American Association of Political Consultants

In 1983, Richard began his career in direct mail with Eberle & Associates. Richard handled the highly successful 1984 cycle prospecting program for the National Republican Senatorial Committee and supervised prospecting for the 1984 reelection campaign of Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC). In 1985, he became President of Eberle & Associates.

In 1987, Richard founded The Richard Norman Company and Robertson Mailing List Company. TRNC specializes in raising funds for non-profit grassroots lobbies, educational foundations, PACs, candidates and party committees. In 1994 he served as Finance Director for Ollie North's (R-VA) US Senate campaign. During Haley Barbour's tenure as Chairman of the RNC, (1993-1997) Richard was a key consultant for direct mail fund raising and from 1997 until 2001, he did the same with the NRCC. Richard was Finance Director for former Vice President Dan Quayle's PAC, Campaign America, and Mr. Quayle's brief campaign for President in 1999. From 1999 - 2003 Richard handled direct mail fund raising activities for Tom DeLay's ARMPAC, and in 2004 for The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. In the 2008 Presidential campaign TRNC raised funds for Rep. Tom Tancredo for President.

Now in their twenty-fourth year, TRNC's clients include Rep. Mike Pence's Pence PAC, Rep. Eric Cantor's PENCEPAC, Christine O'Donnell for US Senate (DE-2010), Roy Moore for Governor (AL-2010), The Republican Majority Campaign, Minuteman PAC, The House Conservatives Fund, Freedom Alliance, Media Research Center, Pat Toomey for Senate (PA-2010), US Justice Foundation, Justice PAC, BAMPAC, Declaration Alliance PAC, The Conservative Caucus and Americans United for Life among others.

Andrew Bakalar - OneWorldVirtual

Andrew Bakalar is a field producer, director, and writer with over twenty years experience creating film and television in Hollywood and spots and ads nationally. In the last ten years, he branched into field producing political media, while also exploring exciting opportunities in new media. Since early 2009, Mr. Bakalar has headed up DC-based OneWorldVirtual (OWV), which is now developing a next generation, online meeting & event platform in immersive 3D, offering clients scale-able, unlimited video. Among OWV's primary goals is playing a growing role in future campaigns (debut: 2012) via OWV's breakthrough, direct-to-audience, online media platform. Based in Washington D.C., he speaks fluent French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Jessica Keegan - Edmonds Associates

Jessica Keegan has spent the last decade developing and implementing effective communications and public relations strategies for issue advocacy groups and third-party independent expenditure campaigns across the country.

Ms. Keegan is vice president of account service at Edmonds Associates, a political media consulting firm. Prior to joining Edmonds Associates, she executed media and public relations campaigns for Toyota, ESPN, Bell/Agusta Aerospace, Lycoming Engines, and Rolls- Royce North America

Doc Sweitzer - The Campaign Group

Thomas M. "Doc" Sweitzer is co-founder of The Campaign Group, a Democratic political media consulting firm headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since 1980, The Campaign Group has helped elect over forty Members of the House and Senate, and hundreds of office holders across the country. Just a few of Doc's current clients include Gov. Ed Rendell, Gov. Bill Richardson, Gov. Jay Nixon, Gov. Jack Markell, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, Sen. Tom Carper, Rep. Joe Sestak, and Connecticut AG Richard Blumenthal. Doc is a veteran of several presidential campaigns as well as seven international political campaigns.

Whit Ayres is Founder and President of Ayres, McHenry & Associates, President of the American Association of Political Consultants, and co-founder (with former RNC Chair Ed Gillespie) of Resurgent Republic. Ayres, McHenry conducts public opinion research through surveys and focus groups for associations, corporations, and Republican candidates for elective office.

His firm provided polling for Georgia Senator Paul Coverdell's upset of Wyche Fowler in 1992 and Tennessee Senator Bill Frist's upset of Jim Sasser in 1994. Other political clients include U.S. Senators Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, former Governors David Beasley and Carroll Campbell of South Carolina, and the 1996 Lamar Alexander for President campaign. Corporate clients include the Boy Scouts of America, Georgia-Pacific Corporation, America's Health Insurance Plans, the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, Environmental Defense Fund, and the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.

Charlie Black - Prime Policy Group

Mr. Black is Chairman of Prime Policy Group, and was the founder of the firm's predecessor, BKSH & Associates Worldwide. Mr. Black is widely recognized as one of the nation's leading public affairs professionals.

He is best known as one of America's foremost Republican political strategists. He served as senior adviser to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and was a principal public spokesman for President Bush in the 1992 presidential campaign. During 1990, Mr. Black served as chief spokesman for the Republican National Committee. He served on President George W. Bush's 2000 and 2004 campaigns as a volunteer political adviser and surrogate spokesman. Most recently he served as the senior political adviser to Senator John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign.

Ed Goeas - The Tarrance Group

Widely recognized as one of the country's leading political strategists, Goeas is an often sought after consultant. He recently served on the polling team and provided strategic counsel for the McCain Presidential campaign. In addition, Goeas served as Program Director of the 2008 Republican National Convention.

In addition to his campaign work, Goeas works in partnership with Democratic pollster Celinda Lake on the nationally recognized "Battleground" poll - one of the country's most respected national, political research programs. Lake and Goeas also conduct an array of bipartisan issue work for organizations across the nation, providing a balanced, bipartisan perspective on the key issues facing the nation.

Goeas has been widely published in professional and academic journals, including the Yale Law and Policy Review, on a variety of public policy issues based on his national research. Goeas has also worked on a number of foreign campaigns in Russia, Greece, Hungary, France, the Philippines, and Israel.

In his more than thirty years of working professionally in politics, he has served as the National Political Director of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), a field operative for the Republican National Committee, campaign manager in several campaigns, and Chief of Staff to a U.S. Congressman.

Stan Greenberg - Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research

Greenberg provides strategic advice and research for leaders, companies, campaigns, and NGOs trying to advance their issues in tumultuous times. Greenberg has served as pollster to President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, South African Presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Bolivian President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, and Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer.

In February 2009, Stan released a new book entitled, Dispatches from the War Room: In the Trenches with Five Extraordinary Leaders. He also wrote The Two Americas: Our Current Political Deadlock and How to Break It, described by James Carville as "the most important book on American politics in my memory" and Middle Class Dreams that put the spotlight on "Reagan Democrats" - key to the current U.S. election.

