Our Story

We are a senior-led consultancy that advises C-Suite leadership at some of our nation’s leading companies and philanthropic organizations. We offer a range of customized communications and strategic planning services to help for-profit and non-profit organizations refine their brands, strategy and operations. Our focus is on high impact assignments that are closely aligned with an organization’s mission and that drive results.

OUR TEAM

David Press

Founder and CEO of Confluence Partners, David is committed to using the levers of communications to champion the most visionary leaders and enterprises driving impact investing forward. An established presence in the field of impact, David has established his reputation as a strategic counselor to some of today’s most innovative and influential organizations, their leadership teams and boards of directors.

Confluence Partners is a communications strategy firm working at the nexus of finance, impact and philanthropy that specializes in telling the stories that define markets. Confluence works alongside thought leaders from across the capital stack that are shaping the contours of impact investing, helping them define their brands, build adherents and reorient the conversation. Clients range from well-established market leaders to start-ups from across the capital stack including asset managers, advisors, wealth managers, private equity, hedge fund and venture capital firms, non-profit organizations and a number of sustainability-focused companies. 

David’s perspective is informed by more than 25 years of experience as a corporate securities lawyer and communications practitioner at some of the leading law firms and management consultancies. Earlier in his career, David was a Managing Director in Special Situations at FTI Consulting’s Strategic Communications division working on issues management and cross border matters. David began his communications career at Brunswick Group in New York focusing on mergers and acquisitions. David began his career as a corporate finance/securities lawyer in New York and practiced for many years, most recently at Morrison & Foerster LLP. Subsequently, David joined AOLTimeWarner as a member of AOL’s business development team where he structured and negotiated revenue and content deals. 

David sits on the Advisory Board of Impact Entrepreneur and is a member of the Advisory Council of the Ackerman Institute’s Gender & Family Project. David is a member of the Bar in The State of New York. He received his JD at Columbia Law School and his BA from Stanford University.

Cindy Stoller

Cindy is a Managing Director with more than 19 years of experience executing effective media relations and corporate communications programs for a diverse group of clients within public relations agencies and in-house.

Prior to joining Confluence Partners, Cindy was a Director in the Corporate and Financial Communications group at the global public relations firm, Burson-Marsteller where she led high-profile executive visibility and proactive communications programs for Bank of America’s (BAC) Global Commercial Banking group, Accenture (ACN) Financial Services and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) Financial Services.  Cindy also served as the firm’s global media coordinator for the 2014 Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Morocco, which entailed leading the public relations initiatives for the US, EMEA and APAC regions. 

Prior to joining Burson, Cindy was a Senior Director at kwittken + company where she supervised the Financial Services team. At Kwittken, Cindy worked closely with asset management companies, including Virtus Investment Partners (VRTS), in addition to larger financial institutions such as American Express (AXP) and Guardian Life Insurance, to build proactive, opportunistic public relations programs targeting financial advisers, individual and institutional investors and CFOs. 

Preceding Kwittken, Cindy was Director of Corporate Communications at Fitch Ratings where she managed all public relations activities for the Latin America, U.S. Public Finance and the Global Infrastructure & Project Finance analytical teams. During her almost five-year tenure at Fitch, Cindy was responsible for the reputation management of the analytical teams related to the subprime market downturn. Earlier in her career, Cindy managed high profile accounts including New York Life Insurance Company. She began her financial services communications career as a public relations associate with Prudential Financial (PRU). 

Cindy holds a BA in Communications from the University at Albany. She currently serves on the junior board of Brooklyn Community Services and is an active volunteer with the Brooklyn Public Library.

Karen Mellen

Karen is a Managing Director with more than 20 years of experience in corporate communications and journalism. She has held senior positions at Burson-Marsteller and FTI Consulting, advising clients across an array of industries including transportation, energy, financial services, technology and manufacturing. She also served in the communications department at Argonne National Laboratory.

A former award-winning journalist at the Chicago Tribune, Karen is an expert at media relations and developing compelling narratives for organizations. She routinely works with members of the C-suite to refine messages and sharpen delivery, to drive greater success from company positioning.

Her work has included managing all aspects of major financial transactions, including IPOs and major fund launches; leading major public affairs campaigns involving federal regulatory bodies and Congressional approvals; and driving visibility-raising and crisis management campaigns, using all social media and digital outreach tools.

Karen received a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a bachelor’s degree from Butler University.

Dave Quast

Dave is a Special Counsel who has guided clients in the corporate, legal and political arenas for more than 25 years. His expertise includes corporate positioning; crisis and issues management; litigation support; and media and presentation coaching.

Dave most recently served, among other functions, as a California director of Energy in Depth, an education and outreach of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) and the California Independent Petroleum Association (CIPA). In that capacity, he has become an expert and regular contributor to the ongoing debate over the development of California's oil and gas resources, appearing frequently in broadcast and print media throughout the state — and before a variety of government bodies, including the U.S. House of Representatives.

