CO-EQUAL - Key Persons
Denise Wilson has spent 30 years working in the legislative and executive branches of government. From 2009 to 2011, Denise served as Special Assistant in the White House Office of Legislative Affairs, where she lobbied for policy and legislative initiatives. One of six House Special Assistants, Denise managed an extensive legislative portfolio and was directly responsible for maintaining bipartisan congressional relationships with 90 members of Congress. In addition, she served as the primary White House liaison to two committees, Energy and Commerce and Oversight and Government Reform, handling issues involving telecommunications, consumer protection, food and drug safety, public health, energy policy, and oversight of the Executive Branch. Among the major initiatives Denise worked on were the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the bailout of the U.S. auto industry, food safety modernization, health care reform, and coordination of the White House response to House oversight requests.
Prior to her White House appointment, Denise spent 27 years on Capitol Hill, much of this as professional staff on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform where she specialized in postal and federal work force issues.
Since leaving the federal government, Denise has served on two task forces established by the Bipartisan Policy Center on strengthening the role of inspectors generals and encouraging greater federal government oversight. In her spare time, Denise counsels breast cancer patients and enjoys cooking, camping, and ice fishing.
Ellen Doneski is a Capitol Hill veteran with three decades of experience in the House and Senate. In her positions as chief tax advisor to the Senate's Democratic Leader, Senate Commerce committee staff director, Senate Finance health subcommittee staff director, as well as legislative director, Ellen played a significant role in the development and passage of numerous major legislative initiatives. Ellen recently formed her own government affairs firm, Pontifex Strategies.
Until 2017, Ellen worked in the office of Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, where she served as Chief Advisor on tax and economic policy. As Chief Advisor to the Office of the Senate Democratic Leader on tax and economic policy, Ellen led tax and economic policy initiatives in the 114th Congress from the Leader's office and was central to strategy and communications on a broad spectrum of issues. She was the Leader's negotiator on the PATH Act, and the tax provisions of the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2015. The Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (the PATH Act) made permanent more than 20 tax provisions that affect individuals, families, and businesses and helps safeguard against tax fraud, in addition to retroactively extending and substantially modifying others.
Ellen has been deeply involved in almost every Congressional tax and budget measure since 1992, when she joined Senator John D. Rockefeller IV's staff. Senator Rockefeller was a five-term Member of the Senate Finance Committee. Ellen served as his chief tax and legislative advisor, including during his tenure on the Joint Tax Committee and chairmanship of the Senate Finance Committee's Health Subcommittee, where Ellen was staff director.
Prior to joining Democratic Leadership staff, Ellen was the Majority staff director of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee for six years. She led the committee's day-to-day operations and served as chief strategist for long-term policy plans for all areas under the Committee's broad jurisdiction, including consumer protection, cybersecurity, privacy, telecommunications, technology, science, space, trade and all modes of transportation.
Ellen served as Legislative Director for Senator Rockefeller for more than ten years. She joined his staff as a legislative assistant, soon becoming his policy director, then legislative director, managing his legislative operation. Ellen was also Senator Rockefeller's Political Fund Designee (PFD) and senior political advisor. In the House, Ellen worked for Congressman Gerry Sikorski. She was responsible for his Energy and Commerce Committee portfolio which focused on health and environment, as well as oversight and investigations.
Kevin McNellis served Congress for seven years as an analyst at the Congressional Budget Office and the Congressional Research Service. In both positions, he provided policy analysis and technical assistance to Members of Congress and their staffs throughout the legislative and congressional budget processes. He also served as a fellow with the Senate Finance Committee and the White House's Office of Management and Budget. Prior to working in Washington, DC, he served as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer and worked as an analyst at the National Institute on Money in State Politics in Helena, Montana.
He holds a bachelor's degree from Whitman College and a master's of public policy degree from the University of California-Berkeley. In his spare time, he enjoys volunteering for local conservation organizations, canoeing, camping, biking, and exploring Washington, DC's museums and neighborhoods.
Kristin Amerling has over 20 years of experience in Congress and the Executive Branch that includes senior counsel positions on House and Senate Committees and at the Department of Transportation. In 2021-2022, she was chief counsel and deputy staff director for the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 th Attack on the United States Capitol. Other prior House experience includes service as chief counsel to the Committee on Energy and Commerce and to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. In the Senate, she was chief investigative counsel and director of oversight for the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Kristin also was deputy general counsel at the Department of Transportation, where she advised senior officials on congressional oversight, regulatory programs, and operational matters. Over the course of her career, she has advised members of Congress and staff on legal and procedural issues relating to high-profile investigations; she has developed and executed oversight plans on a wide range of subjects; and she has provided counsel on complex jurisdictional and parliamentary questions relating to enactment of legislative measures.
Kristin is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of California Berkeley School of Law. Between college and law school she was a legislative aide to Representative Ted Weiss and served as State of Maine Press Secretary to Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell. She also spent several years as an associate at the law firm Steptoe and Johnson.
Job Titles:
- President Obama 's Director of Legislative Affairs
Philip M. Schiliro served as President Obama's Director of Legislative Affairs from 2009 to 2010, Special Advisor to the President in 2011, and the President's Advisor for the Affordable Care Act and Health Policy in 2013 and 2014. Phil also worked in Congress for over 26 years, serving as Representative Henry Waxman's Chief of Staff, the Democratic Staff Director of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle's Policy Director, and the Staff Director for the Senate Democratic Leadership Committees. During his more than 30 years in Congress and the Executive Branch, Phil was deeply involved in the passage of landmark laws, including the Affordable Care Act and the 1990 Clean Air Act. He also played a key role in a series of high-profile congressional oversight investigations. In addition to co-founding Co-Equal, Phil is a Senior Presidential Fellow at Hofstra University's Peter S. Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency.
Karen Lightfoot worked for over 25 years on Capitol Hill, where she served as Communications Director and Senior Policy Advisor for two major House committees: the Energy and Commerce Committee and the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. During her career, she was responsible for developing media communications on a broad range of health and environmental legislation including the Affordable Care Act, the American Clean Energy and Security Act, the Food Safety Modernization Act, comprehensive tobacco control legislation, and spectrum reform. In addition, Karen was responsible for managing media coverage during high-profile investigations, including investigations into steroid use in major league baseball, misleading intelligence and contract abuses in Iraq, and the Wall Street collapse.
Karen Lightfoot earned a Bachelor of Arts in the Humanities at Yale University and a Master in Public Affairs at Princeton University.
Karen began her career in Washington working for Representative Tom Foley, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, and she worked in the Office the Majority Whip. Subsequently, she worked on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on the Task Force on the Development of Parliamentary Institutions in Eastern Europe. From 1992 to 1997, she served as a senior legislative associate for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities before returning to the Hill in 1997 to work for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in 2009, moved to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. In 2015, she served as the Communications Director and Senior Advisor for Senator Schatz before returning to the House in 2016 as Communications Director and Senior Policy Advisor to the House Select Investigative Panel, Committee on Energy and Commerce.