Mark Mellman - The Mellman Group

Mark Mellman is one of the nation's leading public opinion researchers and communication strategists. He is CEO of The Mellman Group and recently named "Pollster of the Year" by the American Association of Political Consultants. The Mellman group is a polling and consulting firm whose clients include leading political figures, Fortune 500 companies, and some of the nation's most important public interest groups. A leading political researcher and strategist, Mellman counts among his clients The Majority Leaders of The U.S. House (Steny Hoyer) and Senate (Harry Reid). In addition, Mellman has helped guide the campaigns of some sixteen U.S. Senators, eight Governors and over two dozen Members of Congress. Mellman also serves as consultant to many of the nations most important public interest organizations ranging from The National Education Association, to The National Environmental Trust and The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. Government agencies, including the Department of Justice, the World Bank and the State Department have also sought Mellman's guidance. Mellman's corporate clients include Intuit (the makers of Quicken), AT&T, Coca Cola, and United Airlines. His groundbreaking research has helped define how nonprofits and businesses can use the Internet for online communications, organizing, and fundraising

Few people can say they've followed digital political advertising since 2002, but Kate Kaye is one. Today Kate is a trusted source on the topic, discussing it at speaking engagements and in interviews for television, radio, print, and digital media outlets. In her current role as Senior News Editor at ClickZ, Kate created and regularly contributes to the publication's section dedicated to digital politics and advocacy campaigns.

Eric Frenchman - Connell Donatelli

Eric Frenchman is an online marketing and advertising consultant located in New Jersey and Chief Internet Strategist for the online political agency Connell Donatelli Inc. Eric also founded the online marketing consulting company Eric Frenchman LLC aka PardonMyFrench with current and past clients of The Bank of Montreal, Diageo NA, and Genworth Financial.

Since 1998, Eric has managed multi-million dollar online advertising and CRM campaigns for AT&T, DLJdirect, Harrisdirect, and BMO Investorline and is a recognized expert in online marketing and advertising techniques. In 2005, Harrisdirect was ranked as the 17th largest online advertiser in the US and in 2003 was recognized as Best Financial Advertiser. Eric is also a member of the Internet Oldtimer's List.

Michael Organ - AKPD

Michael Organ, new media specialist at AKPD, was the first full-time director of Internet advertising for a presidential campaign (one of Obama for America's many new media innovations, which helped raise over $500 million online). In addition to online "upsell" fundraising, Michael also pioneered the use of Internet advertising for voter ID and get-out-the-vote efforts, which the Obama campaign's national field director credited for an extra 40 delegates in the critical caucus and early primary states.

His 20+ year marketing career began with traditional advertising and direct mail, but he switched to Internet marketing in 1999 and has since led new media campaigns for over 400 clients. Michael's direct-response background influences his approach, involving micro-targeting segmentation, continuous split-cell testing and return on investment optimization.

Chris Talbot - Google, Inc.

Chris Talbot is an Account Executive with Google's Elections & Issue Advocacy team. His primary focus is helping political, issue, and PR clients develop new media plans that leverage Google's digital platform. As a founding member of the company's Media Partnerships group, he was a recipient of Google's Vice- President Award in 2008.

Chris has worked with campaigns large and small, including international groups moving into the North American market, and clients launching online strategies for the very first time. Before joining Google Chris led marketing efforts at music retailer and social network AmieStreet.com, funded by Amazon. He is a graduate of Brown University with a degree in Classics.

Hector M. Barajas brings with him nearly 12 years of campaign communications experience. Hector served as the communications director for the California Senate Republican Leader and Caucus and the California Victory 2008 campaign. He was the Spanish media spokesman for the Republican National Committee and the McCain/Palin '08 and Bush/Cheney '04 presidential campaigns. Today, Hector is the spokesperson for the Meg Whitman for Governor campaign. Hector has appeared on the BBC, CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox News, and is a political analyst for Univision and Telemundo. A California native, Hector was born in East Los Angeles and raised in Echo Park.

Jay Friedman is the COO of Goodway Group, an 80-year old marketing services company that owns and operates two ad networks, Beep! Automotive and IvyPixel. Friedman joined Goodway by creating and launching Goodway 2.0 in 2006 to provide online and emerging media services primarily to agencies representing the political, automotive, restaurant, and homebuilder markets. Since its inception, Goodway 2.0 has become a sought-after digital media expert by agencies representing presidential and senatorial candidates, advocacy groups and automotive associations within nearly all of the world's largest auto manufacturers. Goodway 2.0 was integrated into Goodway Group in 2007, where Friedman joined as COO and subsequently created and launched the pair of ad networks to round out its digital services offerings.

Larry Huynh - Trilogy Interactive

Larry Huynh is a founding partner of Trilogy Interactive, a new media firm whose clients include leading political figures, Fortune 500 companies, and non-profits. With over a decade of experience in online marketing, Huynh is one of the nation's leading new media strategists. His major political campaign work began as a leader in the Draft Wes Clark movement in 2003, and later served as an online fundraising and communications strategist during the 2004 presidential campaign. Huynh then went on to co-found Blackrock Associates in 2004. Huynh was chosen as one of Campaigns & Elections Magazine's 2007 "Rising Stars" in politics for his pioneering work on Jim Webb's 2006 senate campaign. Before joining Clark for President, Huynh worked in high-tech, marketing, and as a consultant with Oliver Wyman. Huynh graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in Biochemical Sciences.

Dmitry Shevelenko - Facebook

Dmitry Shevelenko is an Advertising Specialist at Facebook with a focus on political advertising strategy and the 2010 elections. He holds a bachelor's degree in political science and anthropology from Columbia University.

Theo Yedinsky - Social Stream Consulting

Theo Yedinsky is the president of Social Stream Consulting, a social media and political strategy firm. He was the New Media Director for Mayor Gavin Newsom's campaign for Governor - which boasted the largest Facebook and twitter followings for a non- presidential Democratic candidate.

Previously, Theo was a media and general consultant at Storefront Political Media and helped found the New Politics Institute (NPI) www.NewPolitics.net, a think tank to study the impact of technology and new media in campaigns.

In 2004, he was Political Director for the Kerry Campaign during the New Hampshire Primary and then served as Deputy Program Director for the DNCC and the Deputy Coordinated Campaign Director in Florida.

Ask anyone in Washington about Rich Schlackman, and they'll tell you that Rich is the man singularly responsible for reinventing targeted direct mail across America. Known as the "California Style" Rich created a new school for direct mail that involved an innovative visual mix of graphics and emotions, backed with intensive demographic strategies.

