Cohort 7 Speakers

Jane Nelson was appointed the 115th Texas Secretary of State by Governor Greg Abbott on January 5, 2023.

In her time as secretary of state, she has emphasized efficiency and customer service—lessons she learned as a businesswoman in North Texas. She also brings her expertise as a Texas senator for more than 30 years, including serving as the Chair of Senate Finance, to guide the agency.

Highlights of her legislative career include writing four balanced state budgets, establishing the Cancer Research & Prevention Institute of Texas (CPRIT), achieving tax relief, overhauling the foster care system, and expanding access to mental health care.

Secretary of State Nelson and her husband, J. Michael Nelson, owned and operated an aircraft component manufacturing company in Denton County. They have five children and 12 grandchildren.

James is a political communications consultant who is helping diversify the coalition behind today’s progressive victories. Aldrete served as a member of the Obama Media Team in 2008 and 2012, with a specific focus on Hispanic media and engagement. In 2016, he played a similar role for Hillary for America, in addition to producing the campaigns’ general market radio. In the 2022 midterms, Aldrete’s team engaged the critical Latino vote in Nevada and Arizona, helping to re-elect Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), the nation’s only Latina senator, and, working with the Senate Majority PAC, helped secure Senator Mark Kelly’s re-election victory. Both races were critical to Democrats reclaiming control of the US Senate. Aldrete’s firm, known as MAP (Message Audience & Presentation, Inc.), is based in Austin, TX. 

Natalie Austin is a Civics Outreach Manager at Google, where she focuses on teaching policymakers, campaigns, and civic organizations best practices across Google products and tools. A Miami, FL native, Natalie currently lives in Washington, DC. A former campaign and political operative, her past roles include stints on Kamala Harris for President, the Florida Democratic Party, and the White House Press Office.

Nancy is the director of development for Business for America, a nonpartisan nonprofit engaging corporate leaders to promote civic engagement. Her experience as a fundraising strategist for political campaigns, nonprofits, and associations is the basis for her book, Go Fish: How to Catch (and Keep) Contributors: A Practical Guide to Fundraising. Bocskor served as the inaugural director of the Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy at Texas Woman’s University, and teaches at the Graduate School of Political Management at The George Washington University, the University of San Francisco, and American University. She is on the board of Running Start and of POWER (Programs for Ohio Women Empowered to Represent) at the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University, and is an adviser for Veterans Campaign. She previously served on the board of The Campaign School at Yale University.

Marjorie is principal of Clifton Consulting, LLC. She has two decades of experience in communications and policy, and is also a published author, speaker and media commentator, appearing multiple times a week on CNN, Fox, NBC, MSNBC, PBS and global news networks. She founded her consulting business in Washington, DC in 2004. As a consultant for corporations, non-profits and federal agencies, she focuses on public policy, brand and workforce optimization. Clifton’s projects also include developing strategic coalitions for policy initiatives, including being called upon by the White House in 2011, to build and lead a coalition of Internet companies to address online counterfeiting of prescription drugs. Her structure has now been adopted in the EU and the Asian Pacific Economic Forum.

Clifton earned her bachelor’s degree in communications and Spanish from the University of Texas.  She earned her master’s from Drama Studio London, and is currently a fellow and advisory board member for the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Participation at the University of Texas.  She is also an executive board member of the non-profit Running Start, and a founder of their Next Step program, which trains young women in career development and political engagement.  She was awarded a female “Profile in Power” by the Austin Business Journal in 2015.

Kathryn serves as Vice President of Voter Contact and Business Development at Echo Canyon Consulting, where she leads award-winning direct mail programs and strategic voter contact efforts for campaigns across the country. With more than a decade of experience in local, state, and federal politics, Kathryn has developed and executed high-impact advertising for ballot initiatives in small towns, competitive statewide campaigns, and national independent expenditures.

Kathryn’s political career began in Dallas working for Chairman Pete Sessions and continued on Capitol Hill with Congressman Roger Williams in Washington, D.C. She later served as Executive Director of the Dallas County Republican Party, where she broke fundraising records by bringing in nationally recognized speakers and expanding donor engagement.

Since then, Kathryn has overseen comprehensive direct mail programs nationwide, delivering targeted, results-driven messaging that helps campaigns win at every level of the ballot.

Sarah Flowers is a campaign-winning Democratic media and general consultant known for her ability to craft messages and strategies that reach and persuade conflicted and difficult-to-motivate voters. Since founding 76 Words in 2011, her top passion has been electing women to public office, helping secure wins for candidates including Florida’s first Latina Democrat in Congress, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, Texas’ first two Latina Congresswomen, Veronica Escobar and Sylvia Garcia, and Georgia Congresswoman Nikema Williams. Sarah has also led successful ballot initiative campaigns on marriage equality, reproductive freedom, voting rights, and criminal justice reform, earning recognition from the American Association of Political Consultants for her work defeating an anti-abortion measure in Mississippi. An accomplished director and storyteller, her television and digital ads, as well as documentaries, have earned numerous awards and national recognition. A second-generation Mexican-American and member of the LGBT community, Sarah resides in Washington, D.C. with her internet-popular dog, Maybe.

Monica Gomez Taylor is a Regional Political Director at the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, where she works across twelve states to build and protect Democratic majorities. A 14th-generation New Mexican, Monica began her career working with down-ballot candidates in her home state, where she unseated an eighteen-year incumbent to elect her father to the New Mexico Legislature. Before joining the DLCC, she served as Political Director of Annie’s List in Texas for four years. There, she trained more than 1,400 women to run for office, built one of the nation’s largest and most comprehensive campaign staffer training programs, and helped the organization achieve the highest number of electoral victories in its eighteen-year history. Her leadership has been recognized nationally: in 2019, the American Association of Political Consultants named her one of the Top 40 Under 40, and in 2020 Campaigns & Elections honored her as a Rising Star. In addition to her work at the DLCC, Monica currently serves as Chair of the Democratic Party of Doña Ana County and as Board Chair of MOVE Texas Action Fund. She lives in Las Cruces, New Mexico with her husband Brandon, their son Keiran, and their mini–Australian Shepherd, Bailey.

