CONFERENCE SPEAKERS
Jim Messina
Former Deputy Chief of Staff to President Obama & Campaign Manager for the 2012 Obama Re-Election Campaign; President & Chief Executive Officer, The Messina Group
The mastermind behind President Obama's 2012 re-election campaign, Jim Messina seized the reins on what Bloomberg Businessweek dubbed "the highest-wattage crash course in executive management ever undertaken" and succeeded, earning the President another term in the White House. With the guidance of technology's foremost leaders, Messina abandoned every step of a traditional presidential campaign and merged technology and politics in a way that was both unpredictable and unprecedented. Messina's strategies established the modern presidential campaign - Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt called it "the best-run campaign ever." The American Association of Political Consultants later crowned him the Campaign Strategist of the Year.
Messina is national chair of Organizing for Action and president and CEO of The Messina Group. In this role, Messina provides strategic consulting to political campaigns, advocacy organizations and businesses. In this capacity, Messina has been retained by Prime Minister David Cameron and the Conservative Party in preparation for 2015 elections.
He served as Deputy Chief of Staff to President Barack H. Obama from 2009 to 2011, where he was integral to the passage of the landmark health care and economic stimulus bills, in addition to serving as the campaign manager for Obama's successful 2012 re-election campaign. He previously served as Director of Personnel for the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition and as national chief of staff for Obama for America.
Messina joined the Obama campaign from the office of U.S. Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), where he was chief of staff. He previously held the same position for U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY).
He has overseen and consulted on political campaigns across the country, from Alaska to New York. He is a graduate of the University of Montana and attended high school in Boise, Idaho.
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