Dewey Square Group Announces Latinovations Founder Maria Cardona will Lead New Public Affairs Practice

WASHINGTON, DC – Dewey Square Group (DSG) announced today that Maria Cardona, founder of the firm’s Latinovations practice, has been named to lead Dewey Square’s public affairs practice. She will join the firm’s management committee, whose members oversee key decisions regarding personnel, budget and business development.

Cardona will lead Dewey Square’s new public affairs practice, which will combine public policy, communications, coalition building, constituency outreach, government relations, traditional and new media to powerfully move messages through maximally efficient channels. Dewey Square’s new public affairs practice will seamlessly incorporate these diverse strategies and work closely with the firm’s other practice areas to deliver superior benefits and outcomes for clients.

“We are very pleased to announce the appointment of Maria Cardona to lead Dewey Square’s new public affairs practice,” said DSG Chairman Chuck Campion. “Because of Maria’s leadership, the Latinovations practice has grown into an industry model for Latino outreach and public affairs in just a few short years. Maria has also had tremendous success in guiding clients on the best strategies to communicate with Members of Congress, the Administration and the White House. We think our clients will be greatly served by Maria’s innovative hybridized approach to combining her distinguished background in media relations, strategic communications, advocacy, and coalition building for unparalleled benefit to our clients.”

Maria Cardona has been a principal with Dewey Square Group since 2005 and brings more than 18 years of experience in the political, government relations, campaign, community advocacy, and coalition building arenas. Named one of the top 100 most influential Latinos by Hispanic Business magazine, she founded DSG’s Latinovations practice which helps clients build support for public policy, legislative issues, projects, products, or candidates within the growing and increasingly influential Latino community. She also served as a senior advisor to the Hillary Clinton for President campaign, and is now a frequent commentator on CNN, MSNBC, FOX, Univision, and Telemundo.

Before her work with Dewey Square, Cardona served as Senior Vice President for NDN (formerly New Democrat Network) and Director of NDN’s Hispanic Strategy Institute, where she led the organization’s $6 million initiative to communicate with Hispanics across the country. She also worked as the Communications Director for the Democratic National Committee and from 1998 to 2001 was the Director of Communications for the Department of Justice’s Immigrations and Naturalization Service (INS). Before working at the INS, Ms. Cardona spent five years at the Department of Commerce, first as Deputy Press Secretary and then as Press Secretary.

“The public affairs practice will bring client service to new levels of magnitude, impact, and scope,” said Maria Cardona. “We will fully integrate the range of services offered through Latinovations, as well as our work in federal and community advocacy, to ensure that the maximum potential of all of Dewey Square Group’s practice areas is fully leveraged. Through selective action guided by my team’s extensive and varied backgrounds in all fields of public policy and advocacy, we will continue the strong track record of success upon which Dewey Square has built its name.”

Founded in 1993, Dewey Square Group (DSG) is a strategic marketing and grassroots communications firm with offices in Washington DC, Boston, San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Grosse Pointe, and affiliates in every state. DSG’s clients include Fortune 100 companies, national associations and not-for-profit organizations. To find out more, please visit our newly redesigned website at www.deweysquare.com.