Maclen Zilber is a well-regarded veteran political strategist, who has consulted on well over 100 campaigns across 10 states and internationally.
Zilber has appeared as a commentator, spokesman, and political analyst in a variety of print and TV mediums, including CNN, Newsweek, Politico, The Huffington Post, FoxLA, PBS SoCal, Campaigns & Elections Magazine, Teen Vogue, Ebony Magazine, the LA Times, and many others.
Additionally, Zilber has been quoted internationally as a commentator in outlets like France’s Le Monde and France24; Germany’s Deutsche Welle; Al Jazeera; Ireland’s TV3, RTE, and Newstalk; and Norway’s Dagasvisen.
Prior to co-founding J&Z Strategies, Zilber worked as a consultant at one of California’s top political consulting firms. In that capacity, Zilber held roles ranging from campaign management to creating and targeting direct mail, television ads, radio ads, digital ads for dozens of campaigns. Zilber was intimately involved in IEs and ballot measures, running dozens of IEs and half a dozen ballot measure campaigns for large private sector entities. Zilber’s biggest wins included California’s No on Proposition 48; Michigan’s No on Proposals 1 &2; Los Angeles Charter Amendments 1&2; and IEs for U.S. Senator Gary Peters and U.S. Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema.
Zilber additionally worked for several years for a top PR and public affairs consulting firm based out of Los Angeles. Zilber served as account lead for numerous large scale private sector clients on strategy, PR, communications, and crisis response.
In 2016, Zilber was tapped by the U.S. State Department as an expert in U.S. politics to go to Ireland and hold campaign workshops for representatives of several Irish political parties, appear on panels, and give talks about the upcoming presidential election.
Zilber is the founder of HopeIncentives, which was recognized by President Bill Clinton as one of the top initiatives at the Clinton Global Initiative’s CGIU Conference in 2011. Recognized as a rising star in the industry, Zilber skipped several grades and graduated from high school at 15 years old and college at 19, and was named UC San Diego’s top graduate in his graduating class by the UCSD Alumni Association.
Zilber lives in Burbank with his fiancé Christine and their dogs Walnut and Pepper. In his free time, he enjoys playing pickup basketball, and is a diehard Warriors fan.