Rich has worked on ballot initiatives in California, Colorado, Oregon, Arizona, Washington, Hawaii, Tennessee, Florida, Michigan, Ohio, and Nevada. His clients have also included Governors such as Janet Napolitano (AZ), Jennifer Granholm (MI), Ted Kulongoski (OR), Michael Lowry (WA), and Roy Barnes (GA); US Senators Christopher Dodd (CT), Timothy Wirth (CO), Evan Bayh (IN), Debbie Stabenow (MI), Max Baucas (MT), Jeff Bingaman (NM), and Hillary Clinton (NY); and numerous congressional members, state parties and membership organizations.

Rich first came to California in 1975 to work on the Muscone for Mayor Campaign. In 1976 he worked on the Tom Hayden for U.S. Senate race and served as the Northern California Field Director for the Democratic Party. By 1977 Rich had started his own direct mail firm and until 1986 was a co-owner of Schlackman Fazio. From 1987-1998 he was President and owner of Campaign Performance Group, and he has been a partner at MSHC Partners, Inc., since 1999..

Brian Franklin - Impact Politics

Brian Franklin is the President of Impact Politics, a marketing and communications strategy firm for Democratic political campaigns. He has guided the communications, positioning strategy, online and offline advertising, fundraising, and marketing strategy for over a hundred corporations, advertising agencies, organizations, and candidates. Since forming the company in 2007, he has won Pollies for Best Internet Campaign (Wexler Wants Hearings), Best TV for a Local/Municpal organization, and Best Website. He currently advises federal, state, and county campaigns in Florida, California, and Texas - and recently served as a strategist to an Australian third party rebranding effort.

Dana Reed - Reed & Davidson, LLP

Dana Reed has practiced political, initiative, referendum and election law since 1975. He has been involved in California state politics and government all of his adult life, serving in senior government positions including chairman of the California Transportation Commission, undersecretary of the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency and deputy state controller. Previously, he served as a member of the Orange County Transportation Authority and chairman of its predecessor agency, the Orange County Transportation Commission. Dana was a member of the Secretary of State's Electronic Filing Task Force. He is frequently quoted in local and national media. Dana received a J.D. from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles (1976).

Joseph Sandler - Sandler Reiff & Young

Attorney Joe Sandler is a member of Sandler, Reiff & Young, Washington, D.C., representing nonprofit organizations, political consultants and vendors, candidates, parties and donors in campaign finance, election law, non-profit organizations and government ethics, and related corporate, commercial and litigation matters. Joe has been named in the 2010 edition of The Best Lawyers in America; in SUPERLAWYERS (political law, 2007, 2008 and 2009); and as one of the nation's top political lawyers by Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers (2008, 2009). He served as general counsel of the DNC from 1993 through 2008 and was co-chair of the ABA Administrative Law Section's Election Law Committee.

Becki Donatelli was the lead Internet consultant to the McCain for President campaign, and as such directed the successful fundraising campaign that brought the Internet into the forefront of political consulting. The first political consulting firm to raise political donations online, the firm now represents Bush Cheney '04, the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee and a host of Senate, House and gubernatorial campaigns.

Mrs. Donatelli brings three decades of successful business experience as one of the founding partners of the fifteenth largest real estate and property management firm in the Washington metropolitan region before its sale in 1996. She was also a founding director of The George Washington National Bank, later serving as Chairman of the Board of Directors and also Chairman of the bank holding company. She presently serves as a regional director of BB& T Bank. In 1996 she was honored by the Chamber of Commerce as the Business Leader of the Year.

Mrs. Donatelli began her political career with the national staff of the original Citizens for Reagan in 1976. She has worked on the staff of numerous campaigns, at the Republican National Committee and has served as the executive director of a political action committee. She established an Executive Secretariat for the Dole For President campaign and has raised money for every race from local city council to the presidency. Becki Donatelli was appointed to the board of advisors for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority by then Governor George Allen and the President's Advisory Committee on the Arts by President George Bush.

Mrs. Donatelli's not for profit fundraising skills were honed during her three year tenure as the Chairman of the Golden Circle Board for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as a director of Capital City Opera and President of the Mt. Vernon Children's Theatre. Her fundraising background was essential to the planning and execution of the software development process that brought Edonation.com to the market. She was recently named one of the top 12 most powerful women in direct response marketing by The Non Profit Times.

David Bain - VeraVid

David K. Bain is CEO of Viral Media Productions, owner of VeraVid personal video messaging and PolitiGram online video advocacy. David helps Congressional campaigns and national non-profits harness the power of personal video messaging for major fund-raising, intra-organizational communication, and advocacy. David trains public relations and technology specialists to integrate personal video messaging into their clients' overall online and social media strategies.

Chris Cochran - Paypal

Chris Cochran is director of channel partnerships at PayPal. He is responsible for forging and managing new partnerships for PayPal payment services with campaign consultants and service providers, government agencies, nonprofits and other large merchants. The PayPal Channel Partnership Program provides consultants and service providers the technical and marketing support necessary to help their clients effectively maximize online payments. Some of the large organizations Chris has helped with online billing and payment solutions include the IRS, SSA, USPS, Official Payments, Link2Gov, IBM, Xerox, AT&T, Bank of America, PNC Bank, United Health Group and General Electric.

Justin Hart - RaiseDigital

Justin Hart is the Managing Director of RaiseDigital, a premiere strategic consulting firm helping candidates and non-profit organizations realize their full potential online. Mr. Hart is a recognized Internet strategist, technology speaker, political writer, and non-profit activist. He has worked for the past decade helping Fortune 500 companies and political campaigns alike understand the impact of emerging technologies on their markets and future strategies.

Recently, Justin won the Shorty Award for best political use of Twitter for his innovative fundraising approaches for Chuck DeVore, candidate for U.S. Senate in California.

Frank Girolami is the senior vice president and general manager at InfluentialData. Having joined the firm in April 2008, he brings a deep and broad base of experience, knowledge and specialization in constituent segmentation and behavioral analysis to the InfluentialData team. Frank's career has encompassed senior roles in international software development, capital market investments and political consulting. He was general manager for a Washington state-based software company and spent over 12 years in the political industry with a political data processing firm. With his extensive background in data analysis and software engineering, Frank has developed new and innovative political and constituent outreach products and service solutions - among them, mainstream and alternative leading-edge constituent communication products and services.

