Executive Director

A trained biologist and public policy analyst, Rachel Kerestes’s career spans the worlds of public affairs, advocacy, marketing and communications. She has held senior executive positions in national nonprofits and industry associations and leadership roles in consultancies specializing in public affairs, brand development and state and local government affairs. Her former clients include Fortune 50 companies, national nonprofits, foreign embassies, leading consumer brands, innovative start-ups and some of Washington’s most influential advocacy groups.

Before coming on board with Citizens’ Climate in June 2024, Kerestes served as founding Executive Director of Science is US—a first of its kind effort that unites the scientific, engineering, higher education and labor communities in pursuit of building a bipartisan political power base of support for science, technology, engineering, math and medicine.

A frequent media commentator on brand, marketing and political communications, Kerestes’s work has been recognized with a variety of awards for outstanding brand, marketing and communications efforts.

Kerestes holds a B.A. degree from Mount Holyoke College and an M.P.P. degree from Georgetown University