Latino Campaign Veterans and Biden Alumni Launch Conexión
A First-of-its-kind Political and Public Engagement Group
WASHINGTON – Today a team of long-time Latino political operatives and former senior Biden Administration officials announced the creation of Conexión, a first-of-its-kind political and public affairs consulting group. 100% Latino-owned and led, Conexión is a team of professionals who have served at the highest levels of government and have decades of experience leading advocacy campaigns and helping to elect candidates from mayors and state legislators to members of Congress and U.S. presidents.
With a focus on strategically connecting clients to their target audiences, the Conexión team specializes in navigating the increasingly dynamic political landscape through creative media, strategic communications, and effective stakeholder engagement.
“With rapid political and demographic shifts changing the platforms, styles, and languages in which we communicate, we could not be more excited to launch Conexión,” said Colin Rogero, Conexión Co-Founder and Creative Chairman. “Our team is a synergy of strategic minds, communications experts, and true creatives that have helped elect candidates at every level, helped organizations navigate complicated challenges, and broken new ground creatively to ensure brands, people and causes make the conexiones that are critical to influencing people and driving change.”
“What makes Conexión unique in the political and public affairs space is not just that we are Latino-owned and led, but that our team has for decades been part of electing groundbreaking political candidates, advocating for and implementing historic legislative accomplishments, and navigating some of the nation’s most complex issues,” said Adrian Saenz, Conexión Co-Founder and former Deputy Director in the White House Office of Public Engagement. “Building strategic plans and coalitions that drive meaningful and lasting impact is what we do.”
“With Conexión we are bringing together the best in creative messaging, political strategy and public affairs to meet the moment and build lasting power. Our goal is to serve as the vital link between our clients and their target audiences, ensuring impactful and measurable engagement through meaningful connections,” said Pili Tobar, Partner at Conexión and former White House Deputy Communications Director. “We are dedicated to providing comprehensive solutions that resonate and leave a lasting impact on communities, policies, and the political landscape at large.”
“Conexión isn’t your ordinary DC agency. We bring an increasingly important cultural lens to the work we do on behalf of our clients,” said Marsha Espinosa, Partner at Conexión and former DHS Assistant Secretary for the Office of Public Affairs. “As a team of strategic changemakers who have worked our way up from the grassroots to the highest levels of government and campaigns, we have built coalitions, lifted up new voices, and shaken up the political landscape to affect change on behalf of candidates, causes, and the American people. Whether it’s our national security credentials, public policy experience, or knowledge of the inner-workings of the DC political ecosystem, Conexión is bringing unmatched experience to the table.”
Partners at Conexión include:
Colin Rogero
Colin Rogero is the Co-Founder and Creative Director of Conexión, one of the most diverse media agencies in dem politics. He is regarded as one of the most creative Latino filmmakers and media consultants in politics. His distinctive visual style and emotionally poignant ads have resulted in election wins at every level of office in the United States and internationally.
Rogero produced President Joe Biden’s Spanish-language launch video, which introduced him to Hispanic voters and powered his path to the Democratic nomination. Most recently, he helped to elect Gabe Vasquez to the U.S. Congress, which was only one of two Republican-held seats that Democrats flipped in 2022. In addition, he created English and Spanish advertising for campaigns in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Nevada – ensuring the Democrats’ Senate majority.
Colin’s career is defined by historic firsts. He helped to elect the first Democrat Latina and
immigrant members of Congress in Florida, Texas, and Nevada, as well as the first Latina and Black female mayors in Knoxville, Atlanta, Charlotte, and St. Louis, respectively. In addition to his domestic clients and campaigns, Colin has worked extensively in Europe, Mexico, Central America, and South America, notably helping to elect the first woman vice president of Colombia.
Rogero’s creativity is sought after in public affairs work too. His corporate clients have included some of the U.S.’s largest corporations like AT&T, Verizon, and Sony, and pivotal ballot measures like Amendment 4 in Florida.
For his impact, he’s earned more than 100 creative and strategic awards, including 100 Most
Influential Political Consultants in the World, Campaign of the Year, Spanish Language Ad of the year, a CLIO and Cannes awards, the Independent Lens Documentary Award, and many more.
Colin was raised in South Florida and currently lives in Washington, DC.
Adrian Saenz
Adrian Saenz is the co-founder of Conexión, a political and public affairs agency based in Washington D.C. He previously served as Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. Prior to joining the Biden-Harris Administration, Adrian served as a Senior Advisor on the Biden for President campaign, overseeing strategy and implementation of the Latino mail and paid media programs, the largest components of an over $125 million Latino voter engagement program.
