Team

John Arensmeyer, Founder & CEO
Terry Gardiner, National Policy Director
Rachel Radway, Communications Director
Ben Geyerhahn, New York Project Director
David Chase, California Outreach Manager
Erin Musgrave, Media Relations Manager
Eszter Szocska, Executive Coordinator

 

John Arensmeyer, Founder & CEO
In just a few years John Arensmeyer has established Small Business Majority as a nationally recognized small business organization and the leading small business advocate for comprehensive healthcare reform. Recently, the organization has begun to address other issues that are critical to small business owners and the self-employed, including access to capital, job creation and energy.

John was the founder and CEO of ACI Interactive, an award-winning international e-commerce company whose clients included John Hancock, Mass Mutual, UBS, Bank of America, Hertz and The Wharton School. Information Week named ACI’s signature product one of the nation’s top 100 e-business innovations, and the company was cited by the San Francisco Business Times as one of the top 100 fastest growing private companies in the Bay Area. After 10 years, John successfully sold ACI to the nation’s leading retirement products company. Earlier, John was the chief operating officer of a pioneering multimedia business and an attorney in New York.

John’s a frequent speaker on small business policy issues and a regular guest on TV and radio, including CBS Evening News, NPR’s Marketplace, MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews and PBS NewsHour. His memberships include the California Task Force on Affordable Care. John served on a panel at the White House healthcare summit in 2009, and he testifies regularly at congressional committee hearings on healthcare reform.

Terry Gardiner, National Policy Director
Terry Gardiner, based in Washington, DC, directs all of Small Business Majority's national policy and advocacy efforts to bring the small business perspective to the Obama administration and Congress.

Originally a commercial fisherman, Terry founded and spent 22 years as the CEO of Silver Lining Seafoods, later NorQuest Seafoods. He grew the company to over $100 million in sales, with 1,000 employees and markets in 22 countries. After the sale of NorQuest in 2004, he turned to public policy work, focusing on healthcare reform. Terry is also a former Speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives, in which he served for 10 years and authored a host of successful groundbreaking legislation.

Rachel Radway, Communications Director
Rachel Radway directs Small Business Majority’s communications, marketing, media and PR functions, and manages the organization's network of national and state websites and research library. She has more than 20 years’ experience as a writer and editor, and has launched and managed websites, internal and external communications programs, and brands for small businesses and Fortune 500s, including Wilderness Travel, Old Navy (Gap, Inc.), Amazon.com, Boeing, WetFeet, PayPal (eBay, Inc.) and Adobe.

Ben Geyerhahn, New York Project Director
Ben Geyerhahn is a business, public affairs and communications strategist with more than 10 years in public affairs and law. His wide range of experience includes serving as field director and consultant on national and state-level campaigns and public policy initiatives.

Ben is also a principal with HudsonTG, where he’s guided a Rockefeller Foundation-supported project exploring ways to finance the rising cost of healthcare expenses. Previously, he served as New York director for NDN, a public policy think tank and advocacy organization.

David Chase, California Outreach Manager
David Chase manages Small Business Majority’s Sacramento office, focusing on relationships with small business organizations and owners across California and working closely with legislators and other policymakers in the state. Previously, he served for more than four years in the office of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, where he built coalitions with business and other stakeholder groups to advance the Governor’s agenda. David was part of the team responsible for building the coalition behind Governor Schwarzenegger’s 2007 comprehensive healthcare reform proposal.

Erin Musgrave, Media Relations Manager
Erin Musgrave manages Small Business Majority's media relations and PR functions. An award-winning journalist, her experience in the newspaper industry spans both editorial and advertising. She worked as a reporter, editor and advertising executive for a newspaper group in California before launching a weekly newspaper and serving as publisher and editor-in-chief. She then transitioned into public relations, where she managed marcom for a green business in Santa Cruz, CA, while providing PR and marketing support to small businesses on a contract basis.

Eszter Szocska, Executive Coordinator
Eszter Szocska supports Small Business Majority’s communications team and manages the Sausalito office as well. Before joining us, she worked as an executive assistant and website administrator at Green-Wifi, a small business specializing in the development of solar-powered Wi-Fi grid networks for schools in the developing world. Previously, Eszter spent nine years in Tokyo, Japan, where she cofounded FCC International, a small web services company.







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