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Nick Desarno

Managing Director, Narrative Strategies

Nick DeSarno is a strategic communicator with over a decade of experience in public affairs and grassroots advocacy. His clients benefit from his ability to develop and manage digital public affairs campaigns that deliver tangible results. When a technology company faced a highly contentious rezoning battle, Nick served as the on-the-record spokesperson, managing local and national media relations while helping galvanize support from community, political, and business leaders, ultimately leading to its successful approval.

Before joining Narrative, Nick was the Director of Digital and Policy Communications for the Public Affairs Council. Nick provided strategic counsel to the Council’s 700-member organizations on digital advocacy and public affairs strategies. Nick also previously spearheaded grassroots campaigns for the American Dental Association, managing both federal and state-level campaigns.

Before entering the private sector, Nick was Deputy Communications Director for US Representative Tim Johnson (R-IL-15).

Nick has been quoted by media outlets such as The New York Times, BuzzFeed, and The Washington Post, particularly noted for his insights as a digital expert when commenting on Twitter’s ban on political ads.

Nick received a BA in Political Science from the University of Mary Washington and a master’s in Public Policy from George Mason University, where he was honored with a Bryce Harlow Fellowship. Outside of the office, Nick enjoys spending time with his wife and Labradoodle.

Mark Keida

Partner, Narrative Strategies

With a distinguished research career spanning more than 50 countries and hundreds of political and issue campaigns, Mark Keida leads Narrative Insights as a Partner. Mark’s decades of experience using opinion research with critical audiences to develop strategy and campaigns for political, corporate, and government entities equips our clients with the insights they need for quicker and well-informed decision-making, execution, success measurement, and reporting. 

Before joining Narrative, Mark served as Vice President of Public Affairs at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), where he oversaw the strategic initiatives team that covered research and polling, strategic planning, industry value communications, grassroots and two of PhRMA’s highest-profile advocacy campaigns. Upon joining PhRMA, Mark built a best-in-class research, polling, and measurement operation that helped power PhRMA’s most successful campaigns.  

Prior to PhRMA, Mark served as Vice President of Public Affairs and Corporate Communications at GfK (now part of Ipsos), where he led global reputation and positioning research for major corporations, trade groups, and government agencies. Mark began his career on Capitol Hill and has worked as a pollster for two prominent political research firms, Lake Research Partners and Anzalone-Liszt Research (now Impact Research).  

Mark earned a doctorate in Political Science from Miami University and is currently an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, where he teaches Communications for Data Science. Mark resides in Alexandria, Virginia, with his wife and two children.