Today, DNC Chair Jaime Harrison and Executive Director Sam Cornale announced the creation of the Coalitions and Community Engagement Department, the creation of the Counsel and Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion position and new hires to both the Coalitions and Mobilization Departments. Brencia Berry will lead the newly created department as Director of Coalitions and Community Engagement. Ebony Baylor has been promoted to serve as Deputy Director of Coalitions, Community Engagement and Black Coalition Director. Eric Salcedo will be AAPI Coalition Director. Maria Martinez has been named Latinx Coalition Director. Theresa Sheldon will be Native American Coalitions Director. Helen Brosnan has been hired as Progressive Coalitions Director and Atoyia Deans will serve as Coalitions Manager. Tamara Chrisler will serve as Counsel and Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, a newly created position reporting to Chief Operating Officer Monica Guardiola. LGBTQ and Women’s Coalitions Directors will be announced in the near future.

In the Mobilization Department, Andrew Gauthier has been hired as Creative Director. Christian Richard has been promoted to serve as Design Director and Hal Irish has been hired as Digital Advertising Director. Olivia Hill has been promoted to Director of Grassroots Donor Relations and Erin Conway has been promoted to Direct Mail and Telemarketing Director. 

In the Special Projects Department, Mansoor Khadir has been promoted to serve as Special Projects Director. Chelsey Cartwright will serve as Deputy Special Projects Director and Malik Haughton will be Special Projects Manager.

“These hires, and our deepened focus on coalitions work, will ensure the DNC leaves nothing on the table as we fight to elect Democrats up and down the ballot in the months and years ahead,” said DNC Chair Jaime Harrison. “Each and every one of these staff members is among the strongest talents in our party and will bring deep experience and unique perspective to the work we do. I could not be more excited to welcome them to the DNC family and look forward to working with them in the years to come.”

“The DNC continues to recruit top talent to meet the moment,” said DNC Executive Director Sam Cornale. “The fight for 2022 will live or die on our ability to message and organize voters key to rebuilding the Biden coalition, especially voters of color and younger voters. Our team keeps getting stronger, and come 2022, our deep experience and early investments will help to ensure our party builds on our successes.”

Coalitions and Community Engagement Department

Ebony Baylor previously served as Black Outreach Director for the DNC. Prior to joining the DNC, Ebony served as the Director of Civic Engagement for the National Urban League. She also worked as the Outreach Coordinator for the Louisiana Democratic Party. She is a native of Shreveport, Louisiana and has worked in state legislative politics and grassroots organizing for candidates and issue advocacy campaigns for more than a decade. She is a proud graduate from Southern University A&M College where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Master’s of Public Administration with a Non-Profit Management Concentration.

Brencia Berry most recently led PL+US (Paid Leave for the United States) national outreach program as Vice President of Equity and Political Strategy. In 2020, Brencia served as National Deputy Director of Public Engagement, overseeing policy and coalitions outreach for Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign. Before joining Senator Warren’s team, Brencia was the first Black woman to serve as Chief of Staff for a Council Member in San Antonio. Additionally, Brencia is a Hillary for America national advance team veteran and has experience working in state and local government in Louisiana and Texas. She is also a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Helen Brosnan previously worked with Justice Democrats, where she helped elect Rep. Jamaal Bowman to Congress. She served as Regional Political Director on Senator Elizabeth Warren’s presidential race, mobilizing key supporters in 15+ states. Before that, she was organizing immigration justice campaigns at the National Domestic Workers Alliance and fighting for Medicare for All with healthcare activist Ady Barkan at Be A Hero. In her spare time, Helen organizes with New York City Care Coalition, a coalition of domestic workers, caregivers, and employers building political power in NYC.

Atoyia Deans previously served as Special Assistant to the Political and Organizing Director. Atoyia has also worked as a photojournalist at one of the nation’s largest news publications, the Tampa Bay Times. She is a graduate of Howard University and a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.

Maria Martinez previously served as the Deputy Campaign Manager for Comptroller Stringer’s NYC mayoral campaign. Prior to that, she was Deputy Political Director at Climate Power 2020 where she led the campaign’s Latinx outreach and strategy. In June 2019, she joined Senator Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign as the Southwest Organizing Director before becoming the campaign’s National Latinx Engagement Director. She has also served on the staffs for 32BJ SEIU, the Office of the New York State Attorney General, and Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney. Maria is a native of Newburgh, NY and a daughter of Mexican immigrants.

