The leadership team for the 2008 Democratic National Convention Committee is headed by Leah Daughtry who was most recently Chief of Staff at the DNC, managing day-to-day strategy and operations. Daughtry is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the 2008 Convention. Among her many accomplishments, Daughtry served at the U.S. Department of Labor as Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management during the Clinton Administration. In that capacity, she oversaw the development of the Department’s management programs and policies, including responsibility for the Department’s $35 billion budget. Throughout her career, Daughtry has been widely recognized as bringing sound, principled management and leadership practices to organizations with which she has worked.

Daughtry is joined by the following outstanding members of the DNCC Denver 2008 senior management team:

Leah D. Daughtry, CEO
Peggy Cusack, Chief of Staff
Susana Carbajal, Chief Counsel
Travis Dredd, Deputy CEO for Inside the Hall Operations
Christian Duffus, Deputy CEO for Finance and Administration
Jenni Engebretsen, Deputy CEO for Public Affairs
Sky Gallegos, Deputy CEO for Intergovernmental Affairs
Cameron Moody, Deputy CEO for Outside the Hall Operations

Leah D. Daughtry, Chief Executive Officer

The Reverend Leah D. Daughtry is currently Chief of Staff of the Democratic National Committee and leads the DNC’s outreach to faith communities. Daughtry held various senior posts at the United States Department of Labor during the Clinton Administration, including Senior Advisor to the Secretary, Chief of Staff, and lastly, Acting Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management, with oversight for the development of the Department’s management programs and policies, including responsibility for the Department’s $35 billion budget. Daughtry also served on the Clinton-Gore 1992 Transition Team, as Managing Director of the 1992 Democratic National Convention, and as Legislative Assistant to U.S. Congressman Edolphus “Ed” Towns.

Pastor of The House of the Lord Church in Washington, D.C., Reverend Daughtry is a member of the Boards of Visitors of The Rockefeller Center at Dartmouth College, as well as the Boards of Directors of The House of the Lord Churches, and The Randolph Evans Memorial Scholarship Fund. She has previously served on the Board of Directors of the National AIDS Action Council. Ms. Daughtry has also served as Executive Director of Man-to-Man/Sister-to-Sister, a not-for-profit human service agency dedicated to enriching and enhancing the lives of families in Brooklyn, New York, during which she created a specialized mentoring program for girls with HIV-infected mothers.

Peggy Cusack, Chief of Staff

Prior to joining the DNCC, Peggy Cusack was managing director of the Washington office of Rendezvous Consulting Group, a firm that specializes in the production and management of large scale, high profile events. Cusack brings more than 15 years of experience in the special events industry, and her many notable accomplishments include eight years as a White House event planner during the Clinton/Gore Administration – an experience that included senior management roles on three presidential campaigns, two presidential inaugurations, planning committees for the Olympic Games, and two Democratic National Conventions. In 2004, Peggy served as a consultant to the Kerry-Edwards 2004 presidential campaign, orchestrating campaign operations and logistics for the Democratic National Convention and producing the Election Night concert and celebration in Boston. Prior to starting Rendezvous Consulting Group, Cusack practiced for several years as a litigator in the San Francisco office of the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP.

Susana Carbajal, Chief Counsel

Prior to joining the DNCC, Susana Carbajal was attorney with the Bankruptcy and Specialty Litigation Department at the law firm of Brown McCarroll, L.L.P. where she specializes in representing secured and unsecured creditors as well as debtors in commercial bankruptcy and reorganization cases.

Prior to practicing law, Carbajal worked in government and politics at the national level. Her career began on Capitol Hill where she worked for Texas Congressman Ruben Hinojosa. Carbajal also served as associate deputy director of the Office of Presidential Personnel where she recruited, screened, and recommended diverse, qualified candidates to President Clinton for appointments to cabinet departments, agencies, commissions, and boards. Carbajal also worked for the 2000 Gore for President campaign.

Travis Dredd, Deputy CEO for Inside the Hall Operations

A seasoned political operative and logistics professional, Dredd was formerly Deputy Executive Director at the X PRIZE Foundation in Los Angeles, where he was responsible for oversight and management of the X PRIZE Cup, the first ever live-fire rocket and space vehicle spectator show in the country. While there, he managed and coordinated all activities between space operations, show producers, exhibitors and local, state and federal government agencies. At the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, Dredd served as Deputy Hall Manager, coordinating Convention hall activities related to security, construction and production. He also worked as National Advance Lead for the Kerry/Edwards campaign and as Advance Director for John Kerry for President. Earlier in his career, Dredd was Staff Aide to both Archbishop Desmond Tutu on his U.S. speaking tour and President Bill Clinton on a humanitarian trip to Rwanda. Dredd also worked with the Freedom Writers Foundation, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and the 2000 Gore/Lieberman campaign. After six years of honorable service in the U.S. Marine Corps, Dredd went on to graduate from UCLA with a degree in political science.

