J.D. "Johnny" Cargill is the Director of Marketing and Communications at The Lanier Law Firm in Houston, Texas. He oversees all marketing, branding and public relations of the Houston office as well as their offices in New York City, and Los Angles, California. He spends much of his time in coordinating the firm founder, Mark Lanier’s, media appearances on national cable news shows such as CNBC, Fox News and CNN. He also serves as the public affairs advisor and works closely with the Texas and U.S. legislative bodies to affect proper public policy in regard to protecting victim’s rights.
J.D. spent his initial professional years in the marketing and advertising arena, focusing primarily on agriculture, energy and politics. This work lead J.D. to join Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association as the Director of Marketing and Member Services. Here he cut his teeth on lobbying issues associated with environmental concerns, land and water rights as well as taxation. He eventually found himself relocating to Austin, Texas to become a full time lobbyist representing law enforcement, agriculture, the wind energy sector and the Texas trucking industry.
In addition to his traditional public relations work, he has been involved in creating, negotiating and implementing corporate partnerships as a means of fund development for non profits and he is called on to often share his expertise on national marketing efforts for various industries including oil, gas, agriculture as well as high tech start ups.
Further, in 1992, he and his wife chartered, organized board leadership and directed Camp Cactus – The Jeannine Sutherland Camp for Children Affected by HIV. In 1996, Johnny was awarded the Golden Rule Award for Community Service in Texas for this endeavor.
When J.D. is not at work or spending time with family he keeps busy fly-fishing, trap shooting, learning the ukulele, writing, and he even designs and builds a neighborhood haunted house, at Halloween, for the local kids to experience. He is also active in his community as a Vice Chairman of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Calf Scramble Committee, Guadalupe River Trout Unlimited Board of Directors and Public Affairs Director, and the Houston Phi Delta Theta Alumni Club. In the past, J.D. was involved with the Fort Worth Livestock Show and Rodeo Syndicate as well as a Committee Chairperson for Austin’s Star of Texas Fair and Rodeo. He further chaired the Legends of Texas Music Festival and the live music events for the Dripping Springs Founders Day Festival.