OUR TEAM
Joseph Firestone - President and C.E.O.
Joseph M. Firestone, Ph.D. is President of Vertical Flow Advisory, a political consulting firm specializing in field operations, fundraising strategy, and policy consulting. An expert in knowledge systems and political economy, Dr. Firestone has authored 11 books and more than 750 articles on public policy, economics, democratic governance, and knowledge management.
Dr. Firestone has also held senior leadership roles in the fields of organizational intelligence, strategic advisory services, and knowledge management, where he guided research, innovation programs, and the development of evidence-based decision frameworks across public and private sectors.
His work, including seven titles grounded in Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), challenges conventional fiscal narratives and promotes evidence-driven democratic policymaking. Key books include Fixing the Debt without Breaking America, the Real Fiscal Responsibility series, and Austerity, Greece’s Debt Crisis, and the Theft of Democracy.
Dr. Firestone holds a B.A. from Cornell University and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Michigan State University, and has taught at Michigan State, SUNY Buffalo, and Binghamton University. Through Vertical Flow Advisory, he equips campaigns, movements, and civic organizations with the tools to expand voter engagement, build sustainable fundraising pipelines, and develop sound, reality-based policy platforms.
Shane Coughlin - Vice President and C.O.O.
Shane Coughlin currently serves as the Vice President and Operations Director of Vertical Flow Advisory. In this executive role, he is charged with managing day-to-day operations, ensuring the firm runs with maximum efficiency and strategic alignment.
Coughlin's executive experience was developed across several key leadership roles. He was formerly the Director of Policy and Programming, HR Director, and National Field Director at Sole Strategies. In these capacities, he successfully oversaw logistics, operations, and technical processes; managed all internal staffing and hiring functions; and directed client communication and field projects, both remote and on-the-ground.
During that time, Coughlin also served as the Administrative Director at National Ground Game, where he handled the organization's day-to-day operations, staff management, and human resources.
Earlier in his career, Shane was the Administrative Coordinator and a member of the Board of Directors at the Institute to Promote Understanding of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). During this tenure, he collaborated extensively with prominent economists, academics, and finance professionals, including figures like Warren Mosler, Dr. Joseph Firestone, Dr. Steven Hail, and Dr. Phil Armstrong.
Before his work with the Institute, Coughlin held significant leadership positions at the KRTD Media Group, serving as Executive Director and President. He played a pivotal role in developing content for the KRTD Media Network and conducted numerous interviews with politicians and individuals in the independent media sphere.
Shane is a graduate of Torrens University, having earned a graduate certificate in the economics of sustainability, and is currently pursuing his master's degree.
Mason Damron - Operations Director
Mason Damron is a political organizer and community advocate based in Alabama, with over two years of experience in political debate and grassroots organizing. He has worked extensively on civic engagement, public messaging, and mobilizing communities at the local and state levels.
In addition to his political work, Mason collaborates with churches across Alabama to support domestic violence shelters through coordinated donations of clothing, food, financial assistance, and essential resources, with a focus on protecting and supporting women.
Mason is also an advocate for mental health and LGBTQIA+ inclusion, committed to community-driven action and amplifying underrepresented voices.
Jimi Sunderland - Chief of Staff
Jimi Sunderland serves as the Chief of Staff at Vertical Flow Advisory, where she oversees internal operations, administrative coordination, and project management while helping guide the firm’s strategic and creative initiatives. In this role, she supports leadership across campaigns and advocacy projects by ensuring organizational alignment, efficient execution, and effective communication across teams.
Previously, Jimi served as Executive Deputy Director and Executive Producer for KRTD Media Group, where she helped develop show concepts, produce programming, onboard volunteers, and expand the network’s creative output and operational capacity.
