NEAL KWATRA
Founder & CEO
Since the founding of MPS in 2013, Neal Kwatra has been at the forefront of the most hotly contested political and issue advocacy campaigns in New York and across the nation. His influence spans electoral campaigns, worker-focused advocacies, and groundbreaking climate change initiatives, notably aiding the development of New York's budding offshore wind industry.
In his first year running MPS, Kwatra made history. He spearheaded Ken Thompson’s campaign for Brooklyn District Attorney as Chief Strategist, resulting in Thompson becoming the first African American Brooklyn DA. Notably, Thompson introduced the nation's first conviction review unit in a DA's office, emphasizing criminal justice reform.
In the subsequent years, Kwatra expanded the reach of MPS into the strategic management of nationally recognized grassroots and issue advocacy campaigns, including: the #FightFor15 where New York became the first state to pass a $15 minimum wage; the United for Affordable NYC campaign that enacted the largest affordable housing program in a US city anywhere in the country; the passage of transformative criminal justice reforms on behalf of the Innocence Project, Paid Family Leave, Tuition Free College and medical marijuana expansion legislation in New York; and the ShareBetter campaign that has driven a global movement to enact regulations around Airbnb and the short-term rental industry.
He has been a constant advocate for Maimonides Medical Center, a critical safety net hospital serving thousands in New York City with dynamic, cutting-edge medical innovations, and a leading voice for organized labor in the expansion of gaming in New York State. He has been trusted by countless organizations to lead independent expenditures that have shaped the results of city, state, and federal elections.
More recently Kwatra has focused his work on climate change at the cross section of the public and private sectors. He has led a number of successful campaigns for building decarbonization at the city and state level. His work advocating for offshore wind with international renewables leader, Ørsted, has laid the groundwork for the creation of offshore wind and renewables that will create thousands of union jobs across New York while providing hundreds of thousands of homes with clean energy from one of the largest offshore wind farms in the United States.
From 2011-2013, he was the Chief of Staff for the New York State Attorney General's Office. Here, he directed the office's trajectory and daily functions, making headway in combating mortgage fraud and launching the I-STOP system to counteract prescription drug abuse. Preceding this, Kwatra revolutionized the New York Hotel Trades Council (HTC) as the Director of Political and Strategic Affairs. Between 2008 and 2011, he transformed the HTC into a political powerhouse, with impressive campaign successes including Mayor Michael Bloomberg's re-election. Kwatra's strategies enabled thousands to join the hotel workers union, solidifying HTC's political clout. Earlier, as Deputy Director of Strategic Affairs for UNITE HERE, the national hotel workers union, Kwatra pioneered the union’s hotel development initiative.
Recognized by Crain’s "40 Under Forty" in 2012, Neal Kwatra is consistently listed in City and State's top consultants for New York City and Albany from 2014 to 2023. In 2021, he was 31st in City & State's “New York City Power 100" and 10th in their ‘Power of Diversity: Asian 100’. By January 2022, he ranked 5th in City & State's "Political PR Power 50.” He was also recognized by Schnep’s Media in 2022 as Power Players for Elections and, as of October 2023, chosen by AM New York as a ‘power player’ in PR and Lobbying.