Our Team
- Margie Maddux Newman – Founding Partner
- Maddy M. Kilkenny – Partner
- Nancy Ives Schroeder – Director of Public Relations
- Kenneth Moore – Senior Account Manager
- Chelsey Kamen – Senior Account Manager
- Sina Hajhassan – Account Executive
Margie Maddux Newman
Founding Partner, Managing Director
Margie Newman is an award-winning public relations strategist and founder of Intesa Communications Group. Sought out by top organizations in San Diego and beyond, Margie’s comprehensive communications industry experience and unmatched energy drive success for Intesa’s clients again and again.
Before founding Intesa in 2012, Margie served as a media relations and social media manager for The Pew Center on the States, a division of The Pew Charitable Trusts, in Washington, D.C. Her career has spanned public, private, government, and nonprofit entities, including time with Tennessee-based public affairs firm, Hall Strategies and serving as a press aide to former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen.
A graduate of Auburn University, Margie is a member of the YMCA of San Diego County Corporate Board of Directors, the LEAD San Diego Board of Directors (IMPACT ’15 & INFLUENCE ’17), and the Downtown San Diego Partnership Board of Directors.
Margie was recognized as one of San Diego’s “40 under 40” by SDMETRO Magazine in 2016, named among the San Diego Business Journal’s 2017 Business Women of the Year, and was named the International Association of Business Communicators San Diego 2018 Communicator of the Year. Still, her greatest accomplishments are her two children, Suzie and CJ.
Expertise
- Communications strategy
- Communications infrastructure
- Non-profit communications
- Crisis communications
- Media relations
- Reputation management
- Karaoke
Twitter | LinkedIn | Email Margie
Maddy M. Kilkenny
Partner
Maddy Kilkenny manages day-to-day client activities and is responsible for working closely with clients and project teams to develop and implement government and community relations strategies. Maddy has extensive experience working with local government at all levels in San Diego. She spent six years as Vice President of Government Relations at the Clay Company where she worked with clients including Microsoft, Motorola, Kaiser Permanente, and many others in a variety of areas including land use, healthcare, and public safety.
Prior to her work at the Clay Company, Maddy spent 11 years at the County of San Diego, where she was a Senior Policy Advisor to Supervisor Greg Cox, focusing on health and public safety policy issues, community outreach and special events.
During her time in Supervisor Cox’s office, Maddy crafted policy to improve the lives of our region’s foster children, maintain critical Juvenile Justice funding and programs, and she helped the struggling InfoLine transition to what is known today as 2-1-1 San Diego.
Maddy serves on the board of directors for the USS Midway Museum, and the board of the San Diego Young Leaders (an initiative of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce). In 2016, Maddy was appointed by San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer to the Civic San Diego board of directors. A native San Diegan, Maddy and her husband Sean are proud parents to young sons, Logan and Owen.
Expertise
Nancy Ives Schroeder Director of Public Relations
As Director of Public Relations, Nancy brings extensive public affairs, communications, and healthcare experience to Intesa through her various roles in Washington, D.C. and San Diego.
Before moving to California, Nancy worked more than 15 years in the nation’s capital serving as Press Secretary and Communications Director for U.S. Senator John McCain, including stints on both of his presidential campaigns, followed by her role as Vice President of Communications at The Vaccine Fund (now the GAVI Alliance), an international grantee of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Nancy later founded NIS Strategies in 2008, where she led corporate strategies for a variety of clients, including Fortune 500 companies and nonprofit organizations. Most recently, Nancy was Senior Director of Communications at West Health, a family of nonprofit organizations dedicated to lowering the cost of healthcare and enabling successful aging through philanthropy, medical research and public policy.
A native of Florida’s west coast, Nancy is a graduate of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. She lives in the Sunset Cliffs neighborhood of San Diego with her husband, son and daughter, along with Cinco, a rescue pup from Mexico.
Expertise
Kenneth Moore
Senior Account Manager
Kenneth Moore manages Intesa’s City of San Diego-focused government relations and community outreach programs. In this role, Kenneth develops and oversees multi-faceted campaigns for land use, renewable energy, housing, mobility and cannabis issues in the San Diego Region.
