Now more than ever, sitting on the sidelines isn’t an option. Evergreen helps companies and organizations live their values with confidence and compassion. We specialize in corporate activism that strengthens brands, energizes employees, inspires consumers, and drives progress on our most important social and economic challenges.
Our Services.
Messaging & Content
Evergreen develops sophisticated written content that delivers a clear message and drives action. We write speeches, op-eds, and social media posts for leaders from Silicon Valley to Washington, D.C., and everywhere in between.
Media relationships
We have relationships across the media landscape and provide access to national and policy-focused press beyond the normal reach of in-house communications teams. We help clients select the right media outlets, build relationships, and ensure press engagements tell the right story.
Policy development
Our team has worked on a wide range of domestic and international policy issues in government, on the front lines of national, state, and municipal political campaigns, and in the private sector with some of the best brands in the world. We have the experience to help clients develop policy initiatives that move them from talk to real solutions.
Partnerships
Coalitions are force multipliers. We map the influence landscape and tap our extensive network to build partnerships with activists, policy experts, companies, and organizations.
Our Partners.
Select Clients
Our Team.
SENIOR director
Alena Yarmosky (she/her)
Alena is a communications strategist with extensive experience in government, advocacy, and non-profit communications. Before joining Evergreen, Alena served as senior communications advisor to Governor Ralph Northam of Virginia, for whom she developed messaging strategies to secure historic victories on issues including criminal justice reform, gun safety, and voting rights. She has previously led communications efforts for NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia and has consulted for organizations including the California Policy Lab. She has a Master of Public Policy degree.
INTERN
Akili Stone (she/her)
Akili graduated from Boston University studying Political Science and Sociology. Before joining Evergreen, she worked as a Legal Assistant at Proskauer Rose and volunteered with the Justice Education Project to draft research on the relationship between AI and criminal justice advocacy.
MANAGER
Biz Rasich (she/her)
Biz is a communications strategist with a background in gun violence prevention and education policy. Before joining Evergreen, Biz served as a Communications and Research Fellow for the University of Chicago Crime Lab and Education Lab, where she published gun carrying research in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. She holds a degree in Mathematical Economic Analysis from Rice University and is in her final year of a Master’s of Fine Arts in Fiction at the University of Houston.
MANAGER
Bree Henshaw (she/her)
Bree supports client projects and the administration of the firm. Before joining Evergreen, Bree served as a legislative aide and correspondence manager for Senator Patty Murray. She began working for the senator soon after receiving her B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
senior Director
Caty Gordon (she/her)
Caty is a speechwriter and executive communications strategist who helps leaders shape compelling narratives that drive impact. She previously led executive communications for the president and CEO of an international gender equality nonprofit, and managed speeches, written content, and correspondence at the Clinton Foundation. She started her career in the editorial departments of Simon & Schuster and Penguin Random House after receiving her MFA in creative writing from Columbia University.
senior Advisor
Chelsea Kohler (she/her)
Chelsea specializes in working with founders and CEOs to effectively tell their stories. She is a seasoned communications, policy and marketing leader who has developed and executed strategic campaigns for some of the world’s best-known brands and high-profile principals, including the CEOs of Uber, Google and YouTube, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. She is a member of Planned Parenthood’s Trademark and Brand Committee and lives in San Francisco with her husband, their two children and their boisterous dog.
PARTNER
Corey Ciorciari (he/him)
Corey leads Evergreen’s policy work and has expertise on a wide range of domestic policy issues, including voting rights, gun violence prevention, and education. Before joining Evergreen, Corey served as senior policy advisor to Senator Kamala Harris and as a policy advisor to Secretary Hillary Clinton and Mayor Rahm Emanuel. A lawyer by training, Corey started his career on then-Senator Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign.
co-founder & managing partner
Dan Schwerin (he/him)
Dan helps leaders find their voice and works with clients to craft powerful public engagement campaigns that reflect their core values. He recently served as a senior advisor in the Biden White House helping implement the American Rescue Plan. Before co-founding Evergreen, he was Hillary Clinton’s longtime Director of Speechwriting, book collaborator, and policy advisor. Dan is also a senior fellow at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership & Policy.
ASSOCIATE
Ella Price (she/her)
Ella recently graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in Public Policy and a focus area in Human Rights and International Development. While an undergraduate, she worked as a Research Associate for the Economic Growth Institute, where she worked on economic recovery and small business investment in Southeast Michigan. She previously interned at Evergreen, Crooked Media, and the Office of Congressman Brad Sherman (CA-32).
