Meet the Team
Kady McFadden, Founder and President
Kady McFadden has been a known leader in the environmental movement and Democratic politics for over a decade.
Kady brings more than a decade of experience leading, and winning, strategic advocacy, legislative, and political campaigns. A veteran of organizing and politics in rural, urban and suburban communities, Kady has cultivated deep and authentic relationships with elected officials and leaders across the state. She has founded and led multiple coalitions and campaigns to make meaningful progress on climate, labor movement, and women’s policy. Kady is adept at working with stakeholders from the private, government, and nonprofit sectors and is skilled at building consensus across multiple organizational levels for creative solutions amidst complex political dynamics.
Kady was a lead strategist and lobbyist for Illinois’ 2021 nation-leading clean energy law, the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA). She now and continues to lead efforts on bill implementation and further climate action. She currently advises climate funders, advocacy groups, and select clean energy companies on federal, state and local efforts to decarbonize buildings, reduce transportation emissions, deploy clean energy, address industrial pollution, and more.
Previously, Kady served as Deputy Director of the Sierra Club Illinois Chapter, the largest statewide environmental organization, with over 130,000 members. At Sierra Club, Kady managed organizing, communications, and policy staff to build effective advocacy campaigns at the city, state, and federal levels. Kady grew the Sierra Club Illinois PAC to be the leading environmental political voice, working to elect more than 100 environmental champions to office each political cycle.
Kady holds an undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis and an MBA from University of Chicago Booth’s School of Business. In her community, she serves as a Commissioner on Evanston’s Equity and Empowerment Commission.
Kady and her husband Mike, a junior high assistant principal, live in Evanston with their two sons.
Ojars Berzins, Managing Director
Ojars Berzins brings significant legislative experience and policy expertise to McFadden Strategies, having most recently served as Senior Assistant Counsel to the Speaker. In this role, Ojars handled complex issues and critical legislation performing legislative drafting, analysis, negotiation, and legal research for House Democrats.
As Senior Assistant Counsel, Ojars facilitated and participated in negotiations and drafting on a wide array of issues, including: carbon capture and sequestration regulation, solar and wind energy siting, energy storage legislation, hydrogen energy tax incentives, nuclear energy regulation, protections from misuse of artificial intelligence-created deepfakes, cyberbullying in schools, election slating reform, and more. Ojars has served as the lead House staffer on energy, environment, utilities, civil law, and housing issues, and spent three years as the lead attorney for the Energy & Environment and Public Utilities Committees. He has additional experience handling revenue, gaming, ethics, and local government issues.
As Managing Director for McFadden Strategies and State Policy Consultant for the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition, Ojars will advise clients on state and local policy and lead efforts to reform the power sector, decarbonize the economy, reduce emissions, and protect consumers.
Ojars received a B.A. in Political Science from Indiana University and a J.D. from the Loyola University Chicago School of Law. He lives in Lakeview where he enjoys supporting the Chicago independent music scene, assisting Democratic causes, and exploring local restaurants.