Over his nearly decade-long career at various Southern California public affairs agencies, Kenneth has created broad-based coalitions, developed inclusive outreach and education programs and helped secure decisive victories from city councils and at the ballot box. Kenneth has achieved award-winning outcomes on behalf of the Friends of SDSU (SDSU West), Alexandria Real Estate, San Diego Padres, IBEW Local #11, Los Angeles Chapter of NECA, Brookfield Properties, Colliers, San Diego County Water Authority and the Holiday Bowl, among many others.
Kenneth serves as Vice Chair of the Downtown Community Planning Council – San Diego and on the Board of Directors of I Love a Clean San Diego. Kenneth’s work has been recognized locally and nationally including the 2019 Ballot Measure of the Year from the American Association of Political Consultants, 2012 Silver Anvil of Excellence from the Public Relations Society of America and more than five Bronze and Silver Bernays Mark of Excellence Awards from the San Diego/Imperial Counties Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.
Moore holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in managerial organizational communications and a minor in public relations from Point Loma Nazarene University. A native San Diegan and resident of Little Italy, Kenneth loves exploring San Diego’s best restaurants, snow skiing, sailing or playing a set of tennis. You can also find Kenneth with his lab/hound mix rescue dog named Archie enjoying Coronado Dog Beach, walking along the San Diego Harbor or playing at the Little Italy Dog Park.
Expertise
- Government relations
- Public affairs strategy
- Coalition building
- Crisis communications
- Media relations
- Dog parks
- Nordstrom
Chelsey Kamen
Senior Account Manager
Chelsey leads communications, media and marketing strategies for Intesa’s clients as a Senior Account Manager.
Chelsey brings a unique skill set to the team, blending creativity and business strategy with a background in the Arts and an MBA in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from Point Loma Nazarene University. Prior to joining Intesa, Chelsey was the Marketing Manager at the world-renowned Salvador Dalí Museum in Florida. In her role at the Museum, Chelsey led key marketing, brand and communication strategies, and developed full-funnel advertising campaigns for the Museum’s frequent special exhibitions curated from top worldwide collections. Additional expertise spans creative development, tourism marketing, special events, fundraising, and market research.
Fun fact about Chelsey: in addition to her business acumen, she is also an artist and has painted since she was two years old when she created her first watercolor “masterpiece” for her Dad’s Navy ship’s stateroom. Chelsey has painted ever since and uses art to tell stories, capture moments in nature and moods on canvas with vibrant color. Founder of Chelsey Kamen Art, she currently works from a studio in the Mission Hills neighborhood of San Diego. Her artwork has been featured in galleries, Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn, and other retailers and designer showcases.
Born in Hawaii, Chelsey has lived in many places throughout the US and extensively traveled internationally as part of a Navy family. Chelsey now calls Point Loma home with her Iron Man, Navy husband. When she is not working or painting, she loves to cook, run, hike, ski, travel and find new adventures. Ask her about the time she went shark-cage diving.
Expertise
Sina Hajhassan
Account Executive
Sina Hajhassan executes media relations, communications and public affairs tactics in support of Intesa’s clients throughout San Diego and beyond. As an Account Executive, Sina works closely with both the PR and government relations teams to deliver strategic results. He is inspired by working within the collaborative culture at Intesa, and brings a spirit of innovation to all projects.
Prior to joining Intesa, Sina worked on SkinSolution.MD’s marketing team as Brand Marketing Coordinator for various e-commerce brands, where he generated new social media content, engagement and followers to increase conversion rate optimization. While attending college as a full-time student, Sina also completed two internships at BAM Communications and SLATE PR.
After graduating from the College of Marin with an A.A. in Communication Studies, as well as Social and Behavioral Sciences, Sina earned his B.A. in Communications at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). During his senior year, he also served as the president of the Undergraduate Communication Society at UCSD.
Sina currently serves on the Asian Culture Media Alliance’s Take One Media Mentorship Board. He also provides career coaching services to students and young professionals.
Sina hails from the Bay Area and currently resides in San Diego. He loves being adventurous, exploring the latest happenings around town and trying new things, such as skydiving.