Calum Hayes is President and Co-Founder of GO Creative Group, where he leads digital strategy, advertising, and communications for political campaigns, advocacy organizations, and public affairs clients across the country. He specializes in audience targeting, paid media, organic digital engagement, campaign messaging, branding, and digital communications, helping clients build integrated campaigns that reach the right audience with the right message.

Over the course of his career, Calum has managed tens of millions of dollars in digital advertising and developed digital communications strategies for clients ranging from local campaigns to statewide organizations and elected officials. Prior to founding GO Creative Group, he served as chief speechwriter for a statewide elected official and as Vice President of the full-service digital firm Upstream Communications.

Calum lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and their two daughters.

Michael Kaiser is an internationally known cybersecurity and privacy expert. In the decade prior to becoming the President and CEO of Defending Digital Campaigns (DDC), Mr. Kaiser was the Executive Director of the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA). He led and grew NCSA’s efforts promoting a safer, more secure and more trusted Internet, including signature programs such as National Cyber Security Awareness Month. NCSA’s work earned several awards including in 2017 winning the SC Magazine Editor's Choice Award, and two Silver Anvil Awards from the Public Relations Society of America. 

Earlier in his career, Mr. Kaiser held executive management positions at the National Center for Victims of Crime in Washington, DC and Safe Horizon in New York City. He led the development and implementation of programs for victims of domestic violence, stalking, teen victims, and others whose lives had been impacted by crime. 

In 1998, he co-authored with his wife Laura Fisher Kaiser, The Official Ebay Guide to Buying, Selling and Collecting Just About Anything.

Kaiser has served on several nonprofit boards including the College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine, The ESET Foundation, San Diego, New Destiny Housing, New York City,  and currently serves on the board of Cyber Trust America, San Jose, California.

Sara Marie Ridley is an accomplished public affairs professional with extensive experience in political campaigns and strategic consulting. As a State Strategist at Majority Strategies, she has advised clients across Texas and New Mexico, as well as states including Alaska, Colorado, Oklahoma, Missouri, New York, and Delaware. Her work spans sectors such as energy, healthcare, education, and nonprofit initiatives, where she develops tailored strategies to meet diverse client needs.

In addition to her role at Majority Strategies, Sara Marie founded Surefire Public Affairs, where she advised Texas statewide campaigns, political organizations, and nonprofits. She previously served as Deputy Press Secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy, supporting press operations for Secretary Rick Perry. A Texas native, she holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Fordham University and is an active member of the Impact Council for the Women’s Public Leadership Network.

Dasheika is a seasoned attorney, advocate, and political operative with over 20 years of experience. She has been at the forefront of some of our nation’s most historic and consequential community-centric issue-based and electoral campaigns. Some of her dominion includes: Obama for America, Hillary for America, Elizabeth Warren for President, Stacey Abrams for Governor, Doug Jones for Senate, Ayanna Pressley for Congress, Reverend Raphael Warnock for Senate, and most recently she helped secure the youngest member of the United States Congress with Maxwell Frost for Congress.

Currently, she serves as the Global Head of Community Engagement and DEI Strategies for Google, where she lends her constituency-building expertise to build sustainable strategic partnerships and ensure that the organization is a good corporate citizen for communities where Googlers live and work in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Dasheika is licensed to practice law in both Georgia and Texas. She received her Juris Doctorate from Thurgood Marshall School of Law in Houston, TX and received her B.A. and B.S in Pre-Law and Legal Studies from the University of Florida and is a proud advisory board member of the LBJ Women’s Campaign School.

Jenifer loves stories and helping people develop and tell theirs. At Sarver Strategies, she works with corporate and nonprofit clients to develop their story – and then train them to effectively tell it. She is a sought-after corporate coach, working with executives and their teams to build and refine their communication skills. She leads classes, workshops and one-on-one sessions on media training, advocacy and engagement, public speaking, executive presence, and virtual engagement. She brings more than 25 years of professional experience in the corporate, nonprofit, and political worlds to bear on behalf of her clients. She completed her undergraduate work at The University of Texas at Austin and graduate work at American University in Washington, D.C. She is passionate about civic engagement, promoting civil discourse and helping more women get elected to public office. She has served on numerous nonprofit and civic boards, with current leadership roles at the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life, the LBJ Women’s Campaign School and the Texas Lyceum. She is also a Presidential Leadership Scholar and a Civil Society Fellow. In 2023 she joined the faculty at her alma mater, teaching at the Moody College of Communication.

Cliff is a campaign strategist with fifteen years of experience building progressive groups and counseling hundreds of first-time candidates. He joined the Texas Democratic Party in 2015 to create Project LIFT, a program to recruit, train, and elect diverse candidates to local offices in urban, suburban, and rural Texas. In 2019, Cliff was promoted to Deputy Executive Director, helping guide strategy, develop the Party's voice, and raise a record level of funds. Recently, he co-founded Seeker Strategies – a progressive, Black and Brown-owned communications and advocacy firm that guides clients through an ever-changing cultural, political, and regulatory landscape. A San Antonio native and the crunchiest member of the Seeker Strategies team, Cliff is fond of meditation retreats, vegan recipes, and nerdy podcasts.