Eric Salcedo previously worked as the Midwest Regional Coalitions Director for Biden for President. Afterwards, he served as the Agency Engagement Liaison on the EPA Agency Review Team for the Biden-Harris Transition. Prior to 2020, Eric was the National Field Director at APIAVote, a national nonpartisan organization that promotes the civic and electoral engagement of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities. He had also served as the Community Outreach Director at the Office of the Illinois Attorney General.

Theresa Sheldon joined the DNC in August 2019 as Native American Political Director. Previously, she worked at EMILY’s List to create their first Native American Run-to-Win Training for Native women seeking to run for political office. She has served as an elected representative, member of the Board of Directors and Policy Analyst for the Tulalip Tribes. She has worked a co-chair for Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI) Native Vote since 2008 and is a founding member and co-chairperson for Native Vote WA.

Mobilization Department

Erin Conway has been a part of the DNC’s direct mail and telemarketing programs since 2018. During her time here, she has raised over $130 million for the DNC and Biden Victory Fund and played a key role in building out the marketing team’s digital integration programs. Prior to joining the DNC, Erin worked on the direct mail and telemarketing programs at EMILY’s List.

Andrew Gauthier has spent a decade working at the forefront of digital media. After seven years at BuzzFeed, where he was Head Of BuzzFeed Video, he moved to politics in advance of the 2020 election. He was Director of Digital Content for the Kamala Harris primary campaign, and Director of Video for the Biden campaign during the general election. While at BuzzFeed, he launched the popular digital food brand Tasty and also worked for NBC on digital coverage of the 2016 and 2018 Olympics. He recently joined the DNC as Creative Director, overseeing brand identity for the Democratic party and managing its digital content teams.

Olivia Hill has been working with grassroots donors at the DNC since 2019 and this past cycle she raised more than $400,000 while bringing virtual town halls into the 21st century. Since joining the DNC, Olivia has been an integral part of leading efforts to join together Democratic Party leadership and grassroots donors through virtual events, individual relationships, and everything in between. Prior to joining the DNC, Olivia worked in fundraising at EMILY’s List.

Hal Irish joined the DNC in June as the new Digital Advertising Director. Most recently, he served as an Associate Director of Advertising at Authentic Campaigns overseeing online ad programs for Democratic campaigns and organizations. Hal is a DC native, pet dad and amateur photographer. He is passionate about his work in digital Democratic politics because of a strong belief in social change through storytelling, and a deep desire to connect communities online.

Christian Richard is a Virginia native who joined the DNC in 2018 as a Senior Designer after working at Bully Pulpit Interactive, collaborated with the Biden-Harris design team during the 2020 campaign season, and is now leading design at the DNC. In his spare time, you can catch him eating crab legs, riding his bike around some of the trails in the DMV area, and reading comic books.

Counsel and Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Tamara Chrisler is a licensed attorney who has spent her decades-long career ensuring fair and just administration of the law as a criminal prosecutor in Chicago, and advancing workplace rights as a labor and employment attorney, within the Department of Justice and on Capitol Hill. Most recently, Tamara served as Senior Advisor for Organizational Compliance and Development at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Tamara has spoken globally and provided Congressional testimony on addressing and preventing discrimination in the workplace and the importance of strong diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Tamara currently serves on the Maryland State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Special Projects Department

Chelsey Cartwright served as Northeast Regional Political Director on the Biden-Harris 2020 Presidential campaign. During the 2020 Presidential Primary, she served as Southern Regional Political Director at Warren for President. Previously, she held roles of Deputy Political Director on Warren’s Senate re-election bid and Director of Constituent Services for former Boston City Councilor At-Large, and current Congresswoman Ayanna S. Pressley. Cartwright began her career in the administration of former Governor Deval L. Patrick.

Malik Haughton previously served as the Democratic Lawyers Council Finance Director at the DNC. In that role, he managed and led multiple major donor fundraising events that supported the DNC and the Biden Victory Fund. Prior to joining the DNC, Malik worked in the battleground state of Florida as a fundraiser for the Florida Justice Association. In 2014, he successfully ran the Get Out The Vote operations for a Red-to-Blue Congressional campaign in the Sunshine State, sending the first woman to represent North Florida to Congress. In 2012, Haughton worked in the battleground state of Pennsylvania on the re-election campaign for President Barack Obama.

Mansoor Khadir previously served as Senior Advisor to the Political and Organizing Department at the DNC. Prior to joining the DNC, Mansoor was part of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s national field team. He was part of Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Campaign and was a Resident Political Party Trainer for the National Democratic Institute in Egypt helping organize activists in the aftermath of the Arab spring. He has more than a decade of experience working on political campaigns in the United States including coordinated campaigns in New Mexico, Iowa, and Connecticut.