Rick Palacio is the one of the founding partner of the Majority Institute. He is also the owner of PS Group, a consulting firm that assists progressive causes, candidates and corporate clients throughout the country. He has been involved in dozens of high-level political campaigns, and also served as chair of the Colorado Democratic Party from 2011-2017. Rick is the first Latino in Colorado’s history to hold the office of chair of the Colorado Democratic Party. Prior to his service with the Colorado Democrats, he worked in Washington, D.C., as a senior leadership aide to House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (MD-D) and former U.S. Rep. John T. Salazar (CO-D).
Jon Youngdahl is one of the founding partners of The Majority Institute. He is also the owner of Youngdahl Strategies, a Sacramento-based consulting company that specializes in organizational development and winning strategic campaigns. Before starting his own consulting company, Jon served as a California based Senior Advisor to the ATLAS Project headquartered in Washington, DC.
Previously, Jon was the Executive Director of the California State Council of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) where he worked with SEIU’s 700,000 members and 15 Local Unions. He also served for two years as the Chief of Staff of SEIU International in Washington, DC, and before that was SEIU’s National Political Director from 2007 – 2010 where he directed the nationwide independent expenditure public campaign work and member outreach of the union on both elections and federal issue campaigns. He also served on the Boards of several national organizations including the America Votes, Ballot Initiative Strategy Center (BISC), Priorities USA Action Fund, Jobs with Justice and the National Labor State Table.
In the Labor Movement, Jon has worked for SEIU, the United Steelworkers of America, and served as State Director for the Minnesota and National AFL-CIO during the 2004 presidential election cycle. He was campaign manager for AG Mike Hatch’s Minnesota gubernatorial race in 2006. Youngdahl also served on the field advisory committee and as a volunteer 5th CD Advisor to the late Senator Paul Wellstone’s 1996 re-election campaign and co-founded and co-chaired Workers for Wellstone during the 2002 reelection. He was also one of the original members of the small group that put together Minnesota’s electoral roadmap that resulted in building the progressive infrastructure that led to many future electoral successes in the state. Jon was also the campaign manager for the top targeted state house race in Minnesota in 1996 where he helped elect the first Asian Indian in the United States to a state legislature.
Anne Wilseck is the Program Director at The Majority Institute. Prior to joining TMI, Anne served as the Executive Director of the Colorado Democratic Party for three years. Anne has worked on all levels of campaigns from local municipal and school boards to federal races in targeted states in a variety of positions.