EXCLUSIVE: FMC Chief of Staff Hoang moves to private sector

Attorney spent two decades at U.S. maritime regulator

(Photo: FMC)
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Key Takeaways:

  • Mary Thien Hoang, who served over 20 years at the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) as chief of staff to four chairmen, is departing for the private sector.
  • She is joining Washington lobbyist firm Thorn Run as a partner.
  • Hoang follows former FMC Chairman Louis Sola, who also joined Thorn Run in 2025.
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Mary Thien Hoang, who served four chairmen as chief of staff during more than 20 years at the Federal Maritime Commission, is leaving the ocean shipping regulator for the private sector.

Hoang is joining Washington lobbyist Thorn Run as a partner. 

Mary Thien Hoang

Hoang follows former FMC Chairman Louis Sola, who joined the lobby firm in 2025.

A graduate of Villanova University, Widener law school and the Harvard Kennedy School, Hoang started her career with the FMC in 2005 as a trial attorney in the agency’s Bureau of Enforcement. She held several other positions until being appointed chief of staff to Chairman Mario Cordero in 2013, and served in the same capacity for chairmen Michael Khouri, Daniel Maffei and Sola.

Find more articles by Stuart Chirls here.

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Stuart Chirls

Stuart Chirls is a journalist who has covered the full breadth of railroads, intermodal, container shipping, ports, supply chain and logistics for Railway Age, the Journal of Commerce and IANA. He has also staffed at S&P, McGraw-Hill, United Business Media, Advance Media, Tribune Co., The New York Times Co., and worked in supply chain with BASF, the world's largest chemical producer. Reach him at stuartchirls@firecrown.com.