A veteran leadership staffer in the US House and Senate who has worked in communications, legislation and public policy, Andrew Kauders puts his extensive know-how to work for Cogent Strategies' clients. He is particularly adept at helping clients navigate the energy and environment policy sectors.
Andrew's expertise spans both the executive and legislative branches. On Capitol Hill, he was senior adviser for Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), the former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a senior member of the Finance and Banking Committees. He served as executive director of the House Democratic Caucus, playing a key role in developing political, legislative and message strategy for House Democrats. Previously, Andrew was the communications director and senior adviser for the caucus. He has been named five times to Roll Call newspaper’s “Fabulous Fifty” most influential staffers on Capitol Hill, listed as one of the “Top 35 Under 35” congressional staffers in The Hill newspaper, and profiled by National Journal, which described him as the sounding board for almost every aspect of the caucus operation, from leadership issues to legislation to politics to media strategy.
As a political appointee in the Clinton administration, Andrew served as spokesperson for the US Department of Agriculture, as deputy communications director for the Climate Change Task Force at the White House and as special assistant and deputy press secretary at the Environmental Protection Agency.
Born in Switzerland and fluent in German, Andrew grew up in Europe, where he lived for 20 years. An “active” member of the Cogent Strategies family, Andrew once won the European-wide International School soccer championship and was a two-time European youth mixed doubles tennis champion. He has a bachelor's degree in international relations from Beloit College.