Alex Gage - TargetPoint Consulting

Alex began his career at Market Opinion Research in the political division during the 1976 campaign for President Gerald R. Ford. He was a senior vice president of MOR's political group when he left the firm in 1989 to launch Market Strategies Inc. Over the years MSI grew to specialize in many types of research including Consumer Products, Electoral Politics, Energy, Financial Services, Health Care, Information Technology and Telecommunications, Lottery and Gaming, Pharmaceutical and Public Policy. By 2003, the company had grown from 6 original partners to a team of over 170 senior consultants and researchers and over 400 staff making it the 19th largest research company in the U.S. with annual revenues of $40 million.

In 2003, Alex co-founded TargetPoint Consulting, a full service research firm which created what is now known as MicroTargeting. TargetPoint counted the Republican National Committee as it's largest client in both 2004 and 2006 and is credited by many for the sophisticated voter targeting which helped lead President Bush's 2004 campaign to victory.

Hal Malchow - MSHC Partners

Hal Malchow is one of the pioneers in persuasion mail marketing. An ex-lawyer who tired of a life spent reading nothing but fine print, Hal's creative work has won numerous awards from the International Direct Marketing Association, the Direct Marketing Association of Washington and the American Association of Political Consultants. In the area of targeting, Hal pioneered the application of statistical modeling and data mining techniques in the political arena. These developments are described in his book, Political Targeting.

In 2005, Hal received the Sisk Award for pioneering vision that has shaped the direct marketing industry. The last two recipients were the marketing director at NIKE and National Geographic Society.

Karen is currently the Manager of Transaction Mail for the U.S. Postal Service. Her primary responsibility is the development and implementation of strategies that bolster the value proposition for First-Class Mail. In this capacity, she spearheaded a comprehensive national plan for managing the Postal Service's increasingly critical role in U.S. elections. This plan prepares the organization to effectively respond as a partner in the election process, encourages the adoption of mail as a voting method, and promotes mail as an effective political communication tool.

Karen's career includes more than 25 years experience in marketing, advertising, direct mail, e-business, sales, product management, and strategic planning.

James Aldrete - Message Audience & Presentation, Inc.

James Aldrete is president and creative director of Message Audience & Presentation (MAP), a political communications company that serves Democratic, progressive and social causes across the country. The driving force behind MAP is the belief that we can expand the appeal of progressive messages, and give them more power to shape the larger political dialogue, by integrating communication theory with higher level creative. In 2008, James served as a member of the Obama '08 media team, leading their Latino media efforts. Prior to founding MAP, he served as deputy press secretary to the Ann Richards for Governor campaign, and as creative director for Gold Communications, an affiliate of Public Strategies, Inc.

Jennifer Smith - Mad Dog Mail

Richard Norman - The Richard Norman Company

In 1983, Richard began his career in direct mail with Eberle & Associates. Richard handled the highly successful 1984 cycle prospecting program for the National Republican Senatorial Committee and supervised prospecting for the 1984 reelection campaign of Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC). In 1985, he became President of Eberle & Associates.

In 1987, Richard founded The Richard Norman Company and Robertson Mailing List Company. TRNC specializes in raising funds for non-profit grassroots lobbies, educational foundations, PACs, candidates and party committees. In 1994 he served as Finance Director for Ollie North's (R-VA) US Senate campaign. During Haley Barbour's tenure as Chairman of the RNC, (1993-1997) Richard was a key consultant for direct mail fund raising and from 1997 until 2001, he did the same with the NRCC. Richard was Finance Director for former Vice President Dan Quayle's PAC, Campaign America, and Mr. Quayle's brief campaign for President in 1999. From 1999 - 2003 Richard handled direct mail fund raising activities for Tom DeLay's ARMPAC, and in 2004 for The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. In the 2008 Presidential campaign TRNC raised funds for Rep. Tom Tancredo for President.

Now in their twenty-fourth year, TRNC's clients include Rep. Mike Pence's Pence PAC, Rep. Eric Cantor's PENCEPAC, Christine O'Donnell for US Senate (DE-2010), Roy Moore for Governor (AL-2010), The Republican Majority Campaign, Minuteman PAC, The House Conservatives Fund, Freedom Alliance, Media Research Center, Pat Toomey for Senate (PA-2010), US Justice Foundation, Justice PAC, BAMPAC, Declaration Alliance PAC, The Conservative Caucus and Americans United for Life among others.

Walter Monk is the owner of the PollMakers wholesale automated polling platform and its parent company, Voice Broadcasting Corp of Arlington, Texas. He started doing automated phone calls in 1987, and his companies have helped clients deliver over 1.5 billion calls and automated polls around the world since then. His companies have helped elect U.S. presidents three times and have helped thousands of smaller campaigns. He is a serial entrepreneur who loves starting businesses, biking, reading, programming, and brainstorming new business and political ideas. His wife and four children say he's a lovable workaholic, but Walter thinks they probably are all biased

David Binder - David Binder Research

David Binder has over twenty-five years of experience in qualitative and quantitative research. He is adept in methodology, statistical analysis, and strategic consulting. David is also a nationally recognized, professionally trained focus group moderator who has conducted over one thousand focus groups. David's clients include a broad range of political, government, business, labor, health care and communications firms, as well as non-profit organizations. David probes the attitudes of the public, voters, employees, consumers, union members, professionals, and leaders.

In 2006, David Binder Research was retained by the Obama for America campaign. Well before the first caucus, David began to hopscotch across the country, conducting research and providing key findings to the campaign. David's work continued through all of the primaries and the general election. He spearheaded various projects and specialized in communications research: testing television, radio and print ads and other messaging. David continues to conduct research for the Obama White House through the Democratic National Committee.

Glen Bolger - Public Opinion Strategies

Glen Bolger is one of the Republican Party's leading political strategists and pollsters. He is partner and co-founder of Public Opinion Strategies, whose clients include 16 U.S. senators, seven governors and more than 40 members of Congress. Whether he is assisting incumbents in re-election or campaigning for new politicians, Glen has been contributing to the success of candidates from all over the country. Glen's corporate polling experience includes crisis management polling for some of the top issues in recent years, as well as image and message work for major clients such as Wal-Mart, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Tyson Foods, BNSF Railway, the Catholic Health Association, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, and numerous Fortune 500 companies.

In 2006, David Binder Research was retained by the Obama for America campaign. Well before the first caucus, David began to hopscotch across the country, conducting research and providing key findings to the campaign. David's work continued through all of the primaries and the general election. He spearheaded various projects and specialized in communications research: testing television, radio and print ads and other messaging. David continues to conduct research for the Obama White House through the Democratic National Committee.

