Dao Nguyen

Principal

Cornerstone Govt. Affairs

Dao joined Cornerstone’s federal government relations team in January 2021. Dao possesses nearly a decade of experience on Capitol Hill, where she has successfully advanced bipartisan legislation through a divided Congress. She has provided strategic counsel to Democratic members of Congress on a wide range of policy issues through different political vantage points.

Dao most recently served as the executive director of Future Forum, a generational caucus of young House Democratic members of Congress previously chaired by Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) and founded by Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA). In this capacity, she oversaw the organization’s expansion from 25 to 50 members and worked closely with congressional offices and stakeholders to develop coalition support for initiatives focused on engaging young Americans, empowering the next generation of public service leaders, and promoting innovative public policy. During her tenure, the caucus collaborated with prominent influencers and private sector leaders to raise awareness on issues such as paid family leave, student loan repayment, and data privacy.

Prior to that and during her tenure as a senior staffer to Congresswoman Murphy, a co-chair of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition and a member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, Dao worked across the aisle to increase access to capital and federal contracts for women and minority-owned small businesses and technology start-ups. Additionally, she led a successful bipartisan strategy to pass a measure effectively lifting the 22-year ban on federally-sponsored gun violence research.

Dao also previously served as a senior policy advisor to Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA), chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and an ex-officio member of the House Appropriations Committee. In this role, she managed a broad policy portfolio, including health care, immigration, education, women’s rights, and criminal justice. Dao authored bipartisan legislation providing youth-serving nonprofit organizations with affordable access to FBI background checks and guided bicameral negotiations, ultimately resulting in passage of the bill and enactment into law.

Dao’s Capitol Hill career started in the office of Congresswoman Karen Bass (D-CA), a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. She is a past board member of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Staff Association, a professional development organization for Asian American and Pacific Islander Hill staff, and a past board member of the Unbroken Horizons Scholarship Foundation, a nonprofit that provides access to higher education for LGBT youth. She currently serves on the board of the California State Society, a nonprofit organization that creates networking opportunities for Californians living in Washington, D.C.

Dao is a first-generation immigrant and the daughter of Vietnamese refugees. She earned her bachelor’s degree in political science at the University of California, Berkeley and spent her summers interning in Sacramento for former Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, former Speaker of the California State Assembly John Pérez, and Mental Health America of California.