Ryan McConaghy
Partner
Ryan is a government relations and public affairs senior leader that builds integrated campaigns that blend policy, messaging, and politics for maximum impact.
Ryan is a partner in the federal government relations and public affairs practices. Prior to joining FTP, Ryan was a senior advisor to Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY), helping to shape policy development and issue strategy. While leading the Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Center (DPCC), he built and directed campaigns integrating policy analysis, legislative action, media outreach, public opinion research, rapid response, and stakeholder engagement on topics including economic policy, budget and tax, implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and immigration reform, among others. Most recently, he served as the assistant Democratic secretary, counseling senators on how to use the rules and precedents of the Senate to accomplish their goals.
Previously, Ryan served as the director of the economic program at Third Way, where he helped to guide the organization’s efforts on an array of issues tied to economic growth and middle-class success. In that role, he organized public policy forums and often appeared on national media outlets to represent the organization’s views and comment on political matters. He was also able to successfully engage members of Congress, resulting in several policy proposals being introduced as legislation and enacted.
Ryan served as legislative director for Representative John Hall (D-NY) and worked in the office of Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) as the legislative assistant overseeing energy policy, national defense issues, foreign affairs, and agriculture. In those roles he was able to repeatedly work with bipartisan coalitions to achieve results.
In 2006, Ryan served as policy director during Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s (D-RI) successful campaign in Rhode Island, where he was responsible for policy briefing and development, issue research, and rapid response support. In his time at FTP, Ryan has partnered with clients that run the gamut from small, mission-driven non-profits to Fortune 500 companies to achieve their goals through direct advocacy and creative communications.
