Roger Salazar

Roger Salazar is a Managing Director at Mercury. Salazar, one of the nation's most respected and experienced communications professionals, focuses on management, execution, and growth of Mercury's media relations, crisis communications, and public affairs practices in Sacramento, Los Angeles and Washington DC. He also works with the Hon. Fabian Núñez on the firm's emerging Hispanic and Spanish language public affairs specialty practice. A former White House and Gubernatorial communications specialist, Salazar was previously a partner at Acosta|Salazar LLC, a public affairs and political consulting firm, which was called “One of the More Sought After Firms in Sacramento” by Capitol Weekly. Prior to that, Salazar was senior vice president for the public affairs firm Porter Novelli. Salazar also served as principal officer for California Working Families for Jerry Brown 2010 – the largest independent expenditure effort in the 2010 Gubernatorial campaign, spokesman for the California Democratic Party, political spokesman for California State Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez, campaign press secretary for California Governor Gray Davis, and has served on the podium press team for the 2004 and 2008 Democratic National Conventions. Salazar’s experience as a media spokesperson for other prominent officials includes President Bill Clinton (White House); Vice President Al Gore (White House/Gore 2000); U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman; and U.S. Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard. This experience, along with his work directing media advocacy for the American Cancer Society, makes him an expert in strategic media communications. Salazar was recognized as one of the “Top 100 California Political Power Brokers” by Capitol Weekly in 2009, 2010 and 2011; “Top 50 California Democratic Influencers” by Campaigns and Elections Magazine in 2010, the "100 Most Influential Hispanics in America" by Hispanic Business Magazine for his work on the Gore campaign in 2000 and the "Hot New Spinning Star” for his work on the Gray Davis campaign in 2002 by California Political Week. Salazar is a member of the American Association of Political Consultants and the Public Relations Society of America. He is a graduate of the University of Redlands, where he currently serves on the Board of Trustees. He also received a Master's degree from the George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management.