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.

CHRIS POLICANO – Director – has 20 years experience in journalism and public relations, most recently serving as press secretary for the United Federation of Teachers.  Prior to joining the UFT, Policano was Senior VP/Communications for Phoenix House, one of the nation’s largest non-profit substance abuse services agencies, where he was responsible for communications planning and strategy, media relations, publications, on-line and crisis communications and community relations.

Policano served as Communications Director for the New York City Council, where he was chief spokesman and communications strategist for Speaker Gifford Miller. On the journalism side, he was a general assignment reporter for the New York Daily News and covered City Hall for the New York Post during the Giuliani administration. He has also written for New York, Public Relations Journal, The Amsterdam News and The Nation.

In 2000, he was asked to help restore member and public confidence in District Council 37 (121,000 members) of the American Federation of State County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME) after a corruption scandal resulted in the indictment of several union leaders. As Director of Communications, Policano launched the union’s website; highlighted its political activity; directed the creation of an “Everyday Heroes” marketing campaign and served as chief spokesman during the union’s contract negotiations with the City of New York.

Policano has served as Account Supervisor at Howard J. Rubenstein Associates and Vice President of Public Affairs at Edelman PR Worldwide. He attended Syracuse University and City College of New York, and has served on the Board of Advisors of Columbia University’s Master’s Program in Strategic Communications.

MARCO DeSENA – Associate – has worked in policy and government for much of his career, both in New York City and in Washington, DC.  He has lobbied Congress and state legislatures on issues of government transparency and fiscal responsibility, and has also been a strong advocate for school reform.

A native New Yorker, DeSena received placement in the prestigious New York City Urban Fellows program, working in the administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg for Education Chancellor Joel Klein during the city school restructuring efforts in 2003-04.

In Washington, DeSena wrote Congressional testimony, speeches, and op-eds, and participated in working-groups with other political and policy grassroots advocacy groups while at the Free Enterprise Fund.

He most recently worked on the presidential campaign of Rudy Giuliani as Deputy Director for Policy Research, assisting with speechwriting and in the formulation of media and political strategy for a wide range of domestic policies.

DeSena has a Bachelors of Science cum laude in Public Affairs from the City University of New York (CUNY) Baruch College and a MSc in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He has written on political and economic issues for the New York Sun, Forbes.com, and other publications.