Democratic National Committee
430 South Capitol St., S.E., Washington, DC
last updated March 26, 2006

447 Members of the DNC includes 75 at-large members who are nominated by the Chairman and approved by the full DNC.

Executive Committee 64 members; oversees affairs of the party in between meetings of the full committee and meets four times a year.

Standing Committees -Rules and Bylaws - James Roosevelt, Jr. (MA) and Carol Khare (SC) -Credentials - Marianne Spraggins (GA) and Keith Umemoto (CA) -Resolutions - Maria Echaveste (CA)

Hispanic Caucus -- Chair: Alvaro Cifuentes Black Caucus -- Chair: Yvonne Atkinson Gates Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Caucus  -- Chair: Jeff Soref Asian Pacific Islander American Caucus -- Chair: Keith Umemoto

NINE ELECTED OFFICERS

Chairman

Terry McAuliffe

Elected Chairman in February 2001.  McAuliffe has served as Finance Director of the DNC and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee; National Finance Chairman and then National Co-Chairman of the Clinton-Gore re-election committee; Chairman of the 53rd Presidential Inaugural Committee; and chair of the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles.  He went to work on the Carter-Mondale reelection campaign after earning his undergraduate degree from Catholic University.  In 1984 he earned a J.D. from Georgetown Law Center.  McAuliffe grew up in Syracuse, New York.
 

Vice Chairs: Linda Chavez-Thompson - Executive Vice President of the AFL-CIO, elected at the federation's 1995 convention and re-elected in 2001; served as an AFSCME international vice president, 1988-96. Gloria Molina - one of five members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, elected Feb. 1991; previously served on the Los Angeles City Council and in the State Assembly. Lottie Shackelford - appointed by President Clinton to the Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), 1993; first woman elected Mayor of Little Rock, 1987.  Wellington Webb - served three terms as Mayor of Denver; first elected in 1991. Mark Brewer - elected Chair of the ASDC in June 2003.  Elected Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party in Feb. 1995, re-elected in Feb. 1997, Feb. 1999, and Feb. 2001; elected Executive Chair in Feb. 2003.

 

Treasurer

Andrew Tobias

Author of many books including three national best-sellers (Fire and Ice: the Charles Revson/Revlon Story; The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need; Money Angles; Getting By On $100,000 a Year (And Other Sad Tales); The Invisible Bankers: Everything the Insurance Industry Never Wanted You to Know; My Vast Fortune; The Funny Money Game; The Best Little Boy in the World).  His Managing Your Money software was the market leader.  Graduate of Harvard Business School.  While studying Slavic Languages and Literature at Harvard he ran the publishing business Let's Go: The Student Guide to Europe. www.andrewtobias.com
 
 

Secretary

Alice Travis Germond

Has served the Democratic Party for over 40 years.  Director of Party and Government Affairs and Site Selection at the DNC, 1992-95.  Held senior positions in the campaigns of Jerry Brown, Gary Hart and Michael Dukakis and was California Political Director for Clinton/Gore in 1992.  She has participated in every National Convention since the 1974 mid-term Charter Convention.
 
 

National Finance Chair

Maureen White

Serves as a US Government Representative to UNICEF and as the Chairman of the Leadership Council on Children Affected by Armed Conflict.  Sits on the Boards of Human Rights Watch and the International Rescue Committee. Prior to beginning her career in human rights work, White worked as an international investment strategist as a partner at Clay-Finlay.  She is the wife of Steve Rattner, co-founder and managing principal at Quadrangle Group, LLC, a private investment firm.

Deputy Chairs (nominated by the Chairman)
Congressman Mike Honda
Ben Johnson
Susan Turnbull
 

Co-Chairs (named by Kerry)

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)(April 15, 2004) Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH) (April 15, 2004) Rep. Ed Pastor (D-AZ) (May 25, 2004)

(Serve as liaisons for both the campaign and the DNC to the Senate and the House and aid the party in raising the necessary resources to compete against Bush.)
 
 

National Finance Co-Chair

Peter Maroney

(announced March 13, 2004)  Moved to DNC from position as Finance Director of Kerry for President, Inc.  Maroney served as Finance Director from the start of the campaign and has been Kerry's Finance Director since September 1997.  Previously, Maroney served as Finance Director for Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-MA) from 1992-97.  Maroney started out under the current Democratic Party Chairman, Terry McAuliffe, working for former House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt as Deputy Finance Director in 1991.  He is  a 1990 graduate of Rollins College with a B.A. in History and is originally from Philadelphia.

