Speaker Biographies

Jessica Czervionke - Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
Manager of Grassroots Outreach
Jessica Czervionke joined the JDRF Government Relations Office in July of 2007 and focuses on grassroots mobilization efforts at the state level, in order to support ongoing legislative goals and initiatives driven by current diabetes issues on Capitol Hill. Prior to joining JDRF’s Government Relations team, Czervionke worked for more than two years for a respected Washington, D.C.-based public affairs firm, focusing on a variety of state-based client issue and advocacy campaigns.  Czervionke graduated from Georgetown University in 2005, and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English and in Psychology.

Ron Faucheux - Senator Landrieu
Author/ Professor 
Ron Faucheux is one of America's top political and public affairs analysts. Contributor-at-Large for Campaigns & Elections magazine - a nonpartisan publication he previously published and edited - he writes a column on politics and public opinion.

Currently head of government affairs for the American Institute of Architects, Dr. Faucheux is a former state legislator and cabinet secretary. He's the author of the acclaimed book for candidates, Running for Office; editor of The Debate Book, a manual of standards and guidelines for political debates; and editor of Winning Elections, a treasure chest of the best campaign advice ever published.

He's handled 116 candidate and issue campaigns as a media consultant and campaign strategist. He's worked on a wide range of issue advocacy, association, corporate and grassroots lobbying campaigns.

Since the early 1990s, he's made over 350 national television appearances and has anchored his own national cable TV news show. His network appearances have included the News Hour with Jim Lehrer, The Lou Dobbs Show on CNN, ABC's Nightline, NBC's The Today Show and ABC's Good Morning America.

He's trained thousands of political candidates, issue advocates, corporate executives and association leaders. The campaign "message development" process he created has been used successfully by many campaigns, large and small, around the world.

Dr. Faucheux graduated from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, received a law degree from the LSU Law Center and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of New Orleans.

He teaches courses in Campaign Management and Running For Office at The Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University and at Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute.

He was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives at 25 - at the time the legislature's youngest member. He was re-elected twice, once with 84 percent of the vote and once without opposition. He also served as state Secretary of Commerce.

Don Foley - Automotive X Prize
Executive Director
Don is a 20 year veteran of Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. and had previously served as Chief Operating Officer of Powell Tate, Weber Shandwick and Vice President, Worldwide Corporate Communications for Northwest Airlines before establishing Prism Public Affairs, a Washington, D.C. based public relations firm. Don also served as Executive Director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and was the convention manager of the 1996 Democratic Convention in Chicago.

Janet Kavinoky - U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Director, Transportation & Infrastructure
Before joining the Chamber, Kavinoky was a project director for Business Development and Transportation Finance at the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) where she provided funding and finance expertise and was a member of the group's advocacy team. She has also served as special assistant to the secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation and a consultant to the California Department of Transportation. Kavinoky holds a bachelor's degree in political economy from the University of Wyoming and a master's in business administration from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Mike Kondratick, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
Director of Grassroots Advocacy
Mike Kondratick is the Director of Grassroots Advocacy for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).  He has served in that role since 2005.  Prior to joining JDRF, he spent five years at The Direct Impact Company, a grassroots consulting firm.  Kondratick graduated from Lehigh University with a B.S. in economics in 1998.

Jeff Mascott - Adfero Group
Managing Director
Jeff is Managing Director of Adfero Group. He specializes in strategy development, as well as the creation of integrated campaigns for clients, including associations, interest groups and Fortune 500 companies.

A frequent speaker and often interviewed expert on the intersection of public affairs and the Internet, Jeff’s insights have been featured by the USA Today, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, CNN.com, National Public Radio, and other prominent media outlets. Jeff is an adjunct instructor at the Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies and teaches a course on interactive public relations.

Prior to Adfero, Jeff served as the primary online communications consultant at the House Republican Conference under former Chairman U.S. Rep. J.C. Watts, Jr. He has the distinction of designing the original GOP.gov web site praised by The Congressional Management Foundation as “pushing the boundaries of what is possible for Congress on the web.” Jeff also organized efforts to improve online communication between members of the House of Representatives and their constituents.

A native of the Washington, D.C. area, Jeff is an alumnus of the University of Maryland. He and his wife, Jenn, reside in the Washington, D.C. area.

Joanna McIntosh - Verizon
Vice President, Federal Government Relations

Pete Snyder - New Media Strategies
Chief Executive Officer
Pete is the Founder and CEO of New Media Strategies, the industry pioneer and market leader in Online Intelligence and Word of Mouth marketing, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.

Drawing on his background as a nationally-known pollster and a media consultant, Pete founded New Media Strategies in 1999, and in doing so created an entirely new industry segment in market research, online marketing and communications. For the past three years in a row, New Media Strategies was named to the “Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Companies in America,” by Inc. Magazine. Proving that a company can focus on fast growth, profitability, and a winning corporate culture, both Washingtonian Magazine and Washington Business Journal twice named New Media Strategies as one of the area’s “Best Places to Work." Additionally, Pete was recently honored by Fortune Small Business for his innovative management-style when they named him “2006 Best Boss.”

Over the past seven years years, Pete has guided New Media Strategies as CEO, building a blue-chip client base that features some of the best known brands and corporations in the world, including among others: ABC, AOL Time Warner, Atari, Boston Beer Company, Burger King Corporation, Coca-Cola, CBS, Disney, Dodge, EA, Ford Motor Company, HBO, Jeep, Levi’s, McDonald’s, Northwest Airlines, Paramount Pictures, PepsiCo, RCA Records, Red Bull, Reebok, Revlon, Sci-Fi Channel, Sony, USA Network, and Wyeth. NMS’ record of real results for our clients speaks for itself, for in 2006 NMS helped market twenty two feature films that hit the top spot at the box office.

National media have taken notice. Ad Age, Ad Week, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Variety, Brandweek,The Hollywood Reporter, Businessweek, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Daily News, The New York Times , The South China Post, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and Washington Business Journal have covered Pete and New Media Strategies. Additionally, Pete was named as one of the “Quotes of the Year” by ESPN’s Sports Guy, Bill Simmons.

A former political media consultant and a pollster to New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Pete regularly appears as a commentator on the Fox News Channel and has served as a marketing and political expert on CNBC, The News with Brian Williams, the CBS Evening News, Fox News Channel’s Your World with Neil Cavuto, Hannity and Colmes and Fox and Friends.

Waldo Tibbetts - Politico
Associate Publisher