Dan Judy - Ayres, McHenry & Associates, Inc.

Dan Judy joined Ayres, McHenry and Associates in 2001. He works on a wide variety of political, non-profit, and corporate projects from the early stages of questionnaire development, to fielding, to strategic analysis.

Dan's political work has included assisting with the election and re-election of U.S. Senators Lamar Alexander and Lindsey Graham, as well as working on a variety of state and local races ranging from Governor's races to mayoral and county commission contests.Dan's public affairs work has focused on the environment, where he has worked with the Nature Conservancy and Trust for Public Land on conservation initiatives, and the Environmental Defense Fund and Kansas Climate and Energy Project on issues related to climate change policy and renewable energy. He also has extensive experience with transportation issues, having worked with the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, the Transit Planning Board in metropolitan Atlanta, and a variety of other local entities.

Andre Pineda - Pineda Consulting

Principal, Pineda Consulting André Pineda is a pollster with 20 years of political experience at the local, statewide, federal and international level.

His résumé includes stints as a direct mail consultant, a field operative (including GOTV Director for Janet Napolitano's 2002 Arizona gubernatorial campaign) and a government official (California Deputy Corporations Commissioner), giving him a client-side perspective on how to turn polling numbers into political strategies and public policies. In the 2008 cycle, Pineda's clients included the presidential campaigns of Bill Richardson and Barack Obama.

A veteran of more than 250 local, state, national and international campaigns, Wayne Johnson currently serves as Chairman and immediate past president of the American Association of Political Consultants, the trade association representing the nation's more than 1,000 political and public affairs professionals. He was also elected in 2007 as an American representative to the Board of Directors of the International Association of Political Consultants.

Wayne Johnson has served as a lecturer at universities and political training seminars in the U.S., Brazil, Argentina, Zambia, South Africa, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Poland, and elsewhere. His articles have often appeared in trade publications, e.g. Campaign & Elections Magazine, which named him a "Mover and Shaker" in U.S. politics.

A three-time National Winner in the annual "Silver Microphone Awards," for Best Political Radio Ad, the firm was also honored for Best Copywriting among both political and commercial radio advertisers.

Ben Katz - Aristotle, Inc.

Benjamin Katz serves as Aristotle's CTO, and is the former president and company founder of CompleteCampaigns.com. Ben began his career as a political operative in San Diego.

He worked for a variety of campaigns, ranging from city council through U.S. Senate. He later founded a political consulting firm offering services in data management, fundraising, compliance reporting and general consulting.

In 1999, Ben founded CompleteCampaigns.com - by 2008, the company had grown to serve over 1000 clients in nearly every state in the nation with services such as online donation processing, web site content management, voter tracking, e-mail hosting, and constituent management products for elected officials.

Melissa Mullinax - National Strategies, Inc.

Melissa Mullinax is a Principal at National Strategies Inc. Prior to joining NSI, she was a co-founder of Edison Group. Melissa has over 15 years experience creating and executing successful grassroots advocacy campaigns for a wide range of clients including Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, CIBA Specialty Chemicals, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and several years serving as the Southern Region Political Director for the Service Employees International Union.

In 2007 Melissa was recognized with four Pollie Awards for her work on behalf of Beasley Denson in his successful electoral bid to become Chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.

Frank Schubert - Schubert Flint

Frank Schubert, president of Schubert Flint Public Affairs, is one of the most successful issue management and public affairs professionals in America. He has twice been named by the American Association of Political Consultants as the country's most valuable public affairs professional. He is the only person to have won this prestigious award twice. He also has three times been honored for assembling and managing the profession's Public Affairs Team of the Year. Most recently, he was honored with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Association of Business Communicators (Sacramento Chapter).

Anne-Marie is the Vice President and Political Director of CBS Radio. Her primary focus is to partner with political campaigns on their media placement strategy. CBS Radio has integrated its radio network with its unique on-line streaming capabilities (through exclusive agreements with AOL, Yahoo and Vevo) to permit a highly effective, targeted campaign message delivery system. She has a strong base of relationships with a wide variety of California businesses and government leaders to facilitate political goals and fundraising. Anne-Marie has worked closely on numerous campaigns with most of the major political consultants, and continues to build business nationwide.

Anne-Marie has an extensive professional background in political campaigns, non-profit fundraising, political public relations, radio sales, and distribution in the Hollywood entertainment industries.

She broke into radio as a Senior Account Executive at KINK FM in Portland, then continuing her career with Nelson Communications Group/Porter Novelli's as Director of Client Relations.

Julie Cutler - Compass media Group

Julie Cutler is the creative director and co-founder of Compass Media Group, a national strategy and full-service political communications firm based in Chicago. Since 1998, Julie and her team have served Democratic elected officials and candidates at the national, state and local level and dozens of organizations facing public image and legislative challenges.

Julie's firm has created award-winning television, radio and direct mail advertising for numerous congressional campaigns, helped elect 5 Governors and provided strategic advice to dozens of city and county officials. Julie and her partner have also been involved in over 500 state legislative races over the years and helped win majorities in 9 states.

Scott Howell - Scott Howell & Company

Scott Howell began his political career in South Carolina working on local races. He later worked at the Republican National Committee under Lee Atwater as a specialist for targeted legislative campaigns. Scott also worked under GOP mastermind Karl Rove prior to starting his own political consulting firm in 1993. Scott's unique creativity along with strong strategic and messaging skills have helped make Scott Howell & Co. one of the premier strategic media firms in the country.

John Rowley - Fletcher Rowley Riddle, Inc

John Rowley's first work was in radio and television in Burlington, Iowa. Rowley worked in television production, radio production as a public affairs director, and as a news reporter. Rowley became the youngest principal and owner of national media consulting firm in 1996 at 26. He worked on over 300 political campaigns for Democrats in 40 states.

He has worked with candidates from President and governor to city council and the smallest local offices. His firm helps candidates with strategy and message, the production of television and radio commercials, media buying and new media strategy. He has helped Democrats claim 10 Republican-held congressional seats and win more races in "Red States" and "Red Districts" than any other Democratic media consultant.

His clients have included U.S. Reps. Charlie Melancon, Lacy Clay, Dan Boren, Bart Gordon, Artur Davis, Lincoln Davis, John Tanner, Bob Clement, Jerry McNerney, Travis Childers, Steve Driehaus and Zack Space.