Kerry Greeley

Moved to DNC at the same time as Maroney, from position as Director of Grassroots Fundraising of Kerry for President, Inc.
 

Staff

and

ad-hoc Native American outreach cooordinator

Anna Sorrell

Director of Native American outreach for the Kerry/Edwards campaign.  On four and a half month leave of absence from position as director of support services for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes (Northern Montana); ran the tribal substance and alcohol abuse program for about eight years.  Taught at the Two Eagle River School for three years.

Note that a number of outreach staff, while physically based at the Kerry campaign, were on the DNC payroll.
 

Senior Advisor African American Outreach

Janice Griffin

(named by Kerry; announced April 16, 2004) Serves on the Board of the CBC Political Action Committee.  Headed Vice President Gore's leadership PAC, Leadership '02, after serving as Secretary of Gore/Lieberman 2000 and as Director of African American Outreach.  At the DNC she served as chair of the Women's Leadership Forum and helped to found the Women's Vote Center.
 
 
 

Deputy Field Director

Matt Nugen

(liaison field, political and other departments)  Director of delegate operations for Sen. Joe Lieberman's 2004 presidential primary campaign, announced Feb. 10, 2003.  Served as Vice President of Operations for Kwame Building Group, Inc.  In 2000, he was Deputy Chief Operating Officer for the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles.  From 1998-2000, Nugen was the Deputy Director and then the Director for the Office of the Secretary at the DNC. He spent time as a regional field director for the '98 South Carolina Coordinated Campaign and as the field director for the 2000 South Carolina tracking operation.
 

Assistant: John Hagner
 

Desks

NV, OR, WA, WV

C.R. Wooters

Worked for Vice President Al Gore's presidential campaign in 2000 in four states including Florida, where he managed daily field operations for the general election and recount; during the 2000 New Hampshire primary campaign he worked as a field organizer for Gore in Nashua.  Native of Silver Spring, MD.
Deputy Desk: Michelle Mayorga
 

IA, MN, WI

Erin O'Neill

Managed Vince Orza's campaign for the Oklahoma Democratic gubernatorial nomination in Aug. 27 2002 primary/Sept. 17 runoff.  Worked as an AFL-CIO organizer in Washington, D.C.  Northeast regional director for Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign.
Deputy Desk: Jessica Mejia
 

AR, LA, VA

Jocelyn Woodards

Chicago political strategist/community organizer.  Served briefly as national field director on Carol Mosely Braun for President, March-May 2003.  In 2000 was deputy director of the Florida Democratic Coordinated Campaign.  Deputy director of the Office of Voter Participation at the DNC, 1995-97.
Deputy Desk: Ashley Ettienne
 

ME, NH, PA, MI

Brian Hardwick

Deputy campaign manager on Joe Lieberman for President.  National political director for Senator Tom Daschle, the Democratic Leader in the Senate, directing DASHPAC and overseeing his activity at the DSCC.  Campaign manager and chief spokesman for Tom Strickland's 2002 US Senate race in Colorado.  In 2000 he served as national finance director for the DNC, raising over $185 million.  Earlier in the 2000 cycle he worked for Vice President Gore's leadership PAC and on Gore's 2000 primary campaign.  He has also worked for the DSCC, Sen. Bob Kerry, Sen.. Carl Levin and on many other campaigns.
Deputy Desk: Eileen Donohue
 

MO, OH, FL

George Rakis

Director of Elections at the DNC in the 2002 cycle.  Directed the Michigan Democratic Coordinated Campaign in 2000.
Deputy Desk: Alicia Kolar-Prevost
 

