OUR TEAM
Kaitlin Fahey has a reputation for building long-lasting and effective teams, brands, and campaigns – once people work with her, they are eager to continue to do so. She brings over fifteen years of political and policy experience from the halls of Congress to the executive branch and the campaign trail. Kaitlin has not only been “in the room where it happens,” she has also shaped the conversation and strategy in those rooms for many years. She served for over a decade as the chief strategist to Senator Tammy Duckworth, crafting her successful rise and tenure as one of America’s most recognized and effective politicians. Kaitlin led and managed teams as a Chief of Staff in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. She worked at the Illinois Department of Commerce, the state’s leading economic development agency, and as a political appointee during the Obama Administration at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Kaitlin has managed winning U.S. Senate and U.S. House campaigns that defeated incumbents in some of the most expensive and high profile races in the country.
Ask those who have worked with Kaitlin, and they will tell you how passionate she is about building strong teams, developing sustainable strategic alignment, navigating challenges, and leading through any crisis in order to deliver victories for her organizations and clients.
Fahey received her B.A. from Georgetown University and Masters in Public Policy and Administration from Northwestern University and lives in Evanston, Illinois with her husband Scott and their two children.
Leah Israel is a well-regarded strategist and fundraiser for national political candidates and causes. She recently served as the Chief Development Officer for the 2020 Democratic National Convention, responsible for raising $45 million in a difficult environment to fund an acclaimed and innovative, all-digital convention. Leah currently works as an Advisor with Building Back Together, the newly created 501(c)4 that is solely dedicated to advancing President Biden’s policy agenda. Senator Tammy Duckworth first tapped Leah to lead her fundraising efforts in the nascent stages of her campaign for Congress in 2011 and she served as the Senator’s chief fundraising strategist for over a decade. Leah has provided strategic counsel and fundraising services to presidential and statewide campaigns such as Pete for America and J.B. Pritzker for Governor, as well as political organizations like Priorities USA, and important causes including Human Rights Watch and Victory Fund amongst others. Leah began her activism in Wisconsin as an organizer for Fair Wisconsin — the 2006 issue-based campaign to stop the ban on marriage equality and civil unions in the state. From 2010-2015, Leah served as a Legislative Fellow to the U.S Department of State, where she traveled globally, educating other countries on U.S politics.
Ask those who have worked with Leah, and they will tell you that she always knows the right person to call in her vast network to unlock progress even in the most challenging situations and reach a desirable outcome for her clients and causes.
Leah holds a B.A. in English and Political Science from the University of Iowa and lives in downtown Chicago.
Paul Kohnstamm has shaped every organization that he has worked in for the last 10 years, crafting the details of their budgets, building their operational systems, and creating wider strategies for organizational development and direct marketing. Paul loves building projects from the ground up and scaling organizations. He opened U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth’s Senate Office as the Administrative Director, where he managed the office’s budget, human resources, ethics, legal, and financial compliance programs. He built and executed a $20 million Senate and Coordinated Campaign budget and oversaw spending programs for the 2016 Duckworth Senate campaign and the 2016 Illinois Coordinated Campaign. Paul’s unique background combining PAC fundraising and policy development with congressional office and political campaign management allows him to offer a unique perspective to a wide array of clients.
Ask those who have worked with Paul, and they will tell you he takes deep pride in his work and produces consistent, reliable outcomes. They will say he is a details guy yet able to see the big picture connections that occur at the intersection of politics, business, and public policy.
Kohnstamm received his B.A. from Tufts University and MBA from University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. He lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife Amy and their son.