John Brabender is the Chief Creative Officer and managing partner of BrabenderCox, one of the nation's premiere political media firms. John has provided his unique brand of creative political advertising to over 100 Republican candidates, in almost every state in the nation. Some of John's past and present clients include, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, U.S. Senator David Vitter, U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle, and Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett.

John's work has been featured on such national programs as NBC's Today show, the CBS Evening News, and CNN's Inside Politics. John is also a frequent guest on political programs, including appearances on ABC's Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, NPR's Talk of the Nation, CNN, the NBC Nightly News, and NBC's Today show. John and his attention-getting, creative style has also been profiled in a variety of national publications, including Atlantic Monthly, George Magazine, and Campaigns and Elections, and National Review.

n the last five election cycles, BrabenderCox has been honored with more creative awards than any other political media firm in the country. This includes garnering an incredible 77 Pollie Awards, the Academy Award for political advertising. John is also a former adjunct faculty member of the Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism at West Virginia University, where he taught courses in advertising and media. John earned a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing from Gannon University and an MBA from Cleveland State University.

Tim Kay- National Cable Communications

As Director of Political Strategy at National Cable Communications, the leader in spot cable advertising sales representing 2,355 cable systems in the United States, Kay is an integral part of the effort to help the cable industry understand and adapt to the needs of the political community. His paper highlighting the Fragmented Media Landscape and case study examining the cable usage by the presidential candidates, examines the changes occurring in paid media. These efforts focus on assisting political organization in developing strategies to micro target key geographic and demographic areas using cable to better effectively reach voters.

Kay has over 10 years of experience in political advertising and media planning/purchasing starting his career as a media buyer and account assistant at Squier Knapp Ochs when the firm handled the 1996 Clinton/Gore re-election campaign. Following Kay was a Principal/Media Director at Buying Time, LLC, where he developed strategic spot market and national media plans for commercial, political and issue clients utilizing traditional and alternative/new media advertising. He has wide experience planning and purchasing all different types of media for strategic media campaigns throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. Kay has worked on a variety of races ranging from President down to County Commissioner.

Jack Poor - Television Bureau of Advertising

John (Jack) B. Poor, Jr. joined the Television Bureau of Advertising as vice president - marketing in May 2004. In that capacity he makes calls on and presentations to advertisers and advertising agencies on issues relating to the benefits of using TV stations' on-air and interactive platforms.

Prior to joining TVB Jack was Executive Vice President of Petry Media Corp. a national rep company that operated two leading national TV time sales companies; Blair Television and Petry. Among his responsibilities at the reps Jack was in charge of New Business Development, Sales Research, Programming, Data Systems and Marketing.

Kyler Roberts - Smart Media Group

Kyle Roberts is president of Smart Media Group. He started his political media buying career in 1992 working on the radio buys for Steve Merrill's gubernatorial campaign in New Hampshire. Since then, he has worked with the top GOP political consultants on behalf of some of the biggest political races in the country. In 2005, he founded Smart Media Group as an independent media buying agency designed to provide top- notch service, research and value to GOP candidates and advocacy groups.

Prior to joining TVB Jack was Executive Vice President of Petry Media Corp. a national rep company that operated two leading national TV time sales companies; Blair Television and Petry. Among his responsibilities at the reps Jack was in charge of New Business Development, Sales Research, Programming, Data Systems and Marketing.

Richard Vedder - ABC Owned Station Division

Started with ABC in 1992, coming out of an agency background with Leo Burnett. National sales rep with ABC, Local Sales manager with WLS, moved to NY in 2003 to head up digital for NTVS (in house rep) and became head of digital sales for the division in 2008 - to present.

Adam Coomes, President, Infegy, is an entrepreneur with a passion for technology and a drive for innovation. Adam has spent much of his life studying web development and building social websites. In his current role as President of Infegy, Adam oversees many aspects of the company, including product development, public relations, and sales. As a co-founder of the company, Adam has helped Infegy achieve startup success without help from outside investors.

Prior to Infegy, Adam worked as the vice president of business development for CDG Commerce, an online e-commerce company. During his tenure, he worked to nearly double the company's revenue through new business and a variety of campaigns. Adam also gained valuable experience over the years working with several other startups companies in many different developer and management positions. Adam understands and identifies with the worlds of development, sales, marketing and social media, and offers a unique perspective that has helped him create a great work environment and an all-star team.

David Kralik - Engage LLC

David W. Kralik is the West Coast office manager for Engage, LLC., a leading Washington, DC based digital marketing and public affairs firm. Prior to this position, he was director of Internet strategy at American Solutions, founded by former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich.

In 2008, Kralik was honored as one of the Top Ten Changing the World of Internet and Politics, for his work on the Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less campaign which garnered 1.5 million online signatures to a petition.

Andrew MacDowell - The Bivings Group

Andrew MacDowell is engaged in the management of the Client Services department of The Bivings Group in Washington, DC. He works on the Group's new business efforts, and has played a key role in directing the production and maintenance of such projects as The Pickens Plan (www.pickensplan.com), Wild Australia (www.wildaustralia.org) and The Personal Democracy Forum (www.personaldemocracy.com).

Before joining The Bivings Group, Andrew spent two years running his own Internet communications company in New York, through which he directed the development of websites and online applications for a diverse array of PR companies, political organizations, and e-commerce entities including Edelman PR, OgilvyOne, and Vincent Longo, Inc. Prior to this, he worked for six years developing multimedia online e-learning applications at Harcourt Digital Learning. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH.

Suzanne Zurn - Xenophon Strategies

Suzanne Clarke Zurn, vice president of Xenophon Strategies, is an experienced professional in communications, grassroots campaigns, fundraising and digital media. Over a 15-year career, she has become the goto-gal for engaging the public to learn about issues, advocate for causes and vote for supported candidates. In July 2009, she joined Xenophon Strategies. Previously she served as communications director at The George Washington University and in leadership positions at political communication firms 720 Strategies, Capitol Advantage and Legislative Demographic Services. Her consulting experience includes developing strategic plans and managing campaigns to influence policymakers, the media and the public. Clients include Fortune 500 companies, associations, nonprofits and coalitions. Her work has been recognized with awards from the Public Relations Society of America, the American Association of Political Consultants and the Public Affairs Council. In 2003, Washburn named her an alumni fellow to the College of Arts and Sciences. She serves on the board of directors of Women in Government Relations.

Mr. Hiltachk is managing partner at Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, LLP. He has practiced political and election law exclusively since 1988. Prior to that, he was an attorney with a general civil litigation firm in Sacramento.

