article_title education name occupation
ken snyder
 loyola university chicago university of wisconsin ken snyder principal , snyderpickerill media group
ken snyder

ken snyder is a principal and co-founder of snyderpickerill media group , a political media firm that specializes in the production of television advertising for political campaigns and candidates .
snyder was formerly a prominent press secretary and public relations manager .
he is best known for his work with democrats , including john f. street , ed rendell , and vince fumo .
he earned a master 's degree from loyola university chicago and pursued a ph.d. at university of wisconsin .
he began his career working on john f. street 's first campaign for mayor of philadelphia .
in that position , he became known to senator vince fumo , who hired snyder to work in the senate democratic campaign committee .
during the 2002 united states senate election in new jersey , he managed the campaign for bob torricelli , a job that politicspa called `` masochism '' and `` a challenge and huge opportunity . ''
after torricelli was replaced by frank lautenberg on the ballot , snyder stayed on the campaign and helped achieve victory .
immediately following the pennsylvania gubernatorial election in 2002 , fumo lent snyder , who was one of fumo 's `` key political staffers , '' to ed rendell , where he worked as acting press sectary for the governor-elect from november 2002 to march 2003 .
he then returned to work in the private sector .
in 2009 , he was hired by the governor to serve as communications employee charged with publicizing the state 's take of the american recovery and reinvestment act of 2009 .
the controversial hiring , which appeared to violate rendell 's well-publicized state hiring freeze during the 2009 pennsylvania budget impasse , was questioned by government reform advocates , including eric epstein .
later in 2009 , he took on an expanded portfolio as interim press secretary with the departure of chuck ardo , rendell 's long-time press secretary .
he is `` considered by many ... to be among the most intelligent spokesmen and strategists around . ''
within political circles , he is `` widely regarded and respected by republicans and democrats alike . ''
overall , politicspa called him `` one of the best political press secretaries in the state . ''
in 2010 , `` politics magazine '' named him one of the most influential democrats in pennsylvania .
in july 2010 , snyder and fellow political consultant terrie pickerill formed snyderpickerill media group .
they met while working for david axelrod on john schmidt 's unsuccessful 1997 gubernatorial campaign , and both cite him as a mentor .
snyder 's commercials for cook county state 's attorney anita alvarez were deemed `` brilliant '' by the reader 's mick dumke , and a reason alvarez , a political unknown , was able to win her race in 2008 .
