. ^{5 6}

Leadership

Rhett Buttle is the founder of the Public Private Strategies Institute and Public Private Strategies. As of June 2024, he is listed as the group’s principal senior fellow. He is also listed as the organization’s president on its tax forms and Buttle’s LinkedIn. ^{7 8 9}

Buttle has been a senior fellow at the Aspen Institute since 2017. In mid-2022, Buttle served as a national business advisor to the Biden administration. According to Buttle’s LinkedIn, he was “directly responsible” for creating “a strategy to organize private sector leaders in support of President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign.” Buttle played a similar role in former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. ¹⁰

Also in 2016, Buttle briefly led Small Business Majority, a business advocacy organization aligned with left-of-center interests, for which Buttle had previously worked between 2010 to 2014. Earlier, Buttle served as the director of private sector engagement at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. From 2008 to 2010, Buttle worked as the director of special projects for the office of the president at George Washington University. In 2007 and 2008, Buttle worked for then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and in California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s (R) office. ¹¹

Katie Vlietstra Wonnenberg is the secretary of the board of PPSI and a principal at PPS. She previously worked as the vice president of government relations and public affairs at the National Association for the Self-Employed for over 12 years. Earlier, Wonnenberg worked for WorldatWork, Triadvocates, and as a federal liaison to Texas Office of State and Federal Relations. ^{12 13}

Hazel Ocampo is the treasurer of the board of PPSI and a partner at the law firm Greenberg Trauig. Early in her career, Ocampo worked as a law clerk for the Obama administration White House, the California Environmental Protection Agency, and the California governor’s office for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R). ^{14 15}

Financials

In 2022, the Public Private Strategies Institute $7,305,429 in revenue, nearly all of which came from contributions. ¹⁶

Also in 2022, PPSI spent over $900,000 on “contracted services for economic [research]” provided by its LLC sister group Public Private Strategies. PPSI also spent over $100,000 on services from the National Ace Foundation, the Clapham Group, and U.S. Black Chambers Inc. ¹⁷

1. “Rhett Buttle.” LinkedIn. Accessed June 6, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhettbuttle/.
2. “Business Leader Briefing.” Public Private Strategies Institute. Accessed June 6, 2024. https://www.ppsi.org/business-leader-briefing.
3. “Homepage.” Build Up Local. Accessed June 6, 2024. https://www.builduplocal.org/.
4. “Building a Better America.” Public Private Strategies. Accessed June 6, 2024. https://www.ppsi.org/buildbetteramerica#OurCommunity.
5. “About Us.” Reimagine Main Street. Accessed June 6, 2024. https://www.reimaginemainstreet.org/about-us.
6. “Network Partners.” Reimagining Main Street. Accessed June 6, 2024. https://www.reimaginemainstreet.org/network-partners.
7. “Public Private Strategies Institute Form 990.” ProPublica. Accessed June 6, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/843330258/202323189349312722/full.
8. “About Public Private Strategies.” Public Private Strategies. Accessed June 6, 2024. https://www.publicprivatestrategies.com/about-us.
9. “Rhett Buttle.” LinkedIn. Accessed June 6, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhettbuttle/.
10. “Rhett Buttle.” LinkedIn. Accessed June 6, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhettbuttle/.
11. “Rhett Buttle.” LinkedIn. Accessed June 6, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhettbuttle/.
12. “Katie Vlietstra Wonnenberg.” LinkedIn. Accessed June 7, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-vlietstra-wonnenberg-34ab4b4/.
13. “Katie Vlietstra Wonnenberg.” Public Private Strategies Institute. Accessed June 7, 2024. https://www.ppsi.org/katie-vlietstra-wonnenberg.
14. “Hazel Ocampo, Esq.” LinkedIn. Accessed June 7, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/hazelocampoesq/.
15. “Hazel Ocampo.” Public Private Strategies Institute. Accessed June 7, 2024. https://www.ppsi.org/hazel-ocampo.
16. “Public Private Strategies Institute Form 990.” ProPublica. Accessed June 6, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/843330258/202323189349312722/full.
17. “Public Private Strategies Institute Form 990.” ProPublica. Accessed June 6, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/843330258/202323189349312722/full.