Dave has led engagements across a variety of industries, including financial services, energy; industrials; legal and professional services; nonprofit; and technology. His client experience includes AARP; Chevron; Far East National Bank; Foley & Lardner; Grant Thornton; Kaiser Aluminum; Loeb & Loeb; LPL Financial; Manatt, Phelps & Phillips; Planned Parenthood Federation of America; Northern Trust; Transocean; and Winston & Strawn.

Previously, Dave worked in New York, managing media relations on state and federal, legislative and regulatory issues for a Fortune 10 consumer-packaged-goods company. He served as a company spokesperson and was a frequent guest on talk radio throughout the U.S. He also served as national communications manager for an AmLaw 100 law firm, and as managing director and executive vice president of RLM Public Relations. In Washington, D.C., Dave was press secretary to Rep. James A. Leach, the House Financial Services committee chairman. He also was director of public affairs at the Cato Institute, and chief of staff to a Washington state senator.

Dave holds a degree from the University of Puget Sound and a master’s degree from the University of Essex (UK); and he attended the Georgetown University Law Center as well. He is as an adjunct professor at the Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism at the University of Southern California (USC.) and also serves on the board of directors of Planned Parenthood of Pasadena and San Gabriel Valley, and Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California. Dave is a father of four, including triplets.

Ellen Barry

Ellen Barry has led a storied career as a communications practitioner for some of the nation’s leading public relations and financial communications firms and has also held senior communications roles in-house at for-profit and non-profit organizations.

Ellen provides financial and strategic communications advice to senior management and Boards of Directors navigating complex financial issues including M&A transactions, proxy fights, crises, IPOs and succession planning. Recent work included leading communications for the first virtual IPO on Euronext Amsterdam with a multi-national team of bankers and advisors during the height of the pandemic. 

As an executive for major corporations including Cardinal Health, she managed global teams and handled multi-billion-dollar acquisitions and divestitures, financial and corporate messaging, employee communications, litigation, crisis and issues, government investigations and traditional and digital media relations. 

Ellen is a global communications counselor who has spent the past twenty plus years providing advice to CEOs and Boards of Directors around high-profile issues and crises ranging from oil spills to forensic audits to CEO ousters. She has worked for a number of leading firms including Brunswick, Joele Frank, FleishmanHillard and FTI as well as in-house for JPMorgan and LIVESTRONG providing high-level communications support in global roles. 

She is the President of the Board of The Moyer Foundation, which helps children dealing with bereavement or family addiction and serves on the board of the Friends of Harlem Renaissance.  She is a graduate of Georgetown University; has lived and worked in Canada, the US and Western Europe; and is a guest lecturer at USC’s Annenberg School of Communications.

Kristin Romens

Kristin leads engagements focused on nonprofit strategy, research and development, and organizational learning. Ms. Romens has over 15 years of experience as a nonprofit leader. Before joining Confluence Partners, Ms. Romens was Vice President of Research, Innovation, and Growth at Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, where she provided oversight and guidance to a network of 325 affiliates in the areas of research and evaluation, program development, and professional learning. She set the research agenda and program strategy for the network, which serves almost 200,000 children annually, enabling affiliates to improve program quality at scale. In her role, Ms. Romens was known for her ability to partner with multiple stakeholders and move them to greater strategic clarity and coordinated action.

Ms. Romens is an expert in translating research to practice in the youth development sector, contributing her expertise to the Big Brothers Big Sisters network and the mentoring field at large. She has been an invited presenter each year at the National Mentoring Summit, as well as having been appointed to the Advisory Council that worked with MENTOR/The National Mentoring Partnership to revise its nationwide program standards for the mentoring field. She is recognized for her leadership in simultaneously balancing the interests of practitioners, researchers, technical assistance providers, and network leaders.

Ms. Romens also has wide-ranging experience advising nonprofit leaders as a consultant with the Bridgespan Group. At Bridgespan, she worked with nonprofit clients to develop sustainability and growth plans, professional development and performance management frameworks, and replication strategies. Her client engagements included developing a replication model for the Harlem Children’s Zone, revising the National Council of La Raza’s education strategy, and creating a sustainability plan for grantees of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation.

Kristin’s holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and began her career as a human rights attorney, then a litigation associate at the law firm of Wilmer Hale.

Dave Wilson

Dave is an experienced digital strategist, graphic designer and copywriter. His clients have ranged from Van Dessel to Verizon to Virgin Atlantic Airways, as well as clients with names beginning with letters other than V. Dave has held senior positions at some of the industry’s most provocative advertising agencies including Hill Holiday and Erwin Penland. Dave studied graphic design at the Shillington School in NYC. Dave's passions include bicycles, books and beer, and things that start with other letters too. Dave's also very curious about life and its myriad wonders, which is why he once read an entire dictionary from A to Z.

What Makes Us Different