SENIOR ASSOCIATE
Faith Williams (she/her)
Faith is a recent graduate of the University of Michigan where she received her Bachelor’s in International Studies and minors in Anthropology and French. Prior to Evergreen, she was a Digital-Communications Fellow at the Working Families Party. She has also conducted research for the Penn Cultural Heritage Center on illicit trafficking and worked as an exhibit liaison and social media coordinator for the Undocumented Migration Project.
ASSOCIATE
Georgina Seal (she/her)
Georgina is a recent graduate of Columbia University with a B.A. in History, specializing in Policing and Control in the U.S., and a minor in Sustainable Development. In the past, she interned with Major League Baseball and sports nonprofits including the Johnny Mac Tennis Project and EcoAthletes. Most recently, Georgina served as a Legislative Intern for NY State Assemblymember Grace Lee, conducting policy research and contributing to Lee's initiative to curb illegal marijuana stores in NYC.
FELLOW
Hazel Whyte (she/her)
Hazel is a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she earned a BA in Public Policy. During her time at UNC, she conducted research on health and higher education policy and spent a semester abroad in the UK studying business development. Before joining Evergreen, Hazel worked with various non-profits, focusing on economic development initiatives for under-resourced youth.
ASSOCIATE
Jack Craven (he/him)
Jack recently graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Studies. At Fordham, he completed an undergraduate thesis analyzing the effect of summitry and personal diplomacy between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev had on the easing of presidential anti-communist rhetoric. He has previously interned with Evergreen and as a researcher at the NYC-based organization Labor Arts.
manager
Jacquelyn Katson (she/her)
Jacquelyn is a policy analyst with expertise in gun violence prevention, criminal justice reform, behavioral health programming, and higher education. Prior to joining Evergreen, she served in Virginia’s Secretariat of Public Safety and Homeland Security for three years. Jacquelyn previously worked as a researcher for a higher education consulting firm in Washington, D.C. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology and master’s degree in public policy from the University of Virginia.
INTERN
Jillian Prunty (she/her)
Jillian is a junior at Barnard College of Columbia University studying history with a concentration in wars and revolutions. She has interned with political campaigns across the state of New Jersey, most recently for Congressman Andy Kim. Extracurricularly, she is a Deputy Sports Editor at the Columbia Daily Spectator, and is passionate about the areas where sport and policy overlap.
INTERN
Jordan Lee (he/him)
Jordan is currently pursuing his master’s degree in social entrepreneurship and bachelor’s degree in political science at the University of Southern California. He has previously held internships across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, notably in the Biden-Harris White House and U.S. Senate in the office of Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Jordan is interested in the intersection of business and public policy, specifically regarding international development, climate, sustainable food systems, and affordable housing.
associate
Lindsey Haughton (she/her)
Lindsey recently graduated from University of Michigan with a degree in Organizational Studies, where she explored the relationships between corporations, nonprofits, and governments. Previously, she worked in policy research, writing, and advocacy through the Roosevelt Network and the Michigan AFL-CIO. Directly prior to Evergreen, she served as a Development Assistant at NextGen America where she conducted prospect research and managed stewardship for grassroots donors.
MANAGER
Lillian Weber (she/her)
Before joining Evergreen, Lily worked as a fundraiser for several members of Congress and on local and presidential campaigns writing campaign ads, organizing national campaign travel, and staffing a finance team. In a previous life, she worked in revenue management and hospitality. She graduated from The New School with a BA in Liberal Studies, focusing on Race and Ethnicity and personal narrative.
ASSOCIATE
Lucas Burgard (he/him)
Lucas recently graduated from American University, where he majored in international studies and minored in Spanish. At American, he focused on global inequality and development and conducted a year-long research project analyzing Russian state-sponsored homophobia. He previously interned with Evergreen and the United Nations Foundation in Washington, DC.
senior Director
Lucy Coady (she/her)
Lucy is an advocacy and social impact strategist with a background in engaging stakeholders in public policy and community investment initiatives in the anti-poverty and health fields. Before joining Evergreen, she oversaw programmatic and advocacy campaigns on Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry campaign. Lucy has also managed government relations at the American Public Health Association, worked on health policy issues on Capitol Hill, and started her career in the press office at NARAL Pro-Choice America.
