APPLECART - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Board Director
- Investor
- Growth Investor / Board Member
Alexander Jutkowitz is an advisor, investor, and board director for private equity, growth, and venture investments in media, marketing, and information services.
He advises and serves on the boards of a stakeholder analytics and intelligence firm, a diverse audience marketplace, a performance marketing business, an expert professional services platform specializing in marketing and strategy, a decision-maker influencing and marketing firm, and a B2B news and information services brand.
He was a longtime data and insights expert, a crisis and reputation expert in over 30 countries, and is the founder of an award-winning content marketing firm.
Having split his childhood between Latin America and the United States, Jutkowitz has a unique cultural perspective that has informed his career. He was raised in Chile, then Philly, is fluent in Spanish, and has been an advocate for more diverse cultural perspectives in his industry and beyond.
Alexander has taught at the University of Southern California Annenberg School of Communications and Journalism. His book, "The Strategic Storyteller," was published by Wiley in 2017.
Job Titles:
- CEO, Endeavor / Board Member
In 2009, Emanuel orchestrated the largest talent agency merger in history when Endeavor, the agency he founded in 1995, joined forces with agency William Morris to form William Morris Endeavor (WME). Three years later, WME forged a strategic partnership with Silver Lake, a global leader in private investments in technology. In 2014, the group acquired premier sports, fashion, events, and media company IMG before acquiring UFC® in 2016. Emanuel helped accelerate the popularity of mixed martial arts through a series of blockbuster media rights deals, including a multi-year broadcast partnership with ESPN. One year later, Endeavor was formed as the holding company for the global portfolio of businesses. Endeavor debuted on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer of Endeavor
Ariel Emanuel is Chief Executive Officer of Endeavor (NYSE: EDR), a global sports and entertainment company home to many of the world's most dynamic and engaging storytellers, brands, live events, and experiences. He is also Chief Executive Officer of TKO Group Holdings (NYSE: TKO), a premium sports, entertainment, and media company that comprises UFC, the world's premier mixed martial arts organization, and WWE, an integrated media organization and recognized leader in global entertainment.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of Strategic Partnerships
- Executive Director, Strategic Partnerships / Board Member
Brooks Aukamp is Executive Director of Strategic Partnerships at Applecart, where he serves as a counselor to government relations, public affairs, and corporate communications leaders at Fortune 500 companies, major trade associations, and advocacy organizations. Brooks has spent nearly 20 years advising clients on large scale public affairs and issue advocacy campaigns. Prior to joining Applecart, Brooks spent 6 years at Twitter, where he led the company's team that managed partnerships with political and advocacy organizations. Before Twitter, Brooks held partnerships roles at major publishers like The Atlantic and National Journal, as well as digital advertising technology company Basis Technologies (formerly Centro). Quite surprisingly Brooks finds himself living happily in the suburbs of Northern Virginia with his fiancée and 4 kids. He enjoys blowing leaves, watering his flowers, and having an actual driveway.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Senior Managing Director
Carrie Ponder is a Senior Managing Director at Applecart, where she partners with CCOs and communications leaders to precisely target earned media and compelling content at specific, critical decision makers and their orbit of influence. Before joining Applecart, Carrie served as a client leader for nearly two decades at BCW, Weber Shandwick, Ogilvy and other leading global PR agencies. An expert at helping Fortune 500 companies fortify and build their reputation, Carrie has partnered with Accenture, Microsoft, and Bloomberg, amongst others, on strategies ranging from executive visibility to earned media, ESG marketing, and investor relations. Carrie has a B.A. in Communications from Vanderbilt University and regularly provides presentation and media coaching for senior executives.
Job Titles:
- VP, Talent / Board Member
Deb has served as Applecart's VP of Talent since 2024. She brings over 20 years of HR and Talent Acquisition leadership experience, gained from her time with organizations including Google and Unilever - and is a true believer that attracting and retaining top talent is inextricably tied to an organization's success.
