Dan Gerstein, Senior Lieberman Advisor, Launches New York-based Strategic Communications Firm.

NEW YORK -- Dan Gerstein, a senior strategist for Joe Lieberman on two presidential campaigns and a longtime advisor to the Connecticut Senator, today formally launched a strategic communications consulting practice in Manhattan.

His firm, Dan Gerstein Consulting (DGC), will focus on helping organizations, corporations, and coalitions use communications and advocacy effectively to achieve their missions and objectives.

"One of the most important things I learned in national politics is that the source of true power is the power to persuade," Gerstein said. "The same lesson holds true for any business or group that depends on winning the trust of consumers or stakeholders to survive and succeed. They all share the same critical interest in building public confidence in the stories they are telling and selling - whether it's about soap or on top of soap boxes."

"My practice will leverage my unique blend of experience, talent, and contacts to help for-profits and non-profits alike to maximize their power of persuasion - to help them break through in a dense and dissonant marketplace, win public debates, defuse potential controversies, expand their customer or support base, and ultimately reach their larger goals, whether they are seeking higher profits or higher consciousness."

Gerstein, who started his career as a reporter for the Hartford Courant, spent a decade working for Lieberman on Capitol Hill, including five years as communications director. In 2000, he served as national spokesman for Lieberman's vice-presidential campaign. Most recently, he managed the strategic planning, policy, and speechwriting operations for Lieberman's presidential campaign.

After leaving Lieberman's team earlier this year, Gerstein formed a strategic partnership with the Bemporad Baranowski Marketing Group - a brand-driven marketing firm in Union Square -- and began working with a handful of non-profit groups in the New York-Washington corridor.

His initial client roster includes:

--Charter School Leadership Council - A national umbrella organization representing the public charter school movement

--National Service-Learning Partnership - A national advocacy organization dedicated to promoting service-learning, an innovative method of teaching that combines local problem-solving with core academic studies

--Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn - A coalition of community groups fighting the development of a new basketball arena and 17 high-rise towers in Prospect Heights 

--Trinity Church Grants - A leading charity in the Episcopal faith community and one of New York's leading supporters of anti-hunger programs

--Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now - A newly-formed state advocacy group focused on dramatically improving inner-city public schools and closing the achievement gap

--Baltimore Safe and Sound - A public advocacy campaign to win a commitment from the city's top civic leaders to make improving conditions for children and families the top item on their civic agenda

Gerstein, 37, said his practice will continue specializing in the non-profit arena and issue advocacy, but soon aims to diversify his client base to include a mix of corporate and other private sector work.

In addition, Gerstein said he intends to take on a limited number of political projects and to continue his work as a part-time political commentator. Gerstein has appeared occasionally as a political analyst on the Fox News Channel, and last week had a provocative op-ed on the future of the Democratic Party published on the Wall Street Journal editorial page.

"The last thing that New York -- or Washington for that matter -- needs is another PR firm. I am offering something different - an integrated bundle of services that draws on the breadth and depth of my 15 years of experience as a reporter, press secretary, speechwriter, policy adviser, and senior strategist for one of the nation's most respected political leaders.

"My background ideally suits me to tackle the increasingly sophisticated challenges facing many private actors with public agendas. What I can offer these clients is one-stop strategic shopping - from the soup of message development to the nuts of crisis communications and government relations. What I can also offer, through my extensive contacts in the political and communications arenas, is an unusually wide range of access to the people and resources they need to enlist or persuade."

For more information on DGC, go to www.DanGerstein.com