Sujata is a management and communications professional with 18 years of political,
issue-advocacy, and project management experience with a focus on strategic
communications, training, and coalition management.
Sujata's current and past clients include The Atlantic Philanthropies, ISSI, UN Foundation, Wellstone Action, SEIU, Ohio Democratic Party, EMILY's List, the New Media Firm, Human Rights First, GMMB, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, 1199SEIU Benefit and Pension Funds, The Markle Foundation, Democratic National Committee, Democratic GAIN, FieldWorks, Campaign Corps, LSG Strategies, DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe, and The Feldman Group.
In 2009, , Sujata was Managing Director of Unity '09, a coalition built to coordinate organizations working pass health care, energy, financial regulatory and immigration reform. In 2008, Sujata was CEO of ISSI, a non-profit corporation that provides state-based data management, targeting and coalition-building advice, services, and staffing to a variety of clients, including the America Votes coalition, Wellstone Action, SEIU, and state-based c3 tables.
Sujata has worked extensively managing campaigns, communications and research for a number of congressional candidates and elected officials, including the late Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone (1996) and Georgia Senator Max Cleland (2002). In last weeks of the 2008 election, she was Senior Election Advisor for the Ohio Democratic Party; in 2006, she ran the Election Protection program and Boiler room in Shelby County for the Harold Ford Jr. for Senate. In 2004, she ran the Democratic GAIN convention training in Boston, and then was Director of Targeted Communications for the Democratic National Committee, where she managed all direct mail and phones for battleground states for Kerry-Edwards. In 2003 she was National Communications Director for America Coming Together. She was Communications Director in Virginia 4th Congressional District's 2001 special election. In 2000, she managed an upset primary win and general election campaign for a Democrat in New Jersey's 7th Congressional District.
Among the many issue advocacy and social marketing campaigns Sujata has worked on, she most recently
developed and implemented the Protecting Our Health campaign for 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers
East - an awareness campaign for the Fund's 200,000+ members. She also designed and implemented a 10- city marketing tour for the Discovery Channel's Greatest American television series. For the past 5 years,
she has also been involved in Cover the Uninsured campaigns sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, first as National Field Director in 2003.
Sujata is also an experienced trainer and facilitator, coordinating and training political strategists, activists
and candidates for the SEIU, Ohio Democratic Party, Wellstone Action!, EMILY's List, The Council of Urban Professionals, The White House Project, Hopefund, Campaign Corps, New Organizing Institute, Democratic GAIN, the Democratic National Committee, America Coming Together, and the Human Rights Campaign.
A first-generation Indian American, Sujata was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee and holds a B.A. in
International Studies from Vassar College. She currently lives in New York City, where she enjoys all things
pop culture - from TV to movies to music, books to Broadway. She believes her voracious consumption
of pop culture makes her especially suited to shaping messages that connect with the wider public.