AZ, NM, CO

Cynthia Jasso Rotunno

On Joe Lieberman for President, Inc. served as Deputy Campaign Director for Constituency Outreach and Chief of Staff for Hadassah Lieberman; started on the campaign in February 2003.  Southwestern States Campaign Director and co-developer of the Hispanic Outreach Strategies Project at the DNC in the 2002 cycle.  (She has also served the DNC in the Chairman's Office, the Campaign Division as Deputy Director of Latino Outreach & Base Vote, and as the Deputy Southern Political Director in the '94 Coordinated Campaign).  Special Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff for the White House Office of Political Affairs during Clinton's second term.  Deputy Director for Government, Business and Community Affairs on the 53rd Presidential Inaugural, and Deputy Public Liaison Director on the '96 Clinton/Gore campaign.  Scheduler for Congressman Bob Filner (CA-51), 1993-94.  National Operations Director for LULAC National Educational Service Centers.  Investigator/Legal Assistant at the Consumer Protection Division of the Texas Attorney General’s Office.  Texas native.
Deputy Desk: Adam Wilczewski
 
 
 

Deputy Field Director for Reporting and Programs

Robby Mook

(Mook started in mid-July 2004; he closed out the campaign as GOTV Director in Wisconsin).  Served as deputy field director on Howard Dean's NH primary campaign, starting April 20, 2003 through the primary.  Previously worked for NYC councilwoman Eva Markowitz.  Field director for the Vermont Democratic Party Coordinated Campaign in 2002.  B.A. in classics from Columbia University, 2002.  Worked for the Vermont Democratic House caucus in 2000 and the Vermont Democratic Party as a canvasser in 1998.
 
 

Deputy Field Director for Training and GOTV

Jeremy Bird

(started late July 2004 right before the Convention)  Training director for Democratic GAIN.  Howard Dean’s Congressional District Director during the New Hampshire presidential primary.  Earned his Bachelor's degree at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana and his Master's degree from Harvard Divinity School.  Grew up outside of St. Louis, Missouri.
 

Deputy Field Trainer

Corrine Tapia

Previously worked with the DNC Finance Committee managing and coordinating logistics operations for donors attending the Democratic National Convention in Boston.  Assistant to the Chief-of-Staff and Deputy Scheduler for Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN).  Bachelor's degree in American Studies from Georgetown University.
 
 

GOTV Director

Laurie Moskowitz

Founding partner of FieldWorks, a political consulting firm specializing in grassroots organizing and field strategies.  Directed the DNC's 2000 Coordinated Campaign.  Director of Delegates for Gore 2000.  Special Adviser and Director of Operations at HUD under Andrew Cuomo, 1999.  A Deputy Political Director at the DNC and its Voter Contact Director during the 1998 election cycle.  In 1995-96 Moskowitz and a co-worker overhauled the DNC training program.   Worked for the PIRGs as a NJ staffer and as Campus Programs Director.  Graduate of the University of California at Berkeley.  Grew up in San Rafael, Calif.
 
 

Early Vote (focused on FL, PA, NH and ME)

Charlie Baker

Partner at Piper Rudnick Gray Cary in Boston.  Senior advisor to the Gore/Lieberman 2000 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee.  Senior advisor for the national field strategy for the Clinton/Gore presidential campaign and the DNC in 1992 and 1996.  Chief campaign consultant for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's 1994 re-election campaign.  Assistant secretary of the Executive Office of Administration and Finance in Massachusetts, 1989-90.  National field director for Dukakis/Bentsen presidential campaign.  Deputy secretary of the Executive Office of Communities and Development in Massachusetts, 1986-87.  Chief Secretary of the Office of Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, 1983-85.  J.D., Boston University School of Law, 1984.   B.A., Harvard University, 1980.
 

Early Vote/Vote by Mail Deputy

Jarel LaPan

Worked on Howard Dean's New Hampshire primary campaign first as Seacoast area organizer, then as regional director in the Concord office.  Graduate of the George Washington University with a degree in political science, May 2003.  From Santa Fe, New Mexico.
 
 
 

Chris Lavery

Served as Deputy Political Director on Joe Lieberman's presidential campaign, 2003-04.  Worked on Al Gore's presidential campaign and in the Clinton White House.  Lavery's father served as a Connecticut State Senator at the same time as Sen. Lieberman.
 