Prior to joining Applecart, Deb spent 10 years as cofounder of Gray Scalable, an HR and Recruiting consultancy, where she was a talent advisor to founders and executive teams, building fast-growing tech companies, including Reddit, Greenhouse, Datadog, Olo, and Buzzfeed.
A graduate of Columbia University, Deb enjoys giving back to her community, serving as an advisor to several arts organizations, providing thought leadership on panels, and coaching emerging talent. Deb and her husband are both professional classical singers - so should not have been surprised when their three sons ended up as professional singers and actors from a young age themselves. They all live in a never-quiet home in New Jersey.
Job Titles:
- General Counsel
- Member of the Board
Elaine Divelbliss joined Applecart as General Counsel in September 2023 with 25 years of legal experience, including advising high-growth, innovative technology companies. She is responsible for the company's legal and compliance strategy and oversees all legal affairs. Elaine brings deep experience in digital advertising and data privacy, having served as Chief Legal Officer and Head of People for Kargo Global LLC, a multiplatform international advertising company. As co-founder and legal advisor to Virgin Mobile's Assurance Wireless Lifeline service, she honed her state and federal regulatory and compliance expertise, and was later named General Counsel of Virgin Mobile. Prior to going in-house, she practiced for a decade in the litigation department at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. Elaine joined Applecart from Vida Health, where she was General Counsel & Chief People Officer. She received her BA and JD from the University of Pennsylvania. Elaine lives in New Jersey with her husband Steve and three children.
Job Titles:
- Head of Public Affairs Agency Partnerships / Board Member
Jeff Sadosky, Applecart's Head of Public Affairs Agency Partnerships, came to us after nine years as a Partner at Forbes Tate Partners, one of Washington D.C.'s leading public affairs and lobbying firms. Prior to that, Jeff served in senior communications and leadership roles for three U.S. Senators and a number of presidential, gubernatorial and senate campaigns and a leading trade association within the healthcare industry. Jeff graduated from James Madison University, where he studied International Affairs, Business and Spanish.
Job Titles:
- Managing Partner, Owl Capital / Board Member
Jennifer Fonstad is a serial entrepreneur and veteran investor with 25 years+ of experience investing in early-stage ventures. Jennifer co-founded and leads the Owl Capital Group, an early-stage investment firm, and earlier co-founded Aspect Ventures. She also currently serves as an Executive Fellow with the Harvard Business School.
Previously, Jennifer served as a Managing Director with Draper Fisher Jurvetson for 17 years, where she helped grow the firm from $150M under management to over $3.5B. Jennifer's participated in 100+ investments with 8 IPOs and 23 M&A exits. Her success as an investor has landed her on the Forbes Midas List twice, and in 2016, she was named Deloitte's "Venture Capitalist of the Year." In 2017, 'Working Mother' named her one of "The 50 Most Powerful Moms."
She is a graduate of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and holds an MBA with Distinction from the Harvard Business School. Prior to venture investing, Jennifer was a consultant with Bain & Company and spent a year teaching math to high school students in sub-Sahara(n) Africa. She is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a board member for the Mastercard Foundation. Her favorite role is as a mother of four children.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Senior Managing Director
Joe Farren is a Senior Managing Director at Applecart where he designs and executes impactful public affairs campaigns for his clients. Previously, Joe served in the administration of Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, crafting first-in-the-nation policies that expanded opportunity for thousands of workers without college degrees. Joe has also served in executive roles at leading communications firms Porter Novelli, Weber Shandwick and WE Communications and counseled top global brands on complex public affairs challenges that shape political dialogue and impact consumer decision making. Joe has a BA from Monmouth University and an MPA from Rutgers University. He is the Chairman of the Chesapeake Bay Trust.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- President
Joe Shafer has served as President of Applecart since 2019. In this role he oversees the company's client success team. Prior to joining Applecart, Joe led the Democratic Governors Association's (DGA) independent expenditure arm, where he managed a budget of $74 million and helped flip seven Republican governorships to Democratic control. Prior to that, Joe managed former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf's monumental 2014 primary and general election victories before serving as Executive Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor in his administration. Earlier in his career, Joe managed the successful campaigns of former West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin and oversaw Northeast campaigns for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Joe lives in New York City with his wife and two daughters.
