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DFA Campaign Academy Agenda

Tulsa, OK       March 13-14

Saturday

Sunday      

Trainers

Matt Blizek – Field, Planning and Online Organizing

Matt was born and raised in rural Iowa and first got involved in politics at the University of Iowa.  In 2001 he managed my first campaign in an attempt to elect a UI student to the Iowa City Council.  Not long after he was elected Vice-President of the student body where he fought against radical tuition hikes, corrupt apartment management companies and police harassment on campus.

After graduation Matt spent the 2004 election cycle fundraising for the DNC and doing GOTV for MoveOn.org.  In 2006 he was selected to join Russ Feingold’s Patriot Corps program and was deployed to Montana where he did Field Organizing for Senator Jon Tester.

For the last three years Matt have managed a national training program for Democratic activists and candidates at Democracy for America.  Since joining DFA he has organized over 56 campaign trainings in 31 states, training over 3,000 people to become better activists, campaign staff or candidates.  Every year Matt takes a one month leave from DFA to help progressive candidates (such as Annette Taddeo, FL-18th) and organizations (Protect Maine Equality/No On 1) manage their GOTV operations.

Jay Parmley- Finance

Jay Parmley is the Executive Director of the South Carolina Democratic Party.  Parmley initially joined the staff of the South Carolina Democratic Party as part of former DNC Chairman Governor Howard Dean’s 50 state strategy.  From 2005-2008,  Parmley worked for the Democratic National Committee, first in Mississippi and then in South Carolina.    In 2001, at the age of 30, Parmley was the elected as the fulltime Chairman of the Oklahoma Democratic Party.  He served two terms and did not seek reelection in 2005.  At the time of his election he was the nation’s youngest chairman of a State Democratic Party. He is a past president of the Young Democrats of America, serving from 1999-2001. Parmley was appointed by Governor Dean as an At-Large member of the Democratic National Committee in 2005, and is a member of the DNC Budget and Finance Committee.

Helen Strain- Field

Florida native who has worked in hundreds of campaigns from City Hall to Congress across the United States for over 20 years. She worked for the Clinton Group, a political telephone firm as a Program Manager, House Victory 2000 for the Florida Democratic Caucus as a Regional Organizer; she has served as Vice-Chair of the Florida Democratic Party and a member of the DNC. Some highlights of her career were Advance for Election Day – Clinton/Gore 1996 in Little Rock, Ark,  Field Director for Janet Reno for Governor, Campaign Manager for Dave Aronberg for Florida State Senate and Lois Frankel for West Palm Beach Mayor as well as Field Director for Angela Alioto for San Francisco Mayor, and as the Field Director for the Florida Association of Planned Parenthoos Affiliates. Her specialty is in "foot, phone, and mail." developing field plans and implementing the tactical door to door, phone, and direct mail campaigns. She currently serves as the Vice President of External Affairs for Planned Parenthood of North Florida

Ellery Gould- Communications

A campaign veteran before he finished college, Ellery has experience at virtually every level of politics and in every region of the country; from City Hall to the halls of Congress, Connecticut to Arizona.  A Tennessee native, he took his talents for winning "red states" to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2006 where he oversaw media campaigns for some of the toughest races in the nation and helped bring a Democratic majority to Congress for the first time since 1994.  Most recently, Ellery managed the U.S. Senate campaign of a little-known former state legislator in Georgia – a state that hasn’t seen a top-of-the-ticket Democratic win in over a decade – turning it into one of the most improbable and competitive races of 2008.

More trainers and sessions to be announced soon...

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