A senior level manager, Adrian has experience developing strategic legislative, advocacy and electoral campaigns; managing staff and consultant teams; and leading stakeholder engagement, coalition building and partnerships with federal, state, and local leaders. He has led political independent expenditure campaigns for the Latino Victory Project, BOLD PAC, Forward Majority, Emily’s List, the DCCC, the Texas House Democratic Campaign Committee and has consulted for private sector and non-profit clients ranging from River LA to the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders and NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises.
Adrian also previously served as Senior Advisor to President Obama in the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs where he managed relationships with Governors, legislators, and other state elected officials, and developed the State Policy Project, an initiative focused on advancing the President’s domestic policy agenda via state legislatures. He also served as a Continuity of Government Plan team lead in two Administrations and as the in-state coordinator of the White House 2014 Ebola outbreak response.
A Board Member of Giffords-Courage to Fight Gun Violence and former president of the Congressional Hispanic Staff Association, Adrian also spent nearly a decade on Capitol Hill as a Chief of Staff and Communications Director. He is a veteran of four presidential campaigns, serving on both Obama-Biden campaigns — as State Director in 2008 and as the National Latino Vote Director in 2012. His experience also includes serving as Executive Vice President of the Latino Victory Project, Constituency Director for the Obama-Biden Presidential Inaugural Committee, and as the National Field Director and Latino Vote Director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Pili Tobar
Pili Tobar is the former White House Deputy Communications Director for President Joe Biden. At the White House, Pili oversaw communications around domestic policy issues, climate, immigration, and the western hemisphere. In this position she worked closely with the State Department, National Security Council, Domestic Policy Council and many government agencies to draft messaging, do rapid response, plan rollout of new policies and coordinate between the different agencies, governments, and stakeholders.
Prior to serving at the White House, Pili was the Communications Director for the Presidential Inaugural Committee for President Biden and the Communications Director for Coalitions for the Biden for President campaign where she managed the team that executed the outreach and communications strategy to reach Hispanic media, African American media, women media, AAPI media, tribal media, disability media, ethnic media, faith media, LGBTQ+ media, progressives, rural media, seniors, small business, veterans and military families, and youth outlets.
Pili has over 12 years of experience in communications in the political, advocacy, and government arenas working for a wide range of candidates, elected officials and organizations. She has started communications departments from scratch, completely overhauled departments that were not performing up to par, and advised candidates, elected officials and organizations on message testing and the best communications strategies to utilize. Pili has appeared on MSNBC, Telemundo, Univision, CNNE, Peacock, VOA, and been quoted in the pages of the Washington Post, NYT, The Hill, Politico, and many more publications throughout the country.
Before jumping on the Presidential campaign, Pili was the spokesperson and Deputy Director for the pro-immigrant organization America’s Voice and head of advocacy and communications at the Latino Victory Project, where she hit the campaign trail in the 2016 election cycle on behalf of Hispanic Democratic candidates.
Pili also served as Hispanic Media Director for now Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) in 2017, Communications Director for Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) in 2015, and Hispanic Media Director and Western Press Secretary for the Democratic National Committee through the 2014 midterm elections.
Pili was born in Florida and raised in Guatemala City. She graduated from the University of Miami with a Bachelor in Science and a Master’s in Public Administration. Pili currently lives in Washington D.C. with her wife and daughter.
Marsha Espinosa
With more than 20 years of experience in national security and congressional and public affairs, Marsha Espinosa has a love for helping others see public policy work, telling compelling stories, and navigating through crises.
Before joining Conexión, Marsha held senior leadership positions at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), where she led public affairs strategies for some of our nation’s most critical issues, including law enforcement matters, cybersecurity, immigration, border and aviation security, disaster response and recovery, and domestic and international crisis management. She had the privilege of working for three DHS secretaries and is most proud of her efforts to champion the work of DHS employees, including the hardest working K-9’s you will ever meet.
During her years on Capitol Hill, Marsha served as Senator Dianne Feinstein’s Press Secretary, Congresswoman Linda Sánchez’ Chief of Staff and Communications Director, and Congresswoman Nanette Barragan’s Chief of Staff. She began her career as a waitress: a lifelong dream since the 2nd grade career fair. Espinosa spent years helping good people get elected, and serving in government for her beloved home state of New Mexico under the leadership of Governor Bill Richardson.
Marsha is a graduate of New Mexico State University and received a Masters of Arts in Communication Studies from Texas State University. She is a proud military spouse, whose husband serves as a Master Gunnery Sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps.