Job Titles:
- Managing Partner With Heidrick & Struggles
- Managing Partner, Heidrick & Struggles / Board Member
Julian Ha is a managing partner with Heidrick & Struggles, the global executive search and leadership consulting firm. He leads the firm's Legal, Risk, Compliance & Government Affairs Practice and founder of its Trade Association Practice. Julian represents numerous Fortune 500 clients and member-driven organizations and has placed CEOs and senior executives in legal, public policy, government relations, and corporate affairs roles. Previously, Julian practiced corporate law in New York, Singapore, and London, operated as a venture capitalist in London, headed the European business development efforts of Capital IQ and was a director with ESCL, a British merchant bank.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director
- Member of the Board
Julie Walsh is a Managing Director at Applecart where she advises CCOs and other communications leaders across Fortune 500 companies, trade associations, nonprofit organizations and agencies on their corporate communications and public affairs priorities. Before joining Applecart, Julie spent nearly 15 years working at global PR and marketing agencies, including Burson-Marstellar and FINN Partners, where she advised everyone from the C-suites of startups on the road to IPO to CEOs and CCOs of the world's largest companies. Julie has a Bachelor of Arts in strategic communication from The Ohio State University and a Master of Arts in public relations and advertising from DePaul University.
Job Titles:
- Director, People / Board Member
Justin Cutler leads Applecart's People & Culture team. He is a certified human resources expert with extensive experience building and developing teams across companies at various stages. Prior to joining Applecart, Justin led recruitment and supported various people & culture initiatives at Series-C ad-tech startup <intent> and HR consulting firm, PEAR Core Solutions. Justin is a graduate of the University of Maryland.
Kelsey McLaughlin serves as Applecart's VP of Media. Kelsey is a digital advertising expert with nearly 15 years of experience designing and executing digital advertising campaigns representing hundreds of millions of dollars of investment. Kelsey began her career running digital advertising strategy for major political campaigns, national nonprofits, and advocacy organizations. At Applecart, she leads the company's team of digital media buyers and strategists and oversees the technical aspects of the company's digital advertising work. Kelsey's clients include Fortune 500 companies, major trade associations, presidential campaigns and national nonprofits. Kelsey is a graduate of UC Santa Barbara and lives in San Francisco with her husband and toddler.
Job Titles:
- VP of Engineering
- VP, Engineering / Board Member
Ken Abe has served as VP of Engineering at Applecart since 2021, where he leads the company's engineering and data science teams, delivering the technology behind Applecart's product. Prior to joining Applecart, Ken was a tech entrepreneur and a leader of agile development teams at multiple NYC startups. Most recently, he served as Director of Engineering at Series-C ad-tech startup <intent>. He also spent the first half of his 20-year career building software in the FinTech space. Ken is a graduate of New York University and Sophia University.
Job Titles:
- Chief of Staff
- Member of the Board
- Chief of Staff to
Kendall D'Amore is Chief of Staff to Applecart Co-CEO Matt Kalmans. Prior to joining Applecart, Kendall worked on the private equity investing team at Sycamore Partners, where she evaluated investment opportunities within the consumer retail sector. Previously, Kendall worked at Bain & Company, a global management consulting firm, and Harry's, a personal care company. Kendall graduated summa cum laude from The Wharton School, where she received a BS in Economics and played varsity lacrosse.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Senior Managing Director
Kerri Allen is a Senior Managing Director at Applecart, where she partners with CCOs and CMOs. With more than two decades of marketing and communications experience, Kerri has served in leadership roles at top agencies including WPP's BCW Global and, most recently, Klick Health, the world's largest independent agency for the life sciences. She has been a trusted counselor to C-suite clients at Fortune 500 companies, among them 3M, Colgate-Palmolive, The Coca-Cola Company, GSK, Merck, and United Airlines. Kerri has also advised many startups on accelerating their communications messaging and reach. A former fellow with The New York Times Institute for Journalism, her writing has appeared in the Times, CNN, and USA Today, to name a few. Kerri lives in New York City with her husband and painfully cute puppy dog.