 

Mail: The Strategy Group, Ambrosino Muir & Hansen, Ewing Tapper (Pat Ewing), Mammen Pritchard, Message and Media, MSCH Partners, Inc.

also

Phil Giarrizzo

(a late national mail program)  Started Phil Giarrizzo Campaign Consulting in 1991.  (Earlier in the 2004 cycle did direct mail for Wesley Clark's presidential campaign for a number of states including OK, ND, and TN; for Craig Varoga).  Worked for Willie Brown in the California State Assembly.  Spent 15 years in the labor movement, including being the head of SEIU Local 660, a 40,000 member local in Los Angeles, and served on the SEIU International Executive Board.
 
 

Director of Online Organizing for the Voter Contact Dep't

Nita Chaudhary

Before joining the DNC, Chaudhury worked for People for the American Way.  She held several positions during her years there, including Media Research Analyst, Web Content Manager and Online Organizer.  Graduate of Trinity College in Hartford, CT  with a degree in Political Science and Women's Studies, 2002.  Born and raised in New York City.
Increasing the DNC's online activism and communications.  Worked with the political and field departments to use technology to increase civic participation.  Ran the DNC's meetups, online political and base-vote campaigns and Organizing Toolkit (which was a site that allowed all field offices to customize canvass and outreach literature and order it through a union printer in their area for delivery or pick-up).  Active in the media, fundraising and blogging side of the party's  internet work.  Worked regularly with state parties to help them increase their online presence.
 

Regional Press Desks

Midwest

Daniella Gibbs Leger

Gibbs previously served as Deputy Press Secretary, as the Communications Director for the Women's Vote Center and as Deputy Communications Director.  Before coming to the DNC, she served as the Marketing Associate for the National Newspaper Publishers Association, where she oversaw advertising placement and schedules for over 220 African American newspapers and served as the organization's political liaison.  Graduate of the University of Virginia with a Bachelors Degree in Government.
 

West	Nick Shapiro

...deployed to Nevada for the close of the campaign.
 

Northeast

Chris Mather

South

Bridget Lowell

(took leave of absence to work at the DNC)  Communications director for Congressman David Price (D-NC) since 2001, and has also managed the communications operations for his reelection campaigns.  Prior to that, Lowell worked for five years as an on-air television news reporter at stations in New York and North Carolina.  She is a graduate of Cornell University.
-succeeded Christina Saunders, who went to Florida to work on the campaign there
 

Opportunity (Non-Battleground) press desk for over 25 states

Erika Soto

(Soto served as an on-the-record and bilingual spokeswoman, cultivated relationships with reporters at DC bureaus of targeted regional outlets, and tailored national message with state communications staff to resonate with voters locally).  Before joining the DNC, Soto was a Press Aide for the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston and prior to that served as a Press Secretary to California State Controller Steve Westly.  Soto is a 2002 graduate of Stanford University with a B.A. in Political Science.  ...in the final weeks of the campaign, Soto was deployed to Las Cruces, New Mexico and served as the Southern New Mexico Press Secretary.
 

Regional Finance Directors

Western	Jim Green
Midwest	Greg Mecher
Southern	Leigh Garland
Mid-Atlantic	Lori Kreloff
Florida	Dan Turrentine
New York	Bridget Siegel
New England	Meredith Jones Dewitt

 

Young Professional Outreach

Sara Jones

Women's Leadership Forum

Annie Wuerth

African American Leadership Council

Malik Husser

Note: There were additional councils (Democratic Business Council, Jefferson Trust, Hispanic Leadership Council, Gay & Lesbian Leadership Council); the councils have more importance in non-election years, when they provide something to organize around, but with the presidential campaign setting the theme much of these efforts were folded into the regional structure.
 
 

National Operations Manager for Finance

Jonathan Zucker

Prior to the DNC, Zucker worked with a number of progressive and Democratic organizations as a fundraiser, legal counsel, and field organizer.  Experience includes national field organizer for The Interfaith Alliance (1999), executive director of And Justice for All (AJA), an organization dedicated to involving heterosexuals in the bisexual, gay, lesbian and transgender rights movement (1996-97), field intern at the Human Rights Campaign and coordinator of HRC's Pacific Northwest Equality Tour, and development assistant at the Democratic Leadership Council.  B.A. in Political Science from Yale University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.
overseeing technology, legal, compliance, vetting, and data-management for the DNC's major-donor program.
 
