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Saturday

Sunday      

Training Presenters

Matt Blizek – Field & Volunteers

A veteran of training in the political and corporate worlds, Matt Blizek began organizing in student and local politics and was elected vice president of the University of Iowa Student Body.  Since then he has done field and fundraising work for numerous campaigns including the DNC, MoveOn.org, Russ Feingold, and Jon Tester.  Matt joined Democracy for America in 2007.

Bryan Hageny – Planning & Volunteer Management

Bryan grew up in the fiercely contested swing state of Wisconsin, and is proud of its progressive tradition.  While attending the University of Wisconsin he worked for Howard Dean, John Kerry, and Tammy Baldwin.  Following graduation he served in a number of political and activist roles.  To this end Bryan worked as an Assistant Director of a large canvassing office in Boston, then as an Organizer of Power Shift 2007 (the first ever student global warming conference at the University of Maryland), and most recently as a Community Organizer in Pennsylvania. Bryan was recently hired as DFA's Deputy Training Director.

Dorie Clark- Communications

Principal, Clark Strategic Communications. Dorie is a media consultant with extensive campaign and non-profit experience at the national, state, and local levels. Clark served as the New Hampshire Communications Director for Howard Dean’s presidential campaign, developing and executing his media strategy in the state and managing relations with local and national press. Previously, she was the Press Secretary for former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich’s campaign for Massachusetts governor. Clark also ran the successful re-election campaign for Massachusetts State Representative Jarrett Barrios (now a State Senator), and has served as a media consultant on a wide variety of races. Prior to her work as a campaign communications specialist, Clark was a staff writer for the Boston Phoenix, covering local politics and policy and winning two New England Press Association awards. She was also a regular contributor to the Boston Globe and Commonwealth magazine. She also co-founded a political action committee, OutSomerville, and won an award for GLBT advocacy from the Young Democrats of Massachusetts. Clark has taught campaign management at Emerson College and media studies at Tufts University. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Smith College and Harvard Divinity School. She lives in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Jay Parmley- Finance

Jay Parmley currently works for the Democratic National Committee having served as the Mississippi Democratic Party's Coordinated Campaign Director and the Interim Executive Director of the South Carolina Democratic Party. From 2001-2005, Parmley was the fulltime elected Chairman of the Oklahoma Democratic Party. He is a past president of the Young Democrats of America serving from 1999-2001. Parmley was appointed by DNC Chairman Governor Howard Dean as an At-Large member of the Democratic National Committee in 2005 and is a member of the DNC Budget and Finance Committee.

Eric Perrott – Using the Florida Party Voter File

Eric Perrott is the Voter File Director for the Florida Democratic Party, and the statewide administrator of the VoteBuilder system. In 2008, Eric worked with the presidential, congressional, and state campaigns to provide both technical support and data needs. In addition to his work at the large-scale level, Eric had, and continues to have, the pleasure of working with and training activists at the grassroots level in VoteBuilder. 

Mario Piscatella – Candidate Speaking & Literature Design

After managing one Congressional campaign and consulting on another during his final semester at San Diego State University, MarioMario spent eleven months learning the ins and outs of caucuses, an experience he would apply as a lead trainer for the Nevada Democratic Party during the final weeks of their caucuses and later to a unanimous caucus victory in a Virginia Congressional Primary.  Mario spent the final months of the 2008 campaign on an idealistic crusade, assiting the Obama Coordinated efforts in Florida and Ohio while assisitng the victorious red to blue campaigns of Alan Grayson, Jim Himes and Mary Jo Kilroy.  With experience in all aspects of campaigning, Mario focuses on strategy, communications and field and is always in search of good, proud, Democratic candidates to help. has been all over the country working on federal and coordinated campaigns, touching thirty five states in 2008 after spending nearly all of 2007 in Iowa on Chris Dodd's Presidential Campaign.  Serving as Western Iowa Regional Director,

Helen Strain- Field & Citizen Lobbying

Helen Strain has been a field organizer for political campaigns for over 20 years. Her experience includes Regional Organizer for Florida House Victory 2000, managing 23 House Campaigns, Program Manager for The Clinton Group, were she managed hundreds of phone programs for Democratic candidates and initiatives from Canada to Argentina and most of the 50 states. She served as the Field Director for Janet Reno’s Governor’s race, for Dave Aronberg State Senate race (Dave was the only non-incumbent Democrat elected to the Florida Senate in 2002), for Representative Lois Frankel’s WPB Mayor’s race and Angela Alioto’s Mayors race in San Francisco . She served as Vice-Chair of the Florida Democratic Party and as a member of the Democratic National Committee. She is currently the Field Director for the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates.