BIOGRAPHY
Marty Irby is the President and CEO of Capitol South, LLC, a Washington, D.C. based national lobbying and public relations firm Irby founded in 2023. Irby was named one of The Hill’s Top Lobbyists for 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2023, and honored by the late Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2020 for his work to enact the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act and other legislation. He was also recognized on national television in the Oval Office by President Donald J. Trump at the signing of the PACT Act that Irby helped usher to passage in 2019.
Today, Irby also serves as a Director and board Secretary at the Organization for Competitive Markets in Lincoln, Nebraska, as President of Competitive Markets Action in Washington, D.C., Senior Advisor at the Animal Wellness Foundation in Los Angeles, California, a board Director at A City Without Orphans, and on the campaign Steering Committee for both Congresswoman Nancy Mace, R-SC-01, and Congressman Buddy Carter, R-GA-01.
Most recently, Irby served as the Chief Operating Officer at FreedomWorks, as Executive Director at Animal Wellness Action, and Senior Vice-President at the Center for a Humane Economy. Irby also served as the chief Republican lobbyist on Capitol Hill for the Humane Society Legislative Fund from 2017-2018.
Irby worked in the United States House of Representatives for Congressman Ed Whitfield, R-KY-01, serving as Press Secretary, then Communications Director and Agriculture, Animal Protection, Science Committee, and NASA Policy Advisor. He worked with farmers and agricultural groups from Kentucky and around the United States.
A native of South Alabama, Irby grew up on a farm with horses, cattle, and other animals. As a young adult, he immersed himself into the study of politics, equines, and real estate development. He served as the chairman of the Mobile County Young Republicans and on the Mobile County Republican Executive Committee, and was an active member of the Realtors Land Institute.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication from The University of South Alabama in 2003, Mr. Irby served four years as Director of Sales & Marketing at Waterfall Farms in Shelbyville, Tenn. There he promoted and expanded the farm’s cattle production program and worked with more than 2,000 equine breeders from the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Germany, Poland and Israel. Irby’s mentor William B. Johnson, founder of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC, the owner of Waterfall later promoted him to Executive Vice-President at W.B. Johnson International, LLC, the former parent company of Ritz-Carlton. In addition, from 2003-2009 Irby won 7 World Championships, 1 World Grand Championship, 4 Reserve World Grand Championships, 4 Reserve World Championships, and 1 National Futurity Championship with Tennessee Walking Horses. He judged the 2009 annual National Spotted Saddle Horse World Grand Championship show, and Irby owned the 2012 Racking Horse 4-Year-Old Specialty Action World Grand Champion.
In October 2005, Mr. Irby was elected to the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders’ & Exhibitors’ Association’s (TWHBEA) International Board of Directors. Irby held several positions at the association through the years including two terms as Vice-President of Marketing at TWHBEA, and in 2010, became the youngest president in TWHBEA history at age 31. He served as President for two terms and chose not to run for reelection in 2012. While President, Mr. Irby shifted his focus towards equine protection, and joined the charge to eliminate cruel training practices in the equine world.
Irby has successfully worked to pass 42 federal, and state laws, and ballot initiatives including the Sunscreen Innovation Act, Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act, the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Reauthorization Act, Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, PAWS for Veterans Therapy Act, Pet and Women Safety (PAWS) Act, Dog and Cat Meat Trade Prohibition Act, Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act, Rescuing Animals With Rewards (RAWR) Act, Parity in Animal Cruelty Enforcement (PACE) Act, Big Cat Public Safety Act, Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act, FDA Modernization Act, Reducing Animal Testing Act, a ban on Greyhound racing in Florida, and a ban on bestiality in Kentucky to name a few.
Irby also penned a regular column on conservatism and animal protection in The Daily Caller in 2018, and attended Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. His written works have also been published by NBC News, USA Today, The Tennessean, The Knoxville News Sentinel, Horse Nation, The Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Katy Christian Magazine, Penn Capital-Star, The Hill, Washington Examiner, The Washington Times, Lexington Herald-Leader, Louisville Courier-Journal, and numerous other publications across the U.S.
In 2021, Irby partnered with the director of Disney’s 2020 Black Beauty film, Ashley Avis, to produce a documentary on the plight or our iconic American wild horses being eradicated from federal lands that features Irby discussing corruption and transparency issues within the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s Commodity Checkoff Programs: ‘Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West.’ The film won the award for Best Documentary at the Boston Film Festival in September of 2022 and St. Louis Film Festival in early 2023 and is now qualified to be nominated for an Oscar.
