Our Team
Deborah Maxson
President
Deborah is the President of Keller Maxson, Inc., and specializes in litigation communications, legislative strategies, coalition management, media analysis, third-party advocacy, and community relations projects. She has extensive experience working directly with C-level executives, general counsel, outside legal counsel, senior advocacy leaders, and corporate public relations groups. Deborah’s multifaceted approach protects brands from unwanted attacks from the media, legislatures, courts, and activist groups.
Deborah works on a team that manages a coalition of over 5,000 companies spread across the country to advocate for continued funding of U.S. submarine forces and to promote the value of the submarine industrial base as a vital part of our national security. She works with the coalition members to support the program’s initiatives through engagement with U.S. Senate and House members.
Deborah has worked with many of the nation’s mayors and cities to develop strategic outreach projects for housing and workforce development. She has coordinated specialized community education development programs for KMI clients.
Deborah uses her broad experience to develop litigation, crisis, and public policy communications strategies. She has directed collaborative efforts involving coalitions, corporate leaders, industry experts, business associations, community organizations, public policy groups, and public officials. She also has experience developing strategic positioning campaigns for clients through digital and social media outreach.
Lyndsey Medsker
Strategic Partner
Lyndsey is an experienced communicator with more than two decades of experience in issues management, public affairs, and digital media. Prior to founding Clear Skies Strategic Communications, Lyndsey served in senior positions at nationally recognized agencies including public affairs firm Rasky Baerlein|Prism; digital agency New Media Strategies; and crisis management firm Dezenhall Resources.
Lyndsey has extensive experience designing strategic communications programs around high-stakes, high-profile issues in a variety of industries ranging from cosmetics and personal care to food, to financial services and healthcare. She also is a digital media specialist with expertise designing comprehensive consumer education, advocacy and issues management programs using the latest in digital media tools and online strategies.
Lyndsey has worked with trade associations and industries to better understand the digital conversations happening around their products and services and has served as a senior adviser to executives providing strategic counsel on the most effective way to engage and mobilize stakeholders while communicating complex, technical information.
Dale Leibach
Strategic Partner
Dale has directed and managed litigation communications efforts for companies involved in lead paint lawsuits across the nation. Dale has held senior level communications positions in both the private and public sector including the White House and Capitol Hill. He has extensive experience in high-stakes communications to help clients achieve their public policy and communications goals.
He was a founding partner of two of Washington’s leading public affairs firms, Powell Tate and later Prism Public Affairs. Powell Tate, headed by Jody Powell and Sheila Tate, was recognized as one of the first firms in Washington to focus very specifically in working with clients with crisis, public policy and litigation communications needs.
After serving as an assistant press secretary in the White House press office under President Jimmy Carter, Dale worked in two Senate offices heading communications for Sen. Robert Torricelli (D-NJ) and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA). Dale worked for then-Senator Walter Mondale (D-MN) in his Vice-Presidential race.
Dale advises clients on communications strategies including legislative initiatives, regulatory action, and Congressional oversight. He led the communications efforts for a coalition in a high-profile pitched battle over broadband spectrum. The “Save Our GPS” coalition – www.saveourgps.org – was named by The Hill as one of the nation’s leading public affairs efforts in 2013.
Dale works with some of the most respected law firms on litigation ranging from qui tam lawsuits, to litigation resulting from labor disputes, to False Claims Act lawsuits to complex multi-state litigation. For more than a decade, Dale has worked with a number of “blue chip” companies in lead paint litigation in numerous cities and states across the country. On half-a-dozen cases, Dale has helped companies defend their reputations as lawsuits moved through the courts to resolution in state supreme courts.
Dale began his professional career in journalism as a reporter. He was a general assignment reporter for The Kansas City Star, where among his diverse assignments was covering political campaigns and the Kansas City city council. Dale left reporting to become a press secretary on a congressional campaign, launching his career in public issues.
Brad White
Strategic Partner
Brad is a seasoned communications professional with extensive domestic and international experience. He served as an investigative correspondent for CNN, before becoming the network’s foreign correspondent for Central Europe. He later worked as a producer/correspondent for CBS News, Discovery Channel, A&E and others. He is the recipient of some of the most prestigious awards in broadcast journalism, including three Emmys, the Alfred I. duPont award, Investigative Reporters & Editors (IRE) award and many others.
Following his stints in network television news, he worked as a senior investigator for two of the most powerful committees of the U.S. Senate – Judiciary and Labor and Human Resources.
Until recently, White served as a communications executive for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number (ICANN), the international organization that coordinates the addressing system of the global Internet. He traveled around the world to help implement the organization’s messages and initiatives and moderate sessions at the organizations three annual international meetings.