
Sue Zoldak
Founder & Owner
The Zoldak Agency
About Sue Zoldak
Who knew that the effort to pass comprehensive health care reform in the early ‘90’s would become a pivotal event for Sue Zoldak? Here’s the story. While studying for her Master’s degree, Sue ran into the case study of “Harry and Louise” as part of her coursework. Intrigued by the fictional couple whose television ads are credited with launching the genre of advocacy advertising, Sue sought out the creator, Ben Goddard, for an internship at his public affairs firm. Sue had one goal in mind – to learn about issue advocacy and marry her passion for advertising and public policy. The rest is history.
Rising quickly in her field, Sue went from intern to Vice President at Goddard Claussen. In the interim, Sue led award-winning teams of strategic and creative talent for clients in industries including pharmaceuticals, transportation, energy, education, health care, consumer electronics, and food and beverage. In 2009 and 2010, Sue’s stewardship of the “Harry and Louise” brand led her to manage two new ad campaigns as the public policy pop icons advocated for health care reform the second time around. Sue modernized Harry and Louise by launching Twitter and Facebook campaigns, resulting in a National Journal interview for the article, “Mystery of who tweets for Harry and Louise solved.”
Next, Sue Zoldak was a Senior Vice President at Adfero Group, a Washington, DC strategic communications firm. In that post, she led business development efforts and was a key member of the senior leadership team. During her tenure, the staff grew from 18 to over 30 team members. She led efforts for major trade associations, government contracts, and grassroots advocacy campaigns.
As Founder and Owner of The Zoldak Agency, Sue gets to do what she loves best – win issue campaigns. At the heart of every campaign? Cutting-edge digital techniques and hard-driving messages. Built in 2016 at the nexus of political strategy and Madison Avenue-style advertising, The Zoldak Agency was named Public Affairs Firm of the Year in both 2018 and 2019 by the Campaigns & Elections Reed Awards. Sue launched Zoldak Research, a public opinion polling firm, and Zoldak Victory, a political ad agency in 2019. Sue appears often in the media as a political commentator. MIT Tech Review says, “Put simply, she’s a go-to person for companies and organizations determined to shape public policy.”