Job Titles:
- VP, Client Services / Board Member
Lisa Chapman serves as Applecart's VP of Client Services, where she manages a team of strategists who work day-to-day with clients to deliver Applecart's products. Prior to joining Applecart, Lisa designed and managed integrated digital communications campaigns at Novartis, a Swiss pharmaceutical company, and at BCW, a global communications agency. Former clients include top U.S. and multinational corporations in the healthcare, pharmaceutical, and technology industries. In 2014, Lisa led the paid media efforts for then-Florida Governor Rick Scott's successful re-election campaign. Lisa is a graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and lives in New Jersey with her husband and son.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of Strategic Partnerships
- Executive Director, Strategic Partnerships / Board Member
Maggie Snipes is Executive Director of Strategic Partnerships at Applecart. Maggie has over a decade of experience as a senior media, communications, and marketing advisor. She's led public affairs and corporate reputation campaigns on behalf of dozens of brands - from start-ups to legacy brands. After beginning her career at a leading trade association, Maggie led major brand partnerships on behalf of leading publications from The Washington Post to Axios. Now at Applecart, Maggie partners with Fortune 500 companies and major trade associations to help them message directly and precisely to key decision makers and their spheres of influence with impact and efficiency. Maggie graduated summa cum laude with Phi Beta Kappa honors from Auburn University with a bachelor's degree in Art History.
Job Titles:
- VP of Product
- VP, Product / Board Member
Mark Kopera has served as VP of Product at Applecart since 2022. Prior to Applecart, Mark was Head of Product for Moat, Oracle Advertising's Media Measurement & Ad Verification suite and served on the Board of Directors for the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) Tech Lab. Mark also held leadership positions at Rocket Fuel, [x+1], appssavvy, and Digitas and advised F500 / FTSE1000 companies and private equity investors as a member of OC&C Strategy Consultants. Mark holds Bachelors and Masters degrees from Cornell University's College of Engineering and lives in New York City with his wife and two sons.
Job Titles:
- President & CEO, 4A's / Board Member
- President and CEO of the 4A
Marla Kaplowitz has served as President and CEO of the 4A's - the leading U.S. trade association representing over 600 advertising and marketing agencies - since May 2017.
Prior to leading the 4A's, Marlas served as CEO of MEC North America (now Wavemaker, part of GroupM), beginning in 2011. As CEO, Marla drove the agency's strategic initiatives with a focus on delivering growth for its people, clients and the industry. Marla led MEC to become a major disruptor in the area of talent management with its innovative approaches to attracting, nurturing and retaining the industry's top talent. MEC NA was cited in Fortune's "Great Places to Work" feature and was named in Advertising Age's "Best Places to Work in Advertising and Marketing" in 2015.
Marla serves on the Boards of Penn Entertainment, The Ad Council, BBB National Programs, Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA), Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG), and Media Village.
Job Titles:
- VP of Analytics
- VP, Analytics / Board Member
Masa Aida serves as VP of Analytics at Applecart, where he leads a novel measurement practice, integrating the best practices of methodologies of survey science, machine learning, and digital advertising. Before his tenure at Applecart, Masa spearheaded the survey research department at Civis Analytics, serving as a Principal Survey Scientist. He designed a robust and scalable research infrastructure, assisting numerous presidential campaigns, political committees, and influential super PACs in building political forecasts and testing hundreds of advertisements. With years of expertise spanning U.S. and international survey research, modeling, exit polls, and randomized controlled experiments, Masa brings a wealth of knowledge to his role. He holds degrees from the University of Michigan and the University of Tokyo and lives in Chicago with his wife, two sons, two cats, several hens and ducks.
