RICHARD SCHWARTZ – Managing Partner – served as the editorial page editor and lead op-ed page columnist at the New York Daily News from 2001 to 2005.  In those roles he won awards for editorials he wrote regarding the reconstruction of New York and Ground Zero in the aftermath of 9/11, airport security (leading to the creation of the TSA), the reform of the city’s public school system, and corruption in the New York court system. He also wrote extensively about governmental investigations into the banking, insurance and pharmaceutical industries. In his four years at the Daily News, Schwartz won two Silurian Awards and a Deadline Award from the Society of Professional Journalists for editorial excellence.

A leading expert on public policy, Schwartz previously served as Senior Policy Advisor to Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. In that role he was the architect of the city’s landmark welfare reform – which President Clinton later used as the model for the national welfare reform.  With former Yale University President Benno Schmidt, Schwartz was a co-author of the Schmidt Commission Report, which helped guide the City University of New York’s (CUNY) extraordinary six-year turnaround.  He also supervised the city’s $5 billion-a-year capital construction system, which he consolidated into a single agency (the Department of Design and Construction). He also wrote and helped implement the quality-of-life plan for New York City. As part of that effort, he oversaw the city’s wide-ranging and successful efforts to clean up its streets, parks and highways.

Schwartz was Founder and CEO of Opportunity America, a for-profit workforce development corporation that trained and placed more than 10,000 welfare recipients into private jobs across the United States. Schwartz earned his B.A. from Columbia University and Master’s in public policy from New York University where he also did Ph.D. work. He has served as a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Schwartz was the first recipient of NYU’s prestigious “Alumni Award” for lifetime achievement from its Wagner School of Public Service.   

KEN FRYDMAN – Managing Partner – is a veteran journalist and media relations strategist. Frydman was previously Executive VP at Golin Harris, a division of The Interpublic Group. He has provided marketing and media communications services to clients including Cushman & Wakefield, AOL, M&M/Mars, American Airlines, Special Olympics, Toyota, Nintendo, Visa, Vivendi Universal, L'Oreal, Prevacid, Owens Corning and The Body Shop.

Prior to joining Golin Harris, Frydman was Senior VP for Corporate Communications for the New York Daily News and U.S. News & World Report.  In that role he helped oversee publication of U.S. News’ Annual Guide to America’s Best Colleges. He was chief spokesperson for the publications and sat on both the executive and publisher's management committees.

Frydman was previously Senior VP of Edelman NY, where he integrated Edelman and its top clients – including New York-Presbyterian Medical Center, Pfizer, CS First Boston, Barnes & Noble, BMW and MasterCard – into the New York business, government and media communities. In 1993, Frydman served as Rudy Giuliani's mayoral campaign press secretary.

Frydman has written about business, politics, arts and culture for New York Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, the Daily News, the New York Post, The Village Voice and Nation’s Restaurant News. He holds a B.S. and Masters in Journalism and Business from The University of Maryland, College Park, and taught Business Management at The New School for Social Research.


KANESSA TIXE -Director- previously worked as a senior program manager at Global Fluency, where she managed the marketing and PR campaigns of technology and consumer clients. Tixe has seven-plus years of experience in media and community relations, special events, political campaigns and government.

For five years she served as a City Hall press officer for the NYC council, where she developed strong relationships with community groups and city agencies and worked as a press liaison to staff and elected officials.

Tixe was a press coordinator for the TriBeCa film festival and a senior account executive for Quinn & Co. public relations, managing six clients, developing and executing strategic PR initiatives, campaigns and events and securing consistent top-tier media placements.

At Rubenstein Associates, one of NYC’s top PR firms, Tixe represented entertainment, real estate, sports and social clients. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in criminology and forensic psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Prior to his work at CapitalHQ, Terzulli worked in Washington, DC and in New York City in a strategic communications capacity for public policy organizations.

Terzulli graduated from American University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and public communication. At American, he served as President of the Student Government and interned at the White House, He is currently a second year student at New York Law School in lower Manhattan and serves on the Board of Directors of Americans for Job Security, an independent, bi-partisan, business-focused advocacy organization based in Washington.