Mercury Public Affairs
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| Mercury Public Affairs | |
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| Basic facts | |
| Location: | Washington, D.C. |
| Type: | Public Strategy Firm |
| Affiliation: | Bipartisan |
| Top official: | •CEO: Kieran Mahoney •President: Kirill Goncharenko |
| Founder(s): | Kirill Goncharenko and Kieran Mahoney |
| Year founded: | 1999 |
| Website: | Official website |
| Connections | |
| •Brian Jones •Rick Wiley •Mike DuHaime •Roger Salazar | |
Mercury Public Affairs is a bipartisan political strategy and consulting firm that focuses on campaigns and political communications ranging from advocacy advertising to litigation communications to media and public relations. The firm has multiple locations throughout the U.S and in Mexico City as well as London. The firm was co-founded, in 1999, by Kirill Goncharenko and Kieran Mahoney in Manhattan. The firm has since been purchased by Omnicom Group, a company that controls 1,500 marketing communication agencies around the world.[1] Omnicom Group's chairman is Bruce Crawford. Several past and present members of Mercury are working on presidential campaigns for the 2016 election cycle.
Background
Mercury Public Affairs was co-founded by Kirill Goncharenko and Kieran Mahoney in 1999. It began as a small political communications firm in Manhattan. By 2003, however, the firm had been purchased by the Omnicom Group, an international marketing and communications company.[2] In 2006, Mercury merged its Washington, D.C., government relations division with Fleishman-Hillard, another Omnicom media firm. The two firms kept their names and Mercury was responsible for daily operations.[3]
Mercury offers a wide-variety of services in communications and marketing consulting:[4]
- Advocacy Advertising
- Crisis Management/Communications
- Digital Communications
- Government Relations
- Grassroots/Grasstops
- Integrated Campaign Management
- International Consulting
- Litigation Communications
- Market & Public Opinion Research
- Media & Public Relations
- Political Consulting
2016 Election
Several current and former members of Mercury have active roles within some of the presidential campaigns for the 2016 election cycle. Mike DuHaime, a partner at Mercury, was appointed senior strategist for Chris Christie's presidential campaign on July 3, 2015.[5] That same day, former vice president of polling and advertising and managing director of public affairs at Mercury, Brian Jones, was selected as Christie's senior communications consultant.[5] Former managing director at Mercury, Rick Wiley, was appointed campaign manager, in July, to Scott Walker's presidential campaign.[6]
Notable members past and present
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Kirill Goncharenko: Goncharenko is president and a founding partner at Mercury. From 1994 to 1998, he has worked as a managing director for the public relations firm, Burson-Marsteller. Goncharenko served as an aide to former Sen. Alphonse M. D'Amato (R-N.Y.). He has extensive experience in both the private and public sectors with regard to communications and strategy.[3][2] |
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Kieran Mahoney: Mahoney is a founding partner and current CEO of Mercury. He has served as a senior adviser to former Gov. George Pataki's gubernatorial campaigns in 1994, 1998 and 2002, including serving as the top strategist and manager of Pataki's 1994 campaign. In 2002, Mahoney was media consultant for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, working on independent expenditure campaigns for John Sununu (R) in New Hampshire, Norm Coleman (R) in Minnesota and Lamar Alexander (R) in Tennessee.[7] |
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Brian Jones (former): In 2003, Jones began working at Mercury as the vice president of polling and advertising, but left in 2004. However, Jones returned 2008 and stayed until 2011, when he became a partner with Black Rock Group. He has worked on George W. Bush's 2004 presidential campaign as the senior communications advisor. He has also worked as a communications director for the Republican National Committee and as the communications director for John McCain's 2008 presidential bid. Jones is the senior communications consultant for Chris Christie's 2016 presidential campaign.[8][9] |
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Mike DuHaime: DuHaime joined Mercury in 2010 as a partner. He has worked on George W. Bush's 2004 presidential campaign as a regional political director. He also worked as a political director for the Republican National Committee (RNC) and campaign manager for Rudy Giuliani's 2008 presidential bid. In 2014, DuHaime served as the senior advisor to the Republican Governors Association (RGA) and oversaw national gubernatorial campaigns. DuHaime is the senior strategist for Chris Christie's 2016 presidential campaign.[10] |
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Rick Wiley (former): Wiley joined Mercury in March 2013 as a managing director in their Washington, D.C. office, but left in July 2015. He worked two presidential campaigns, George W. Bush's 2004 presidential re-election and Rudy Giuliani's 2008 presidential bid. He also worked as the executive director of the Wisconsin Republican Party and political director of the Republican National Committee (RNC). He was the campaign manager of Scott Walker's 2016 presidential campaign.[11][12] |
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Erin Pelton: Pelton joined Mercury's New York office in 2014 as a managing director. Prior to her coming to Mercury, she served as director of communications and spokesperson to the United States Mission to the United Nations under Ambassadors Susan Rice and Samantha Power under President Barack Obama's administration. From 2011 to 2012, she was communications director and assistant press secretary at the White House National Security Council. Between 2009 and 2011, Pelton was the spokesperson for the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs.[13][14] |
Recent news
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See also
- Brian Jones
- Rick Wiley
- Mike DuHaime
- Roger Salazar
- Chris Christie presidential campaign, 2016
- Scott Walker presidential campaign, 2016
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Omnicom, "About Us," accessed July 16, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Mercury, "Kirill Goncharenko," accessed July 16, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Washington Post, "Republican to Lead Fight on Gun Violence," May 4, 2006
- ↑ Mercury, "Strategies," accessed July 16, 2015
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Washington Post, "Exclusive: Chris Christie hires presidential campaign manager and appoints senior staff," July 3, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "The power players behind Scott Walker's campaign," July 14, 2015
- ↑ Mercury, "Kieran Mahoney," accessed July 16, 2015
- ↑ New York Times, "Emily Schell, Brian Jones," July 13, 2003
- ↑ Black Rock, "Team," accessed June 30, 2015
- ↑ Mercury, "Mike DuHaime," accessed July 16, 2015
- ↑ Mercury, "Rick Wiley," accessed July 7, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "The power players behind Scott Walker's campaign," July 14, 2015
- ↑ Mercury, "Erin Pelton," accessed July 16, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "Playbook," June 2, 2014
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