Mariel brings over a decade of experience in government and politics to her work at SKDK supporting public affairs and corporate clients.
She joined SKDK from President Biden’s White House communications team, where she served as the Director of Broadcast Media. In that role, she served as the Administration’s point person for over 2,700 interviews in the first year of the Biden presidency. As the Administration worked to communicate about the economic recovery, COVID-19, national security, and other top policy priorities, she developed and implemented the broadcast media strategy; worked closely with the networks to shape coverage of the Administration and negotiate interviews, town halls, and special events; and briefed Senior Administration Officials and Cabinet Secretaries ahead of their media appearances. Prior to her role at the White House, Sáez served as Deputy Communications Director for the Presidential Inaugural Committee and as Women’s Media Director for the Biden-Harris presidential campaign.
Mariel also has over a decade of experience working on Capitol Hill for House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer. She served in a variety of roles in his office to include his Deputy Communications Director. In that role, she served as his spokeswoman, helped communicate the House legislative agenda and coordinate the messaging strategy for the House Democratic Caucus, and provided strategic and crisis communications advice.
Originally from Maryland, Sáez earned a bachelor’s degree in economics at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.
Comments Off on Mariel SáezD’Seanté Parks has over a decade of experience in communication and political strategy for public, private and non-profit organizations. Her national career started at SKDK’s Washington D.C. office as an associate. She left to work on federal, state and local elections, including on U.S. Senate campaigns for Senators Mary Landrieu and Kamala Harris. Before rejoining the firm as a senior vice president in the New York office, she founded civic empowerment app 1000 MORE and maintained an independent public affairs consulting practice for prominent Louisiana and national clients. Additionally, during her time away, she completed a Master of Public Policy degree at the Harvard Kennedy School and contributed to various publications, including a handbook for campaigns to combat mis and disinformation attacks. D’Seanté is a proud alumna of Louisiana State University, with a Bachelor of Political Communication from the Manship School where she contributed research for several published works on the roots of propaganda in America.
Comments Off on D’Seanté ParksCameron brings a mix of corporate and public service media savvy to SKDK. He has held positions with political campaigns in the U.S. Congress and across the federal government. Most recently, Cameron served as a senior spokesperson for the Biden-Harris Transition and was selected by PR Week as one of the nation’s Top 40 Under 40 public relations strategists.
At SKDK, Cameron has guided a range of corporate, political and advocacy clients on some of our nation’s most impactful policy debates. From fighting for more affordable housing to shining a light on the impact of gun violence for Black and brown communities and expanding the narrative of environmental justice, Cameron has assembled a diverse client portfolio. He has provided media relations strategy and direction including paid media campaigns, leadership transitions, Congressional testimony and national media tours.
Cameron has a track record of success, providing elected officials and senior leaders with strategic guidance to tell their stories. Cameron was appointed by President Obama to serve in communications capacities at the U.S. Department of Education and at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). While at HUD, he served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary within HUD’s Office of Public Affairs. Among the agency’s leadership team, he directed the press office and provided counsel to Secretary Julián Castro as his chief spokesman.
Cameron is a native of Philadelphia, PA. He received his Bachelor’s degree from The University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Cameron is a graduate of Leadership Greater Washington’s 2018 Signature Program and The President’s Leadership Workshop. He lives in Washington, DC with his young family.
Comments Off on Cameron FrenchErin Weinstein specializes in public affairs and healthcare communications, bringing almost two decades of experience working as an agency and in-house communications expert. Erin leads SKDK’s Washington, D.C. healthcare practice, helping clients distill complex issues into compelling stories that accelerate policy change, spotlight new innovations, educate consumers and influence stakeholder action.
Erin has worked with a diverse group of health systems, government agencies, pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical technology companies, both globally and in the U.S. She has also worked on a variety of healthcare issue areas including women’s health, oncology, diabetes, disparities in care, access, and value.
Erin joined SKDK after serving as Vice President of Marketing and Communications for the Greater Washington Partnership. Before the Partnership, she held senior communications roles at Stanford Health Care | Stanford Medicine, and served as Director of Public Affairs and Senior Advisor to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker. She also worked as Communications Director for Congresswoman Nita Lowey (NY-17) and served as a spokesperson for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Erin is a graduate of Syracuse University, where she earned a dual degree in Communications and Political Science.
