Neil Sroka Email & Phone Number

Michigan, United States

Working with President and CEO La June Montgomery Tabron and the rest of the executive leadership team to tell the story of the brilliant work that the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and it’s partners do to create a future where all children, families, and communities can thrive.

Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan

I ran for and won the first contested City Council race in Grosse Pointe Farms in more than 15 years, which I attribute to personally knocking on more than 2,500 doors in an award-winning*, grassroots campaign.As a City Council Member, I proudly serve on the Farm's Ordinances, Communications, Parks & Recreation, and Public Safety committees. (* Seriously! Our campaign won a 2020 Reed Award from Campaigns & Elections Magazine for "Best Direct Mail Piece for a Bootstrapped Campaign.")

PL+US is the national campaign to win paid family and medical leave for every working person in the United States and has already helped win paid family leave for almost eight million people through workplace campaigns in companies like Walmart, Starbucks, CVS, and more. I joined as head of press relations and earned media, supporting messaging for paid leave as the organization shifted to an all-in strategy on winning paid leave through what would become the Build Back Better bill. I serve as spokesperson and primary point of contact for media and write press statements, releases, responses, reactions and OpEds. When paid leave was dropped from the initial White House deal, I made sure that the outcry from the millions of Americans without paid leave was heard, including, among other things, placing and supporting a grassroots advocate for an interview with Andrea Mitchell on NBC Nightly News. For our new Executive Director, I orchestrated a 30+ hit Satellite Media Tour, prepped her for those broadcast interviews, and supported her on-site. To publicize the broad business support for paid leave, I led the media roll-out new strategy and prepared talking points for business ally leaders including Alexis Ohanian (founder of Reddit) and C-Suite executives at Diageo, Third Love, and Rent the Runway. I secured coverage of our open letter to Congress from more than 300 businesses in the Washington Post, Bloomberg, ABC News, CNN, CNBC, and other outlets.

Democracy for America was founded by presidential candidate Howard Dean to advocate for progressive policy and support candidates up and down the ballot. Managing a team of press secretaries, assistants, and media fellows, I served as primary media spokesperson, including on-camera cable news hits. In that role, I developed cohesive, mission-aligned messaging on a wide range of topics from income inequality and gun violence prevention to who should be the next Chair of the Federal Reserve.When DFA's new CEO Yvette Simpson joined the team, I helped her land with ABC News in 2019, preparing her for regular appearances on ABC's This Week, commentary on Good Morning America, and live election night news analysis. During my nearly eight years leading DFA's Communications team, we massive expanded our media presence -- going from almost zero appearances on national television in 2013 to more than 500 documented TV hits the year I departed. In addition, we earned volumes of clips in nearly every major outlet from NYTimes and Washington Post to NPR and Fox News/Fox Business (where I regularly appeared on-camera for a time).

Washington, Dc

The PCCC is a political action committee supporting progressive candidates up and down the ballot and was one of the earliest supporters of Senator Elizabeth Warren and a bolder agenda during the Obama administration. I was recruited to pitch stories, provide strategic advice and national/state-level press outreach assistance to endorsed campaigns, and develop relationships with major media. In 2012, I completed media training with Media Matters’ Progressive Talent Institute. During the 2011 Congressional budget fights, I led a petition campaign to push back against potential cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security benefits that included a petition delivery event outside President Obama’s Chicago headquarters -- and received positive coverage in national outlets, including MSNBC’s Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell. In early 2013, I directed the production of two TV spots on gun reform that also received national coverage.

Concord, Nh

I managed traditional and digital communications for first-time candidate Ann McLane Kuster and served as the campaign’s chief spokesperson and media liaison. In six months, I drafted talking points, pitched stories, designed and executed more than 25 press events, and coached Annie on dozens of phone and in-person interviews. Annie lost narrowly in 2010 but won her seat in 2012 and remains in Congress today.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

As the sole digital staffer in the Office of Public Affairs, I ran the Commerce.gov site, developed our nascent social media strategy, and represented the Department on the Federal Web Managers Council. In addition, I managed the development of one of the first department-wide social media policies in the federal government and created (and ran) the Commerce Department’s first Twitter and Facebook accounts. I also led the redevelopment of Commerce.gov and other microsites to document work with the Recovery Act and President Obama’s Open Government Initiative, which I completed at no additional public expense in just a few short months.

Taking on independent consulting for a year, I contracted with MoveOn.org to run early social network organizing experiments and collaborated on their “Non-Voter Video,” which got 21.2 million views and was named the 5th Most Viral Video of 2008 by TIME. I also worked with the National Stonewall Democrats and One Laptop Per Child - South Carolina.

I joined Obama for America to manage the South Carolina campaign blog and in-state email campaigns where the Obama organizing model was first implemented. Then they asked me to do the same for Ohio. As a part of my work, I also managed all in-state video production and photography to document the campaign, including Michelle Obama’s “No Fear” speech in South Carolina, which played an instrumental role in early field organizing efforts across the country.

I got my foundation in political issue and advocacy campaigns in the office of longtime political consultant Joe Trippi, known for his strategies for Howard Dean’s Presidential campaign. I worked with congressional and issue campaigns with nonprofits and corporate clients.

While in school, I assisted Professor Leon Fuerth, former National Security Advisor to Vice President Al Gore, with his research on forecasting and governance.

Ba, Political Science, Philosophy

Activities and Societies: Enosinian Society, University Honors Program, Enosinian Scholar, GW Hatchet, Phi Beta Kappa, Pi Sigma.

Education record

Studied Politics, Philosophy, and Economics at Pembroke College, Oxford.