Evan Stavisky

Evan Stavisky is co-founder and President of The Parkside Group, a full-service public affairs firm with offices in Manhattan and Albany. He oversees the firm's government relations practice and counsels clients facing complex, high-stakes challenges in the public arena — work that spans shaping laws at the State Capitol and City Hall, helping companies partner with government, and advising nonprofits seeking discretionary funding. His signature campaign has been mobile sports betting: he led the effort to pass New York's sports betting law, enacted in 2021 on behalf of FanDuel and DraftKings, and the market has since surpassed $100 billion in total wagers. He now represents the Sports Betting Alliance and leads its government relations, communications, and public affairs work in the state — a coalition whose members, FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, and Fanatics Betting & Gaming, account for roughly 90% of the nation's largest mobile sports betting market.

Parkside's reach extends well beyond sports betting. Since its founding, the firm has done more work with state and local candidates in New York than any other political consulting firm, served as a key strategist on more than 250 winning campaigns, and has won scores of national awards from the American Association of Political Consultants and Campaigns & Elections magazine. In this year's budget, he won approval on behalf of FIS Global for New York's migration to chip-enabled EBT cards—providing SNAP recipients with the same anti-fraud protection as credit cards—and helped the New York Solar Energy Industry Association secure $200 million to expand rooftop and community solar. Repeatedly named to City & State's list of most influential New Yorkers, his insights on government and politics are a fixture in the state's major media outlets.

Stavisky's professional career began as Special Projects Director of the New York Public Interest Research Group, running organizing projects statewide and managing the group's Rochester regional office; he later served as an organizer of the 1992 Democratic National Convention that nominated Bill Clinton and as Chief of Staff to a member of the New York State Assembly. For more than 20 years he held elected roles in the Democratic Party, including as a member of the New York State Democratic Committee, as a Democratic District Leader representing northeast Queens, and as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. He is married to Kristen Zebrowski Stavisky, New York State's Chief Election Official, and both of their families carry a long tradition of New York public service. Colleagues describe him simply as bringing "deep understanding and strategic vision" to every campaign he leads.