Job Titles:
- Co - CEO & Co - Founder / Board Member
- Co - Founder and Co - CEO
Matt Kalmans is Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Applecart, a leading Marketing and Communications Technology company that created the category of "Decision Maker Marketing." Applecart's platform is used by hundreds of Fortune 500 companies, global agencies, major trade associations, and leading nonprofits - from Blackstone and Intuit to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to deliver content (e.g., earned media, advertising, etc.) to decision makers (e.g., CEOs, policymakers, analysts, regulators, employees, etc.) and their spheres of influence across every advertising channel. Applecart helps senior executives deliver their message to decision makers and those who influence their thinking at a 50-90% cost savings to traditional marketing approaches.
Matt co-founded Applecart in 2013 and today manages the company's sales, marketing, client success, finance, and business operations teams. Matt's work has been featured in Bloomberg BusinessWeek, The New York Times, Politico, The Washington Post, and MSNBC's Morning Joe, and he previously earned a place on Forbes' 30 under 30 list for Marketing and Advertising. Matt is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where he now serves as a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Robert A. Fox Leadership Program, and is a member of the Arthur W. Page Society, the world's leading professional association for senior public relations and corporate communications executives.
Matt lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with his partner Audrey. Outside of work, Matt plays godfather to two rambunctious golden doodles and is on a mission to explore all of New York's best pizza joints and Jewish delis.
Job Titles:
- Chief of Staff
- Member of the Board
- Chief of Staff to
Megan Adamo is Chief of Staff to Applecart Co-CEO Sacha Samotin, where she supports Sacha with special projects and strategic initiatives. Prior to joining Applecart, Megan worked on the Corporate Development team at Axel Johnson, a family office private equity firm, and as an analyst at Cornerstone Research, a litigation consulting firm. She holds a B.A. in Mathematics and Economics from Amherst College, where she graduated summa cum laude, was inducted to Phi Beta Kappa, and played varsity tennis.
Job Titles:
- VP of Business Development
- VP, Business Development / Board Member
Peter Greenberger has served as VP of Business Development at Applecart since 2020. Prior to joining Applecart, Peter served as an executive at both Google and Twitter, starting and building their DC sales teams, and later serving in other senior roles in global sales and partnerships. Most recently, Peter served as Publisher of The Hill, the largest U.S. independent political news website at that time. Peter is a graduate of Yale University and the London School of Economics. Peter lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife Cassidy and three sons.
Job Titles:
- Global Managing Director at Korn Ferry
- Global Managing Director, Korn Ferry / Board Member
Richard S. Marshall is Global Managing Director at Korn Ferry, where he leads the world's largest recruiting firm's practice which focuses on corporate communications, investor relations and government affairs. Since joining the firm in 2005, he has led nearly 400 successful engagements globally, including C-suite officers at Softbank, Alibaba, PepsiCo, Boeing, General Mills and the NFL, and other Fortune Global 500 organizations. In addition, he placed Investor Relations Officers at the world's two largest IPOs, and other leading brands including Alibaba, Walmart, PayPal, Boston Properties, GE and Virgin Galactic.
Before his search career, Marshall spent more than 20 years as a communications and public affairs leader and advisor to four CEOs in three different industries. He was Chief Communications Officer at Home Depot, then a Fortune #13 retailer. And earlier, led communications at Silicon Graphics (SGI) and Subaru during its turnaround that was called "Most Improved Car Company in the World" by The Financial Times. He is active with the Arthur W. Page Society and the National Investor Relations Institute, among other professional organizations.
Marshall holds a B.S. in Marketing from Indiana University and completed graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania.
Job Titles:
- Co - CEO & Co - Founder / Board Member
- Co - Founder and Co - CEO
Sacha Samotin is Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Applecart, a leading Marketing and Communications Technology company that created the category of "Decision Maker Marketing." Applecart's platform is used by hundreds of Fortune 500 companies, global agencies, major trade associations, and leading nonprofits - from Blackstone and Intuit to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to deliver content (e.g., earned media, advertising, etc.) to decision makers (e.g., CEOs, policymakers, analysts, regulators, employees, etc.) and their spheres of influence across every advertising channel. Applecart helps senior executives deliver their message to decision makers and those who influence their thinking at a 50-90% cost savings to traditional marketing approaches.
