Phil Bond is leaving TechAmerica after five and a half years as the industry association’s president and chief executive officer.

Bond said he is joining forces with T.J. Petrizzo to create a new lobbying firm, Petrizzo/Bond starting Nov. 1.

“I’ve always had an eye on lobbying for a business and I decided to try my hand at it,” Bond said in an interview with Federal News Radio. “T.J. started another firm recently and asked me to be a partner. We’ve been good friends for a long time.”

TechAmerica’s board of directors named Daniel Varroney, the association’s chief operating officer as interim CEO.

“Some five and half years ago, it was Phil’s initiative that launched the effort to combine strengths and skills and rebrand [four technology associations as] ‘TechAmerica,’ the largest advocacy group representing the U.S. technology sector. He has been an effective and visible voice for the association, and we wish him success in his new endeavor,” said Peter Boni, chairman of the TechAmerica board of directors and president and CEO of Safeguard Scientifics, Inc., in a statement.

Varroney, who joined TechAmerica in September, according to his LinkedIn profile, has worked in senior executive positions in the public and private sectors. He served as president and COO of American Solutions, president and CEO of the Association for Corporate Growth and senior vice president with the National Association of Manufacturers.

Bond said he will stay on with TechAmerica over the next month to help with the transition. Bond said he was unsure when his last day would be. He told the TechAmerica board of his decision to leave Sept. 30.

“My view is that we are on a the right strategic path,” he said. “They need a consolidated voice not only for technology, but especially technology in government and modernizing the government. There will always been a coalition for single issue things, but a big voice on tax, trade and technology issues I think is the right idea.”

Bond said he expects to continue working on technology issues at his new lobbying firm.

He said one of Petrizzo’s major clients is Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft as well as about 15 others in the health care, pharmaceutical and financial industries.

“I’ll likely focus more on the IT side because that is where my contacts are,” Bond said. “The great thing about technology is it’s a non-partisan issues. I will try to steer the lobbying firm around these technology issues and not partisan issues.”

Bond spent most of his career working for Republicans, including as an undersecretary and chief of staff for the Commerce Department during the second Bush administration. He also served as chief of staff for Rep. Jennifer Dunn (R-Wash.) and as principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for legislative affairs during the end of the first Bush administration.

Bond said during his time at TechAmerica he is most proud of several successes, including the three mergers of associations over five years. Bond oversaw the creation of TechAmerica from the American Electronics Association (AeA), the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association (GEIA), the Cybersecurity Industry Alliance and the IT Association of America.

“The shift to cloud computing exemplifies what TechAmerica is about,” he said. “We can pull commercial, public and private sector companies to give a voice to cloud computing and offer advice to state, federal and international governments.”

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