Founded 1995 in New York. Democratic polling roots. Now a full-service public affairs, research, and corporate reputation firm — Kamala Harris's 2024 presidential campaign, the 2025 gubernatorial wins in New Jersey and Virginia, and a corporate roster running from Comcast NBCUniversal to the Gates Foundation.
The firm
Global Strategy Group — GSG — is one of the most established Democratic-aligned public affairs and polling firms in the country. Headquartered in New York, with offices in Washington, Denver, and Hartford, the firm operates at the intersection of political strategy, opinion research, corporate reputation, and public affairs. It has been named Public Affairs Agency of the Year by both PRovoke Media (formerly the Holmes Report) and the American Association of Political Consultants.
The firm's founders — Jon Silvan, CEO; Jefrey Pollock, President; and Jeffrey Plaut, Partner — launched GSG in 1995 as a boutique polling operation working out of a New York apartment. Silvan and Pollock brought together GSG and Pollock's Strategic Research Team the same year, merging the strategic communications and quantitative research capabilities that still anchor the firm three decades later.
Political practice
GSG's political client list is a road map of the modern Democratic Party. The firm served as a research and strategy partner on Kamala Harris's 2024 presidential campaign. In 2025, GSG's polling and strategic guidance helped elect Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger in Virginia — the first female Democratic governors in either state's history.
Beyond the presidential and gubernatorial roster, Pollock's political clients have included Governors John Carney (DE), Kathy Hochul (NY), Ned Lamont (CT), Janet Mills (ME), JB Pritzker (IL), and Josh Shapiro (PA); Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), Ed Markey (MA), Joe Manchin (WV), and Jacky Rosen (NV); the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and the Democratic Governors Association.
Pollock has twice been named "Pollster of the Year" by the bipartisan American Association of Political Consultants — in 2011 and 2015 — and the New York Times has ranked him among the country's leading pollsters.
Corporate and issue-advocacy practice
GSG's corporate work is where the firm's public affairs identity lives. The firm has conducted research, brand analysis, and reputation work for Comcast NBCUniversal, American Airlines, General Motors, ESPN, Ford Motor Company, Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Harvard University, MGM Resorts, Con Edison, and the University of Pennsylvania, among others.
The firm also anchors major issue-advocacy campaigns. In 2025, GSG helped block a proposed 40% cut to National Institutes of Health funding — organizing a bipartisan coalition that not only defeated the cut but secured a $415 million increase for medical research. Additional issue-advocacy clients include AFSCME, Everytown for Gun Safety, and Giffords.
Leadership
Jon Silvan — Founding Partner and CEO. New York native. Dual degree in political communications and economic development from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Serves on the board of A Better New York and has been active in Jewish community organizations including LAB/SHUL.
Jefrey Pollock — Founding Partner and President. Undergraduate honors degree in American history from the University of Pennsylvania; Master's in Public Policy and Administration with a concentration in advanced statistical analysis from Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs. Has taught public policy at Columbia SIPA for more than 18 years. One of the original MSNBC contributors when the network launched. Regular political analyst on ABC, CNN, and Fox News.
Tanya Meck — President of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs. Nick Gourevitch — President of Research and Insights. Marc Litvinoff — Managing Partner. Jeffrey Plaut — Founding Partner.
Where GSG sits in the industry
GSG occupies a distinct position. It is not a global holding-company subsidiary. It is not a pure crisis shop. It is not a lobbying firm. It is a hybrid — political research, corporate reputation, public affairs, and issue advocacy under one roof, with the Democratic political-consulting practice as the durable brand asset.
That combination is rare. Most of the top-tier public affairs firms in Washington — see Everything-PR's coverage of the global PR holding companies — sit inside larger networks. Most Democratic polling shops are political-only. GSG runs the full stack independently, which is what has kept it on the Public Affairs Agency of the Year short list for more than a decade.
The firm's corporate roster benefits from the political credibility. The political candidates benefit from the discipline of a firm that also has to answer to Fortune 100 boardrooms. That circular reinforcement is the GSG model.
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