Oren Shur is a Partner and helps lead SKDK’s political department. For the past 20 years, he has served as a media consultant, campaign manager and communications strategist on some of the most competitive Democratic campaigns and independent expenditures across the country.
Oren is the ad-maker and media strategist for numerous Democratic elected officials – including Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly. Moore’s 2022 win was historic, as he is Maryland’s first Black Governor and just the third in US history. In 2022, Gov. Kelly was the only Democrat to win a Governor’s race in a state carried by Donald Trump in 2020.
Oren also produces ads for leading advocacy organizations, including Climate Power, The League of Conservation Voters, Future Forward, Protect Our Care and Demand Justice.
In 2020, Oren served as an adviser to the Biden campaign’s paid media team. In 2016, he was the Director of Paid Media on Hillary Clinton’s campaign, where he directed the campaign’s advertising program – overseeing the creative development and placement for all television, radio, direct mail, digital and newspaper ads in the primary and general elections.
Prior to joining SKDK, Oren spent over a decade on the campaign trail, holding positions including: Director of Independent Expenditures for the Democratic Governors Association, where he oversaw paid media programs in 11 states that totaled nearly $50 million; Campaign Manager and spokesman for Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon; Campaign Manager to New Mexico Lieutenant Governor Diane Denish; Communications Director to U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and spokesman on Cardin’s competitive 2006 Senate campaign.
Oren began his career as a campaign aide to legendary former Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD) and still proudly considers himself a “BAM’er.”
Oren graduated summa cum laude from The George Washington University, where he currently teaches a course in campaign communications. A native Marylander, Oren lives with his wife and their twin boys in Takoma Park, MD.
Comments Off on Oren ShurJill Zuckman works with many of the country’s best known corporations, managing complex issue campaigns, as well as reputational challenges involving tech companies, cyber security breaches, crises and other high profile matters.
Jill’s understanding of the media is based on personal experience. She worked as a national political correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and The Boston Globe for more than two decades. She is a recipient of the Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Coverage of Congress and the New Hampshire Primary Award.
Jill has worked extensively with families of Americans held hostage or unjustly imprisoned abroad. She led the successful communications campaign to free Alan Gross, an American imprisoned in Cuba for more than five years. She has also helped families who had loved ones detained in Syria, Iran, Venezuela and Japan.
For that and other work, Jill was named by PR News as one of the “Top Women in PR” and she received the Holmes Report’s SABRE Award for PR Agency Citizenship.
Before joining SKDK, she served as assistant to the secretary and director of public affairs for Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood at the start of the Obama Administration.
Jill serves on the board of directors of Sasha Bruce Youthwork, which is dedicated to building young people’s life skills to help them avoid homelessness. She is a past board member of the National Press Club Journalism Institute and Jewish Foundation for Group Homes.
Comments Off on Jill ZuckmanBill Knapp is a veteran political strategist and ad maker. He has served as a senior media strategist to six U.S. presidential campaigns and several dozen congressional, gubernatorial and mayoral races. He has also served as a strategist and communications consultant for Fortune 100 companies and major national nonprofit organizations.
Bill was the leader of the Clinton-Gore and DNC creative teams in 1996 and was a member of the media team for President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, producing numerous state-specific and national ads. Bill served as the lead strategist and ad maker for all three of Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s successful New York City mayoral campaigns, 2020 presidential run, nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety, and most recently Independence USA Super PAC, which produced hundreds of commercials across 30 congressional races in both the 2018 midterms, and 2020 presidential election. He has worked for a range of foundations and advocacy groups, including recent work for Tobacco Free Kids and for the Ad Council, producing a set of pro-vaccine PSA commercials.
With more than 35 years in the industry, Bill has extensive experience developing strategy and nationwide ads for major corporations, as well as market research and stakeholder strategic development. He has led efforts for Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, American Express, Motorola, AT&T, and The Business Roundtable, among others.
Raised in New York City, Bill was a researcher/producer at NBC in New York and a producer at Independent Network News in Washington, D.C., before joining legendary political consultant and documentary filmmaker, Bob Squier. Bill currently lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, three kids and dog, Woodley.
Comments Off on Bill KnappMike is a partner at SKDK and has more than 20 years working in communications, politics, and campaign management. He is a national public affairs leader specializing in crisis communications, war room operations, and campaign management for large-scale public affairs campaigns, philanthropic organizations, and fortune 500 companies. Previously, he served as U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s New York communications director and has extensive experience in campaign politics and advocacy at the local, state, and federal levels.
Mike has managed some of the most intensive communications campaigns in the country, including the removal of four confederate monuments in the City of New Orleans on behalf of Mayor Mitch Landrieu, the passage of statute of limitations reform for child sex abuse, litigation on behalf of survivors of sexual abuse, and executing the weeks-long international commemoration of Hurricane Katrina in 2015. He has also worked on behalf of the US Conference of Mayors, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, ChargePoint, and Microsoft.
At SKDK, Mike spearheaded the formation of the firm’s Foundations and Philanthropy practice division, leading its work with The Rockefeller Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the NoVo Foundation.
He is a frequent on-air political analyst.
Comments Off on Mike MoreyKerri Lyon oversees communications and media strategy for corporate and nonprofit clients and executives seeking to raise their profiles, sway public opinion and manage major crises. Whether she is helping protect reproductive rights, seeking justice for women experiencing workplace harassment, empowering teachers to advocate for their profession or advising C-suite executives on their messaging, Kerri brings a laser-like focus and intensity to every challenge. Kerri specializes in crisis communications, coalition management and leadership transitions.
Kerri has a unique understanding of the current media landscape having worked on both sides of the profession. As a former television news reporter for NY1 and WCBS-TV, she knows what it takes to create and place a compelling news story. And as a former communications director at the New York City Department of Education, she knows how to distill complicated policy issues to build public awareness and support.
Kerri has been named one of the PR News’ Top Women in PR, one of Insider’s Top Crisis Professionals and one of City and State’s Top Public Affairs Strategists. During her reporting days, she was nominated for two Emmy Awards and won a New York Broadcaster’s Association award for in-depth reporting. She is active on several nonprofit boards and advisory boards in her home borough of Brooklyn.
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