SENIOR Vice president
Mackenzie Long (she/her)
Mackenzie specializes in social impact communications and proudly works alongside her clients to develop and execute external engagement strategies focused on a range of issues including sustainability and environmental impact, economic reform, voting rights, and reproductive rights. She previously managed government and sustainability communications at Bird – the micro-mobility company with a mission of reducing traffic and carbon emissions in cities. Mackenzie is a contributor at Teen Vogue where she writes about the Supreme Court, and she previously ran a daily tipsheet called SCOTUSDaily.
senior manager
Molly Voigt (she/her)
Molly is a policy and advocacy professional with a background in gun violence prevention and health care policy. Before joining Evergreen, Molly served as Senior State Legislative Manager at Giffords where she advanced GVP policy in state legislatures across the country. She started her career on the Policy & Advocacy team at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation after receiving her BA in Government from Hamilton College.
CO-FOUNDER & MANAGING PARTNER
Nick Merrill (he/him)
Nick guides clients through a rapidly changing media landscape. Before co-founding Evergreen, he was a senior advisor and traveling press secretary to Hillary Clinton. Nick has designed communications strategies for multiple New York Times best sellers and traveled to 78 countries as a communications advisor to the Secretary of State during the Obama Administration.
MANAGER
Noëlle Elmore (she/her)
Noëlle supports writing and communications projects for clients and contributes to administration of the firm. Before joining Evergreen, she worked in early childhood advocacy and youth engagement at UNICEF, grant-writing for a public health NGO in Liberia, and communications for a U.K. voter awareness campaign. She has an MSc in International Public Policy from University College London.
INTERN
Noor Abdallah (she/her)
Noor recently graduated from the University of Georgia, where she majored in journalism, criminal justice, and sociology. While an undergraduate, she worked as an AmeriCorps VISTA as well as an intern for the Georgia Innocence Project where she used communications to advocate for those wrongfully incarcerated. While leading Roosevelt at UGA, she learned to research, write, and advocate for policies in Athens-Clarke County.
senior associate
Renee Betterson (she/her)
Renee supports client projects and the administration of the firm. Before joining Evergreen, she worked on Marco Lopez’s campaign for the governor of Arizona. She has also interned for Senator Sherrod Brown’s office and the Ohio Supreme Court’s Criminal Sentencing Commission. Renee was a 2020-2021 Fulbright Research Semifinalist for her research proposal on international legal internalization.
INTERN
Ria Sodhi (she/her)
Ria is a senior at Cornell University, majoring in Government and Economics with minors in International Relations and Law & Society. She has previously interned with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Congressman Krishnamoorthi, and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, where she conducted policy research and managed media relations. Ria is also working on an honors thesis examining the economic implications of the Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
FELLOW
Rika Nakato (she/her)
Rika recently graduated from Williams College with a degree in Political Science and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and a concentration in Asian American Studies. As an undergraduate, she conducted independent research projects on Japan’s dual citizenship laws and women’s and LGBTQIA+ rights advocacy in Tokyo. She previously worked at the Davis Center, the student-facing center of the DEI office at Williams College.
senior director
Ryan Johnson (he/him)
Ryan is a communications strategist and skilled leader with expertise in crisis communications and executing compelling and thoughtful communications strategies for elected officials and advocacy campaigns. Before joining Evergreen, Ryan served as Deputy Director of Communications for Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Account Director at BerlinRosen, Press Secretary for Senator Cory Booker, and Communications Director for Congressman Bobby Rush. He began his communications career at the American Heart Association. Ryan is a Chicago native and graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Journalism.
FELLOW
Shambhavi Ajila (she/her)
Shambhavi is a recent graduate from Columbia University, SIPA with a Masters in International Affairs. At SIPA she worked on a capstone consultancy project with Better Work Jordan that included mapping the migration of Bangladeshi workers into Jordan’s garment sector, identifying key obstacles, and proposing gender-sensitive policy recommendations. She earned a B.Sc. in Sustainable Community Development from UMass Amherst and has experience in political research, city government, and non-profits, including her recent role at the National Center for Education and the Economy.
operations manager
Thelma Ekeocha (she/her)
Thelma is an operations professional with experience creating and implementing systems and processes to improve teams’ efficiency, productivity, and collaboration. Before joining Evergreen, she managed the day-to-day business operations of the Public Affairs team of the United Nations Foundation.
Senior director
Vasishth Srivastava (he/him)
Vas is a speechwriter and communications strategist with experience on national campaigns and in government. As Chief of Staff to Mayor Luke Bronin in Hartford, Connecticut he directed policy development, citywide communications, and helped lead COVID-19 response. He began his career in opposition research, working for U.S. Senators and Secretary Hillary Clinton. He graduated from Reed College and The Hotchkiss School.