Comments Off on Erin WeinsteinDaniel is a campaign strategist with experience in campaign management, paid media, and opinion research on some of the country’s most competitive races. Most recently, Daniel was the campaign manager for Senator Michael Bennet’s presidential campaign.
In 2021, Daniel was the lead strategist and ad-maker to now-Congresswoman Shontel Brown when she shocked the political world by overcoming a 40-point deficit to win her congressional seat. In the 2022 cycle, Daniel helped drive the ad strategy for Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, the only Democrat to win a governor’s race in a state Trump carried in 2020. Daniel also served as a media strategist and ad producer for Maryland Governor Wes Moore, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval, Demand Justice, and for additional members of congress and winning ballot initiatives.
Daniel spent his career developing and executing effective campaign strategies and paid media campaigns. In 2018, he oversaw expansion districts at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), handling more than 30 races in tough districts across the country, with a focus on expanding the congressional battlefield and creating multiple paths to the majority.
In 2016, Daniel was Deputy Director of Opinion Research for Hillary for America. In 2014, he was a Political Desk for the DCCC’s Independent Expenditure Program, where he managed over $20 million in paid media spending, resulting in successfully defending 10 incumbents and flipping 3 Republican-held seats in a tough cycle. Daniel also managed a special election for Congress that POLITICO called the “best Democratic campaign of 2017.”
In 2020, Fortune Magazine named Daniel to its 40-under-40 list, saying “When races appear to be insurmountable, Barash is who Democrats call on to make things happen.”
Daniel graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a degree in international studies. He grew up in New York, NY and Tel Aviv, Israel.
Leave a commentKendra Barkoff Lamy is the former press secretary to Vice President Joe Biden. Most recently, she served as senior adviser to Administrator Michael Regan at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Kendra is a recognized expert in crisis and strategic communications as well as public affairs. She works on some of the most high-profile matters in the news today, ranging from climate change to government whistleblower cases, as well as representing victims of sexual assault and abuse.
At SKDK, Kendra is among the foremost leaders working to give a voice to the voiceless. During the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Brett Kavanaugh, she advised Christine Blasey Ford. She also supported numerous survivors of Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein. She represented a young producer at NBC News who blew the whistle on Today Show host Matt Lauer, a groundbreaking development that helped foster a national discussion of sexual harassment in the workplace. Most recently she work in the sports space working for a survivor of Trevor Bauer as well as a group of former employees for the Washington Football Commanders who shed light on the working conditions within the football organization. For all this, and other work, PR News named her one of the “Top Women in PR.”
During her time at EPA, Kendra served as a senior adviser to Administrator Regan, helping him and the agency elevate critical issues such as environmental justice, clean air and drinking water, as well as President Biden’s signature legislation, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill.
Prior to joining SKDK, Kendra worked in the Office of Vice President Biden, where she served as Press Secretary for four-and-a-half years. During her time with Vice President Biden, Kendra was the primary on-the-record spokesperson, leading the office’s rapid-response operation and managing communications strategy. In addition, she helped develop and launch the 1is2many and the ItsOnUs initiatives, two Administration campaigns that helped change the cultural norms around domestic violence, dating abuse and sexual harassment.
Prior to her work in the White House, Kendra served as the Deputy Communications Director and Press Secretary at the U.S. Department of Interior. There, she honed her talents at crisis communications, leading the Obama administration’s rapid response operation to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. She also helped manage the communications activities around myriad complex conservation and environment issues within the department’s portfolio. On Capitol Hill, she worked for Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey and Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin.
At SKDK, Kendra regularly works with the nation’s top law firms, providing litigation support as part of her crisis communications practice. She regularly serves as an on-the-record spokesperson on behalf of individuals, non-profits and corporations. And she works as a strategic adviser to several Native American tribes in high-stakes Supreme Court cases.
Kendra is a native of Northern California. She holds a bachelor in Political Science from Washington University in St. Louis.