He has served as legal counsel and treasurer to statewide and local ballot measure committees, political action committees, trade associations, and candidates. He has represented state ballot measure committees on a variety of issues, including tax policy, environment, education, civil and criminal justice reform and gaming.

Dan Hazelwood- Targeted Creative Communications, Inc

In 1992, Dan Hazelwood formed Targeted Creative Communications, Inc. (TC2) a Republican direct marketing company based in Alexandria, Virginia. TC2 has worked for campaigns in virtually every state. His past clients include Bush- Cheney '00 and '04, Dole-Kemp '96, several US Senators and Governors, and over five dozen members of the House of Representatives among them former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

In 2004, Roll Call named Hazelwood one of 11 Republican "Consultants Who Matter." Campaigns & Elections magazine named Hazelwood a "rising star" of the political consulting community in 1994 and a "Mover & Shaker" in 1996. Dan Hazelwood's work has also received attention from Advertising Age, U.S. News and World Report.

Dan Hazelwood is a nationally recognized campaign professional in the areas of campaign strategy, message development, targeting, and persuasion mail. He has been a guest lecturer or panelist at USC's Annenberg School of Communication, George Washington University's Graduate School of Campaign Management, American University's Campaign Management Institute in addition to numerous Republican party programs and campaign schools. He was awarded the "Silver Bee Award" for outstanding faculty by the Leadership Institute. He has also conducted campaign-training programs in Angola, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Romania, Republic of Georgia, Slovakia, South Africa and the Ukraine.

Kevin Heneghan - The Sutton Law Firm

Kevin Heneghan is an attorney at The Sutton Law Firm in San Francisco, where he specializes in political, election, and non-profit law. He advises candidates, ballot measure committees, corporations, campaign consultants, public entities and nonprofit organizations on how to comply with the myriad federal, state, and local laws affecting their campaign and lobbying activities, and has represented numerous clients before the San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose Ethics Commissions, as well as the Federal Elections Commission and California Fair Political Practices Commission. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Kevin graduated with honors from La Salle University and attended Hastings College of Law.

Robert Kelner - Covington & Burling LLP

Mr. Kelner provides political law compliance advice to a wide range of corporate and political clients. His compliance practice focuses on federal and state campaign finance, lobbying disclosure, pay to play, and government ethics laws, as well as legal ethics rules. His expertise includes the Foreign Agents Registration Act, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and the rules governing political activity by municipal securities dealers. Mr. Kelner advises Presidential political appointees on the complex process of being vetted for such appointments.

Mr. Kelner regularly advises corporations and corporate executives on instituting political law compliance programs. He conducts compliance training for senior corporate executives and lobbyists. He has extensive experience conducting corporate internal investigations concerning campaign finance and lobbying law compliance, as well as accounting and securities fraud.

Mario began his career working for such notable individuals as U.S. Senator Dennis Deconcini, Congressman Ed Pastor and as the Law Enforcement Liaison for United States Attorney Janet Napolitano. Mario later managed the Janet Napolitano for Attorney General Campaign, and went on to become Director of Intergovernmental Affairs / Law Enforcement Liaison in the Attorney General's Office.

After forming Mario E Diaz & Associates in 2001, the Janet Napolitano for Governor Committee was first in line as a premier client. In 2002, Napolitano won her election and Mario was appointed to Governor-Elect Napolitano's Transition Team. He later served as Deputy Chief of Staff to Governor Napolitano.

John Davies - DAVIES

As one of the nation's most respected communication strategists, John Davies clearly understands the business of persuasion. He is constantly searching for trends and methods to utilize on behalf of his firm's clients, and applies his lifelong study of human behavior and effective communications strategies to teach them how to earn attention and gain influence in the complex information- saturated decision-making process of today.

John's firm, DAVIES, is the recipient of multiple awards for their work in public affairs, communication, crisis, and political fields. For the last four years, DAVIES has been named Best Agency to Work For in several categories, including the overall Best U.S. Consultancy award. DAVIES was also a recipient of the Public Affairs Agency of the Year award.

Beth Miller - Wilson-Miller Communications

A founding partner of Wilson-Miller Communications, Beth Miller is one of the most respected communications professionals in California and has served as a counselor to governors, statewide elected officials, members of Congress, numerous other federal and state government officials as well as political party leaders. A veteran of many national, state and local campaigns, Beth provides strategic direction to political candidates and initiative campaigns as well as corporate clients, coalitions and trade associations.

As Deputy Director of Communications and Chief Deputy Press Secretary to former California Governor Pete Wilson, Chief Assistant Secretary of State to former Secretary of State Bill Jones, Department of Energy press secretary in the G.H.W. Bush Administration and a Capitol Hill communications director, Beth has substantial expertise in federal and state government, public policy, communications and media relations.

Thom Riehle - RT Strategies

Thomas Riehle, who boasts 25 years of experience in public opinion polling for candidates, governments and corporations, is senior vice president for public affairs at YouGov/Polimetrix. From the Capitol Hill offices of YouGov/Polimetrix, he provides weekly polls on consumer optimism to BusinessWeek, as well as weekly polls on U.S. public opinion about politics, public policy and consumer issues to The Economist magazine. Each week, YouGov/Polimetrix polls 35,000 Americans on opinions of 1,000 brands for clients through YouGov/Polimetrix Brand Index, and as some of those brands become the focus of news stories, provides up-to-the-minute YouGov/Polimetrix measures of how news stories and advertising affect brand image to Ad Age, BrandChannel, BrandWeek, Market Watch, The Wall Street Journal and dozens of other publications. He was founding president of Ipsos Public Affairs, where he instituted the Associated Press/Ipsos poll in 2002.

Karen A.B. Jagoda is president and co-founder of the E-Voter Institute, a bipartisan trade association founded in 1999, representing Web publishers and political and advocacy solution providers. Along with a variety of sponsors and partners, the Institute conducts research and produces briefings and webcasts bringing together campaign experts and Internet insiders to consider the implications of changes in the political landscape. Karen is the host of Digital Politics, a weekly Internet podcast. To make the E-Voter research more widely available, the Institute released the books About Face: The Dramatic Impact of the Internet on Politics and Advocacy, Karen A.B. Jagoda (E-voter Institute Press, 2009) and Crossing the River: The Coming of Age of the Internet in Politics and Advocacy, Karen A.B. Jagoda (Xlibris, 2005). After living in Washington, D.C., for over 20 years, Karen resides in La Jolla, California, with her husband and Cairn terrier

Kevin O'Neill - Edelman-Grassroots Enterprise

Kevin O'Neill brings a vast array of digital communications experience as vice president at Grassroots Enterprise, a group within Edelman's digital practice. He provides strategic direction and account management to clients seeking to implement creative stakeholder engagement campaigns.