 
 
 

Assistants: Doreatha Leonard, Hilda Perez, Thomas Tutt, Larry Strongin, Cathy Setzer, Monisha Saran
 
 

National Director of Grassroots Fundraising

Nancy Eiring

(Kerry addition; joined the DNC in July 2004)  Joined Kerry for President in March 2004.  Deputy development direct at EMILY’s List, 2002-04.  Senior analyst at O’Brien, McConnell and Pearson (OMP), a leading fundraising agency for progressive non-profit and Democratic organizations, 2000-02; senior account executive at OMP from 1998 to 2000; managed the development and production of all direct mail and telemarketing campaigns for the Oxfam America, Earthjustice and Environmental Defense.  Directed Hillary Rodham Clinton's direct marketing campaign in her 2000 senatorial bid.   Production director at Lautman & Co., a fundraising agency.  Graduate of Catholic University, with a B.A. in English literature.
 
 

More Compliance Staff: Estella Valarta, Monique Richardson
 
 

C H I E F   F I N A N CI A L   O F F I C E R  Brad Marshall

Chief Accountant

Maria Galdo

 

Both Schloss and Kolar Prevost started at the DNC in May of 2003 and oversaw the 56 Delegate Selection Plans for the 2004 Convention.
 
 

Note
On July 23, 2004 the DNC announced appointment of Rev. Brenda Bartella Peterson as its Senior Advisor for Religious Outreach; however she resigned Aug. 4, 2004 amid controversy.  Peterson had signed on an amicus curiae brief favoring removal of the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance in a recent U.S. Supreme Court case.

Senior Advisor for Religious Outreach

Rev. Brenda Bartella Peterson

(announced July 23, 2004)  An ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and most recently served as Executive Director of the Clergy Leadership Network, a coalition of clergy of all faiths.  Peterson holds an undergraduate degree from Georgetown College, a small Baptist liberal arts school in Georgetown, KY, a Masters in Communications from the University of Kentucky, and a Masters of Divinity from Lexington Theological Seminary.  Prior to serving in ministry, she was a professional speaker affiliated with the National Speakers Association.

Notes.
How did the party determine who would be the key coordinated campaign staff in the various states?  It was rather more difficult and drawn out than the selection of the Kerry-Edwards state directors, which was largely done by Deputy Campaign Manager Steve Elmendorf, National Field Director John Norris and Senior Political Advisor Paul Rivera.  At the DNC there were frequent slotting meetings beginning in late March or April and continuing well into the summer.  These sometimes involved 15 or 20 people, including, from the DNC, General Election Manager Michael Whouley, Field Director Karen Hicks, Director of Political Strategy Teresa Vilmain, Political Director Amy Pritchard; and from the Kerry campaign Elmendorf, Norris, Rivera, Deputy Campaign Manager Marcus Jadotte, Senior Strategist Jill Alper, and Director of Community Outreach Mona Pasquil.  They gathered and set out all the states and all the open positions.  In some cases there was an obvious choice and in others it was not so obvious.  The meetings could be a bit painful as participants drew upon their Roledexes and tried to recall who was the field director in one race or the political director in another.  Then the person had to be contacted; in some cases lobbying was required and in others the individual declined.

How could the Democratic organization have been improved?  The resounding answer at the national level and in the states is "start earlier."  In a sense the DNC operates under the premise cannot name people or put organization in place until the nominee is selected.  Meanwhile on the ground out in the states Republicans started organizing months earlier and this gave them a very significant advantage.

The integration of the presidential campaign staff into the DNC operation also posed a significant challenge.  A relatively junior staffer said that from her view "it was as if we'd been invaded by, if not a hostile force, then a moderately friendly opaque force."  The staffer said it would have been helpful to have "had spent a little extra time mapping that out or...at least had an honest conversation about the coming changes."  She explained:

"The problem really is how the Party (either party) can't relate to the candidates until there is only one candidate -- the nominee. You are taking two completely separate pieces of election machinery and attempting to jam them together on an accelerated schedule.  You go from having a chairman in his square and a campaign manager in his square to having a general election manager and the chairman taking a backseat.  The shift of loyalties -- at least professionally if not personally -- has to be instantaneous."

2004 marked the first time DNC undertook a national field program.  A top staffer suggested a far more decentralized approach, more respectful to the key people on the ground, would have been helpful.
 

Copyright © 2004, 2005  Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action