Sacha co-founded Applecart in 2013 and today manages the company's product, engineering, talent acquisition and HR teams. Sacha's work has been featured by the AP, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, The New York Times, Politico, The Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and on MSNBC's Morning Joe. In 2021 he and Co-Founder and Co-CEO Matt Kalmans earned places on Forbes' 30 under 30 list for Marketing and Advertising. Before Applecart, Sacha spent nearly a decade working across some of America's most prominent political campaigns and on Capitol Hill as a Congressional Page.
Somewhere along the way, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania magna cum laude, where he now serves as a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Robert A. Fox Leadership Program. Sacha lives in Manhattan with his wife Laura and their two cats, Tory and Bertie. Outside of work, Sacha is a die-hard Yankees fan and avid collector of Star Trek memorabilia and cookbooks. Since becoming a Jeopardy! Champion, Sacha has been forced to play on his own team on Applecart trivia nights.
Job Titles:
- Founder of Feinberg Strategies LLC
Sarah E. Feinberg is the founder of Feinberg Strategies LLC, a strategic communications, CEO advisory, public policy and operations firm specializing in advising companies in the tech and transportation sectors. Feinberg founded her firm in 2017, following a career that spanned many years of government service, as well as deep experience in the tech sector.
During 2020-2021, Feinberg served as the President of New York City Transit -the largest transit agency in North America and home of the iconic NYC Subway. Feinberg's service as NYCT President was notable for its timing - just days into her tenure, NYC became the epicenter of Covid-19 in the US. Feinberg led the agency's aggressive response to the pandemic.
Prior to serving as NYCT President, Feinberg served as the Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, the sole safety regulator for the US passenger and freight rail system. Feinberg was nominated for the post by President Barack Obama, and confirmed by the Republican-led US Senate. Prior to leading FRA, Feinberg served as Chief of Staff at the US Department of Transportation, where she led the agency's day-to-day operations, as well as all agency and regulatory actions related to modern day transportation challenges including autonomous vehicles, drones, aviation, etc.
Previously, Feinberg served in the Obama Administration as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Feinberg also served on Capitol Hill in both the US Senate and the US House of Representatives, was director of policy communications at Facebook from 2010-2013, and served as Bloomberg LP's Director of Communications and Business Strategy.
Sean Garrett is the creator of three industry-first consultancies: The first tech policy communications agency bridging Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C.; the strategy consultancy Pramana Collective run by former heads of comms of high-profile companies; and, now a one-of-kind community of 300+ of the top comms leaders called Mixing Board. Sean was Twitter's first comms and marketing leader, an active early advisor to Slack, and a strategic consultant to the Obama White House.
Sean Patrick Maloney has a distinguished career in both the public and private sector.
He was elected five times to represent New York's 18th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives, serving from 2013-2023. While in Congress, Representative Maloney chaired both the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure as well as the Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development Subcommittee of the House Committee on Agriculture. He served as a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and was elected by his colleagues to House leadership in 2020. He is the author of more than 40 pieces of legislation that have become law.
Prior to serving in Congress, Maloney served as President Clinton's White House staff secretary, helped found a financial services software company, and worked as a partner at two global law firms.
Raised in Hanover, New Hampshire, as the youngest of six siblings, Maloney attended public elementary and high schools before earning undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Virginia. He worked as a volunteer with the Jesuits in rural Peru between college and law school from 1988-89.
He is the first openly LGBT person ever elected to Congress from New York and the highest ranking openly LGBT person ever to serve in the House. He and his husband, Randy Florke, recently celebrated their 30th anniversary and have raised three children together.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Senior Partner
Sean Sweeney is Senior Partner at Applecart. Prior to Applecart, Sweeney was a founding partner at The Messina Group. Sweeney is recognized as one of the leading Democrat operatives in Washington, D.C. In the 2012 election cycle, Sweeney co-founded the now mainstay Democrat SuperPAC Priorities USA. The PAC's work has been credited as an essential component of President Obama's re-election and was recognized across the spectrum of opinion outlets as the seminal forerunner of much of the Democrats current independent expenditure structure.
