Biographies

Sande George
Sande George, a partner in the firm of Stefan/George Associates, first came to the Legislature in 1974 as a legislative intern for then Senate Majority Leader George Moscone. In 1980, Ms. George became an associate in the lobbying firm of Winner/Wagner & Associates with a strong background in planning and environmental issues.

Ms George joined George R. Steffes, Inc. in 1987, one of the top five lobbying firms in California. She represented over sixteen clients including the California Chapter of the American Planning Association, Hughes Electronics, Bechtel, IBM, Johnson and Johnson, Exxon Corporation, 3M, Raytheon, The Resilient Floor Covering Institute, and Matsushita Corporation on issues ranging from planning, the environment, taxes, labor management and the internet to packaging and energy.

Ms. George started her own lobbying firm in 2000, joining her husband in Stefan/George Associates, a governmental advocacy and association management firm. Since starting the lobbying arm of the firm, Ms. George has represented Carnival Cruise Lines, Pillsbury/Diageo, the City of Redlands, California Preservation Association, and California Main Street, in addition to her current clients.

Tom Stefan
Prior to forming Stefan/George Associates in 1987, Tom Stefan worked as managing editor, news director and on-camera reporter for ten California television stations, reporting on capitol-related news stories and acting as the Capitol News Bureau for these stations. He determined which Capitol, legislative and administrative events were newsworthy, assigned camera crews to cover the events, supervised the editing of news stories sent to stations over satellite, and worked closely with legislators, and administrative press secretaries to ensure their issues were heard in local districts. Prior to his media experience, Tom managed the Sacramento office for Lockheed Air Terminal, a subsidiary of Lockheed Corporation.

Tom specializes in a broad range of association management services, including event services, public relations consultation, awards, board services, financial management, election oversight, membership services and recruitment, newsletter and publication assistance, and conference management.

Lauren Silva

Lauren has over five years of experience working in areas including; coalition and message development, event planning, public affairs issues, state and local media outreach, stakeholder outreach, and strategic planning.

Lauren joined Stefan/George Associates in August of 2009, lobbying on legislative and regulatory issues for various clients. She offers expertise in message development, media materials and outreach, and website development. Lauren also has an in depth understanding of social media and how it relates to client needs in the legislative and public relations arena.

Prior to joining the firm, Lauren worked as an Account Executive at Porter Novelli, a global public relations leader. During her time with the firm she worked with a variety of established clients on issues ranging from education, gaming, land use and transportation.