Christian Duffus, Deputy CEO for Finance and Administration

Prior to joining the DNCC, Christian Duffus was Vice President of Finance and Corporate Development for M2Z Networks, a development stage entity formed with the intention of acquiring 20 MHz of unpaired spectrum in the 2100 GHz band from the Federal Communications Commission. Before that, Duffus served as the Chief Financial Officer for Govolution, a leading provider of electronic payment software and services to the public sector and the banking industries. At Govolution, Duffus led the company in various roles from start-up, growth, profitability and successful trade-sale to First American Payments. Prior to his work there, Duffus was with the family investment office for John Kluge at Metromedia Company where he focused on internet and telecommunications investments. Duffus began his career with Goldman Sachs in the North American, Mergers and Acquisitions Group. Duffus also serves in a number of professional and nonprofit organizations including founding the Scholars' Club, now part of Florida Gulf Coast University, which has served more than 40,000 minority and "at-risk" students since its inception in 1989. He is a graduate of Florida A&M University and the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business.

Jenni Engebretsen, Deputy CEO for Public Affairs

Jenni R. Engebretsen is the former Director of Communications for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the Washington, DC-based trade group that represents the U.S. recording industry. Before joining the RIAA, Engebretsen spent eight years working in Democratic politics, most recently as a Regional Communications Director for the Kerry-Edwards for President campaign, where she was responsible for developing campaign communications strategy for top-targeted states including Florida and New Hampshire. During the 2004 presidential cycle, she also served as Deputy Communications Director for the Democratic National Convention in Boston and as Press Secretary for the Edwards for President campaign during the primaries. Before that, she worked on Capitol Hill in the communications offices of Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and in the White House press office during the Clinton Administration. She is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.

Sky Gallegos, Deputy CEO for Intergovernmental Affairs

Sky Gallegos’ work with state and local elected officials spans the last 13 years and includes senior positions in government, corporate, non-profit and campaign arenas. Prior to joining the DNCC, Gallegos was a partner in Hilltop Public Solutions, a Washington based firm that specializes in public affairs, strategic communications and campaign consulting.

During the Clinton Administration, Gallegos worked directly with the nation’s state and local elected officials in the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs in the White House, and the Democratic National Committee. An experienced campaign veteran, Gallegos worked in the last three presidential campaign cycles and in off-year and mid-term elections in three targeted states for the Democratic National Committee. In 2003, Gallegos was the National Political Director for the Edwards for President Campaign, during the general election she was the California State Director for Kerry/Edwards 04. Gallegos directed the western regional political effort for Vice President Al Gore in the 2000 election cycle, implementing the political strategy for 12 western states including the successful campaigns in California, Washington, Oregon, New Mexico and Hawaii.

Gallegos also has experience building and managing coalitions between the public and private sectors, helping start and then manage EdVoice, a political advocacy organization for public school reform in California. As Chief Operating Officer and Political Director, she worked with the CEO to build a Board of Directors and Advisory Board which includes business, education, political and community leaders from across the state. In its first two years, EdVoice had a 99% success rate with the legislation it introduced.

Cameron Moody, Deputy CEO for Outside the Hall Operations

Cameron Moody has more than 18 years of experience in project management, strategic planning, special event logistics, and transportation systems. Until recently, Moody was the Director of Strategic Planning and Operations for the American Cancer Society's National Government Relations Office. Prior to joining the American Cancer Society, Moody was Deputy CEO for Operations for the 2004 Democratic National Convention Committee where he oversaw the planning and implementation of Security, Transportation and Housing. In this role, he interfaced with the Boston Host Committee, Secret Service, Boston Police, Boston Conventions and Visitors Bureau, Boston Fire Dept., Boston Police, State Dept. of Transportation and a host of other agencies and corporate entities.

Moody also served as Deputy Director of Operations for the 2004 and 2000 Democratic National Conventions and Deputy Director of Transportation for the 1996 Democratic National Convention. Cameron also worked on the 2002, 2000 and 1996 Olympics and the 1997 Denver Summit of the Eight (G-8 Economic Summit). Moody is an engineer by training and has worked in automotive and athletic shoe design and development prior to working in Special Events.