NAFA Annuity Leadership Forum Speakers

Keynote Speakers

Paul Begala

Paul Begala is a political commentator, a professor of public policy, an author and a political strategist. He is a commentator for CNN, where he is part of the political team that has won both an Emmy Award and a Peabody Award. In addition to appearing on-air, Paul writes commentary for CNN, which is the world’s most-read news organization website. Over the years, he has also been a frequent guest on Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO and has authored six books about politics, several of which were New York Times bestsellers. In the 1990s, he helped his friend John F. Kennedy, Jr. launch the political magazine George and wrote the “Capitol Hillbilly” column.

Begala served in 1992 as a senior strategist for Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign and as Counselor to the President in the White House, helping coordinate policy, politics and media. Before working for Pres. Clinton, Begala worked on Capitol Hill and advised campaigns across America. In 2012, he played a crucial role in the Obama-Biden re-election campaign. He has also done campaign work overseas, including in Israel, Europe, South America, the Caribbean and Africa.

Stephen F. Hayes

Stephen F. Hayes is CEO and editor of The Dispatch, a conservative digital media company he started with Jonah Goldberg and Toby Stock in 2019. He is the author of two New York Times best sellers: The Connection: How al Qaeda’s Collaboration with Saddam Hussein Has Endangered America and Cheney: The Untold Story of America’s Most Powerful and Controversial Vice President. Hayes is also currently an NBC News contributor and was part of CNN’s “Best Political Team on Television,” which won a Peabody Award for its coverage of the 2008 elections.

Hayes worked at The Weekly Standard magazine for nearly two decades, first as a reporter/writer and eventually as editor-in-chief. His work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Reason, National Review and many other publications. Hayes has written extensively about national politics, international affairs and the country’s current political leadership.

Pollsters

Margie Omero

Margie Omero is a principal at the Democratic polling firm GBAO with more than 25 years of experience providing strategic advice and qualitative and quantitative research to candidates, organizations, and brands. In 2022, she worked on the two most competitive gubernatorial races in the country — Governors Tony Evers (WI) and Laura Kelly (KS) — and with the only Democratic Senate pickup, Senator John Fetterman (PA). She also worked with the DSCC to help re-elect Senators Patty Murray (WA) and Michael Bennet (CO).

Margie’s other clients have included AARP, AFL-CIO, The Center for American Progress, Third Way, Groundwork Collaborative, DCCC, DLCC, DNC, EMILY’s List, Planned Parenthood, NARAL, Everytown for Gun Safety, and Brady PAC. Her work has explored some of the country’s most challenging public opinion questions, such as race, abortion rights, immigration, economic policy, climate change, corporate accountability, voting and participation, guns, aid in dying, and the January 6th riots. Margie leads and moderates the monthly focus group series America in Focus for the New York Times Opinion Pages and co-leads the Navigator Research team, an ongoing regular investigation into public opinion of the country’s top issues.

Patrick Ruffini

Patrick Ruffini has advanced the digital and data-driven transformation of politics in numerous roles throughout the past 15 years, most recently as the co-founder of Echelon Insights, a next-generation polling, analytics, and intelligence firm. He did so to evolve the traditional ways that organizations collect information to drive strategy. Patrick leads the firm’s analytics and technology practices, helping a wide array of clients craft more persuasive messages, manage crises, and reach audiences more cost-effectively.

Patrick began his career as one of the country’s first political-digital practitioners, starting at the Republican National Committee in 2002. He managed grassroots technology and outreach for President George W. Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign and returned to the RNC to run digital strategy in 2006. As the founder of Engage, a leading right-of-center digital agency, Patrick would apply these lessons learned at the Presidential level to political campaigns nationally and internationally, the advocacy and nonprofit worlds, the Fortune 50, and beyond. As a writer and public speaker, his insights on political, demographic, and technology trends are often highlighted by national media.