Leave a commentMichelle is an Executive Vice President at SKDK, bringing 15 years of experience in media relations, crisis counsel, and storytelling to her role at the firm.
At SKDK, Michelle has led major thought leadership campaigns, corporate restructurings, mergers & acquisitions, and other complex communications initiatives for companies and organizations of all sizes. She has also managed major issue-advocacy campaigns for women’s health organizations. Her clients include Fortune 500 companies, non-profit institutions, and venture-backed high-growth startups.
Michelle joined SKDK from Sloane & Company, a corporate communications firm that is now an independent subsidiary of SKDK. At Sloane, she led PR programs for clients in healthcare, technology and retail. Before Sloane, Michelle was at GCI Health, a global integrated healthcare communications agency, where she supported patient advocacy and corporate brand management for pharmaceutical and biotech clients.
Michelle is a graduate of Trinity College in Hartford, CT, where she received a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a minor in Spanish. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons.
Leave a commentAlex uses his experience in politics and newspaper journalism to help some of the nation’s largest companies and foundations to secure high-profile coverage, navigate major crises, and build strategic media campaigns.
At SKDK, Alex advises clients on a range of communications engagements from public affairs outreach to managing internal and crisis communications. He has extensive experience placing stories and securing interviews for corporate, nonprofit, and advocacy clients – outlets include the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, and NPR. Alex’s experience spans multiple industries including healthcare, higher education, philanthropy, and nonprofits.
Alex has spent more than a decade working in Massachusetts media. He most recently advised Boston Mayor Marty Walsh’s political team in 2020 and has regularly worked with Boston news outlets on behalf of business and healthcare clients. He came to SKDK from O’Neill and Associates, where he developed and implemented media strategy for many clients including 1199SEIU, the Boston Carmen’s Union, Stonehill College, and HarborOne Bank. He worked on campaigns for Congresswoman Katherine Clark and former State Senator Warren Tolman.
Alex started his career as a newspaper reporter, with stops at the Arizona Republic, The Eagle-Tribune and The Enterprise of Brockton. Alex lives in Somerville, and he is a graduate of Tufts University.
Leave a commentJavier is a seasoned media strategist who works across SKDK’s political, corporate, non-profit, and crisis communications practices. With more than a decade of experience, Javier leads high-profile public affairs campaigns nationwide, and helps clients navigate their most difficult communications challenges. He has successfully worked across various sectors – including tech, healthcare, education, and philanthropy – to secure impactful coverage in the nation’s top news outlets, such as The Associated Press, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CNN, and MSNBC.
Javier’s background is deeply rooted in New York politics – previously serving as press secretary to then-New York City Public Advocate Letitia James, and as a spokesperson in the New York State Assembly and the New York City Council. Javier has also led City Hall government affairs efforts on behalf of various corporate and non-profit clients.
Javier is originally from Long Beach, CA and is fluent in Spanish. He graduated cum laude from New York University, with a Bachelor’s degree in Politics. In 2018, he was recognized by PR News as a national PR Rising Star Under 30, and he frequently appears as an on-air political commentator.
Leave a commentMichael Czin, Managing Director, has worked at every level of government and campaigns, from the White House to City Hall, advising elected officials, agencies, candidates and political parties, as well as CEOs and foundation leaders, on strategic and crisis communications.
At SKDK, Michael has helped a tech company manage media and litigation efforts after its trade secrets were stolen, guided a utility through a successful merger amid a challenging regulatory environment, supported a major school district during multiple leadership changes, and has advised organizations and their spokespeople at critical reputational crossroads. In 2021, he took a leave of absence to serve in the Biden Administration as a Senior Advisor to the White House Counsel, becoming the first spokesperson for that office since the Clinton Administration.
Prior to joining SKDK, Michael served as Communications Director to Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, where he was the District’s chief spokesman and led strategic communications for the Mayor and more than 60 agencies.
Before his time in the Bowser administration, Michael was National Press Secretary for the Democratic National Committee during the 2014 election cycle, where he advised state parties, candidates and elected officials at the local, state and federal level. Previously, Michael served as a top spokesman for President Obama’s 2012 reelection and held several positions on then-Senator Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign.
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