Prior to his work at Priorities, Sweeney served on the White House Senior Staff as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor to the White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. During his tenure at the White House Sweeney was a key part of each of President Obama's biggest legislative victories including the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which stabilized the U.S. economy, and the landmark Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Prior to his service in the White House, Sweeney served as a Senior Advisor to the Obama-Biden transition. In this role Sweeney was involved in virtually every aspect of helping to build the White House and administration staff, reviewing senior and subcabinet appointments, and review of new and existing offices, and legislative priorities and strategy.
Prior to his White House service, Sweeney worked as Executive Director to the House Democratic Caucus under Chairman Rahm Emanuel. From 2007-2008, Sweeney was named four times to Roll Call newspaper's top 50 staffers on Capitol Hill. During his tenure with the caucus Sweeney was recognized as one of the most talented floor strategists and vote counters in the House, serving as a point person on every major piece of legislation during the 110th Congress, including the first military operations appropriations bill to demand accountability from the Bush administration, reauthorization of the Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and passage of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) which arrested the precipitous financial crisis of 2008.
In the 2006 election cycle Sweeney served as Political Director at the Democratic Congressional Committee (DCCC). In this capacity Sweeney helped conceive and execute the strategy that helped Democrats pick up 30 seats in the House of Representatives, and regain the majority for the first time since 1994. Prior to his service at the DCCC Sweeney served as Chief of Staff to Congressman Tim Bishop of New York, and as manager of Bishop's successful re-election campaign in 2004, a year in which Bishop was among the most highly targeted opponents of the national Republican party.
In 2000, Sweeney served as a senior aide to the campaign of then First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. Following Clinton's victory, Sweeney served for three and half years as the Senator's director of federal grants and appropriations, and legislative aide on the Environment and Public Works Committee. In this capacity Sweeney helped the Senator deliver critical funding for New York's recovery following September 11, and managed reauthorization of the federal surface transportation bill.
Prior to his time with Senator Clinton, Sweeney served as a senior aide to Senator Chuck Schumer, having served previously on the Senator's first senate campaign.
Job Titles:
- Finance
- Member of the Board
Sergey Golosinskiy oversees Applecart's Finance and Accounting team. Prior to joining Applecart, Sergey was the Director of Finance at a Series B SaaS/ fintech startup Order. Previously, he was the Head of Finance for U.S. operations at global mobility startup Flix and worked in M&A & ECM investment banking at Societe Generale and forensic & restructuring advisory at PwC. He graduated cum laude with a dual degree in Finance and Accounting from the University of Maryland and is a CPA (inactive).
Susanne Deegan has 30 years of experience advising companies on strategy, corporate reputation and positioning, ESG, workforce engagement, business operations, and crisis and issues management, with recognized expertise in labor relations situations.
She spent a decade at Teneo, the CEO advisory firm, where she counseled clients across a broad spectrum of issues and industries. Previously, she worked at Burson-Marsteller, where she helped to launch and grow the Labor and Workforce Relations sub-practice within the Public Affairs group.
Job Titles:
- Head of Advertising Agency Partnerships / Board Member
Tej Desai leads Advertising Agency Partnerships at Applecart. He has held executive leadership positions at various holding companies including Interpublic Group, GroupM/WPP, and most recently, Dentsu. Tej has led global relationships with C-level clients in B2B and B2C including GE, Marriott, Subway, Hasbro and Intel. He has client-side experience from Mattel and 20th Century Studios and led cross-platform media sales for B2B and lifestyle brands at Bloomberg. Tej earned a BA from Brown University and an MBA from UCLA's Anderson School.
Zach Herz-Roiphe leads the Operations team at Applecart. Prior to joining Applecart, he was an Associate at New Mountain Capital, a private investment firm with over $30 billion assets under management, and a Senior Associate Consultant at Bain & Company, a global management consulting firm. Zach was also the CFO of The Bail Project, a national non-profit organization where he now serves on the Board. Zach received a BA from Yale University.