Kevin joined Edelman through the firm's recent acquisition of Grassroots Enterprise (GRE), a bipartisan digital grassroots advocacy firm, where he served as managing director. At Grassroots, Kevin managed client services for and provided strategic direction to the online campaigns for political organizations, Fortune 500, companies, and trade associations.

John Rohrbach - Bullseye Interactive

John got hooked on politics after serving as Associate Producer on "On Equal Ground," an ESPN documentary about "Cohen v. Brown University", a landmark Title IX decision. He joined his first political campaign in 2002, and served as Tim Kaine's Internet Director on his successful 2005 gubernatorial campaign. He founded Bullseye in 2006.

John's 2006 TV ad for Mark Ritchie, "Fairness", helped Mark beat a two-term incumbent. Just as happy behind a camera as in front of a computer, John's video work has appeared in numerous political advertisements and at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. His photography has appeared on WashingtonPost.com and in the Times of London.

Paul Seale - Alien Media

Paul's journey began early in childhood by deconstructing and writing simple video games. This progressed later in college through tinkering with various animation programs and html. After nearly fifteen years of experience, those events still drive his understanding of the importance of user interface design. 2007 Pollie award winner and 2009 Reed award finalist.

Larry Ward - Political Media

Larry Ward brings over a decade and a half of marketing and advertising experience to Political Media, Inc. as President and CEO. Political Media's slogan "Inside Politics, Outside the Box" is demonstrated in the products and services Larry has created for clients over the years.

Larry has helped lead numerous political organizations and campaigns to victory aided by his unparalleled understanding of New Media. Larry has pioneered many Web 2.0 technologies, applications and strategies for the political market. His innovations have translated into over a billion page views, millions of political actions and hundreds of new donors. In the 2008 election cycle, Larry has worked on numerous web and email campaigns, offering clients an opportunity to email thousands of constituents at a near-unbeatable price. Using numerous segmented lists, these email blasts and websites helped Larry to be successful in several Congressional races.

Jordan Lieberman is president of Political World Communications, LLC, which includes Campaigns & Elections' Politics magazine, its training and political networking events and related properties. During his tenure, the operation has grown faster than any previous time in its 29-year history.

Prior to joining Political World Communications, Lieberman consulted on numerous campaigns and advocacy programs in the United States and abroad. Politics is now read in approximately forty countries.

Lieberman with his partners, handled the direct mail and telephone advocacy programs for more than ten candidates for United States Congress and forty candidates for state houses across the country in 2004. Previously, he managed numerous races throughout New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. He was among the first Americans to travel to Ukraine to assist the fledgling campaign of now-President Victor Yushchenko by training his campaign management team.

Fred Davis - Strategic Perception Inc.

Headquartered in Hollywood, CA, with offices in Austin, Tulsa and DC, SPI manages the marketing of political and corporate clients. Political clients have included President George W. Bush, Vice President Dan Quayle, Senators John McCain, Elizabeth Dole, Bob Corker, John Cornyn, John Sununu, Chuck Grassley, Jim Inhofe, Lamar Alexander & Paul Coverdell.

Also, Governors Sonny Perdue, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ernie Fletcher, and Fob James, with RGA work for Sarah Palin and Bobby Jindal. Corporate clients have included the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, Loews Hotels, B.U.M. Equipment, Goodyear Farm Tires, The Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookie Company and the Associated Funeral Directors Service Corporation.

Celinda Lake - Lake Research Partners

Celinda Lake is one of the Democratic Party's leading political strategists, serving as tactician and senior advisor to the national party committees, dozens of Democratic incumbents, and challengers at all levels of the electoral process. Celinda and her firm are known for cutting-edge research on issues including the economy, health care, the environment and education, and have worked for a number of institutions including the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Democratic Governor's Association (DGA), The White House Project, AFL-CIO, SEIU, CWA, IAFF, Sierra Club, NARAL, Human Rights Campaign, EMILY's List and the Kaiser Family Foundation. Her work has also taken her to advise fledgling democratic parties in several post-war Eastern European countries, including Bosnia, and South Africa. In 2008, Celinda worked as pollster for Vice President Biden.

Celinda is one of the nation's foremost experts on electing women candidates and on framing issues to women voters. American Politics calls Celinda a "super-strategist or, better yet, the Godmother," and Working Woman says she is "arguably the most influential woman in her field." She is renowned for her groundbreaking research on single women voters in conjunction with Women's Voices Women Vote and has helped elect numerous female candidates, including Barbara Mikulski, the "Dean" of Women Senators, former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, Blanche Lincoln, U.S. Senator from Arkansas, Patricia Madrid the first Hispanic woman Attorney General in New Mexico, and Carol Moseley-Braun in her historic victory to become the first African-American woman to be elected to the United States Senate. Celinda also works for Nancy Pelosi, the first female Speaker of the House.

Jim Spencer - The Campaign Network

Jim Spencer, president of The Campaign Network, has over 35 years of experience as a Democratic political consultant. He has advised hundreds of political campaigns at every level - from city council to president - in every major region of the country. Jim has played a leadership role in every U.S. presidential campaign since 1980. He was most recently involved in President Obama's campaign, and held a key strategy post in John Kerry's 2004 campaign. He is the former vice president of Winning Directions, the industry's premier Democratic mail firm. His strategic analysis and innovative voter contact programs have led to numerous upset victories for Democratic candidates at the federal, state and municipal levels. For 10 years, he held the post of political director and district manager for Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II (D-MA). Jim also worked on an executive level for the Massachusetts Democratic State Party as well as strategic counsel for some of New England's largest labor unions.

Liz Welsh - Executive Communications

Liz Welsh serves as president of Executive Communications, Inc., a consulting company founded in 1997 specializing in telephone-, mail- and Web-based direct contact communication programs. During her 22-year career, Liz has worked on over 1,000 communications programs for Fortune 500 corporations, national associations, political campaigns and small businesses. Liz serves on the board of directors of the American Association of Political Consultants. She has authored articles for Campaigns & Elections magazine, The Politea and the Public Affairs Council's how-to manual, Winning at the Grassroots. Executive Communications has been featured in Campaigns & Elections, Business First and Ventures magazines. Liz is an avid golfer, musician and songwriter, and she plays guitar with the Praise Team at Middletown Christian Church.