She brings over 12 years of experience in administration, operations, and project management, along with more than 12 years of experience in video editing and graphic design. Throughout her career, she has worked with independent media organizations including Uphill Media, Tim Black, Digital Liberation Front Media, Beyond The Spectrum, Progressive Insider, and Real Progressives, producing political media focused on current events, economics, and public policy. Her design and creative work has supported a wide range of campaigns and advocacy organizations, including Brand New Congress (BNC), Kenneth Mejia, Angelica Dueñez, Shahid Buttar, Stephen Jaffe, the San Bernardino Indivisibles chapter, Real Progressives, Uphill Media, and Beyond The Spectrum, where she created campaign graphics, branding, and digital media used for organizing, outreach, and political communication.
In addition to her media and operational experience, Jimi has an extensive background in grassroots organizing and campaign work. She served as Co-Coordinator for both the San Bernardino Indivisibles chapter and Beyond The Spectrum, coordinated the 2016 San Bernardino Nestlé protest, and worked as a Project Manager and Business Analyst for Real Progressives. She also phone-banked, canvassed, and hosted online events for the Bernie Sanders campaigns in 2016 and 2020, was a candidate for the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors in 2017, and served on the Beyond The Spectrum media team at the 2019 Democratic National Convention.
Daniel Carlino - National Field Director
As a grassroots organizer turned Missoula City Councilman, Daniel Carlino has seen firsthand how people-powered campaigns can transform communities. When he ran for City Council, his team built a volunteer-driven movement focused on affordable housing, climate action, and giving everyday people a stronger voice in local government, and they won.
He understands what it's like to manage campaigns from start to finish and what it's like being the candidate.
Beyond his own election, Carlino has helped over fifty candidates across the country organize winning campaigns. From city and county races to statewide initiatives, they've used hard work and winning strategy to get new candidates elected. He brings a deep understanding of how people-powered campaigns can overcome big-money politics and deliver tangible results for communities.
Erik White - IT Director
Erik has the "if i don't know it, I will learn" attitude, an angle on the rural and small town mindset, and the know-how in the tech world to get the work done. One way or another. A Colorado native with experience in server management, data clean-up and analytics, web design, and network and hardware infrastructure. he has the needed tech experience to see the mission complete, no matter what.
Alexandria Xiques - Partner
Alexandria Xiques, a NYC resident, brings six years of political canvassing experience, during which she has enjoyed gathering the opinions of community members. Her work has focused heavily on serving as an interpreter for the board of elections and other organizations. She is driven by a mission to allow others to express themselves freely, enabling her to advocate for communities with pride and integrity.
Dominic Davis - Partner
Dominic Davis is a Partner at Vertical Flow Advisory, where he integrates deep operational expertise with strategic media insight. Dominic began his career in 2021 within the media department at KRTD Media before transitioning into independent consultancy, advising a diverse range of organizations on media strategy and internal operations. Today, he leverages his background as a seasoned contractor to help drive the firm’s growth and long-term vision.
Advisory Board
John T. Harvey - Hal Wright Professor of Economics
John earned his PhD from the University of Tennessee in 1987 and came to TCU that same year. His areas of specialty are international economics, macroeconomics, and contemporary schools of thought. John’s main contribution to the scholarly literature has been in the area of exchange rate determination, where he broke from convention by shifting the focus from bilateral trade flows to financial capital movements. That work, based on the insights of economist John Maynard Keynes and psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, has been called “seminal” and “pioneering.” His most recent research examines the causes of the business cycle and is unique in that it highlights the role of systemic factors rather than external shocks. A volume based on his work is forthcoming from the Cambridge University Press. It applies the theory to the post-World War Two U.S. economy and offers policy solutions. He has over fifty journal articles, numerous chapters, three books, and two edited volumes.
In addition to scholarship, John has served as department chair, executive director of the International Confederation of Associations for Pluralism in Economics and lead editor for World Economic Review. He is a frequent speaker for civic groups where he enjoys translating complex economic concepts into language that the lay public can easily understand, an interest that also led to a blog at Forbes.com called Pragmatic Economics and a YouTube series entitled The Cowboy Economist. John is passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion and has co-taught Introduction to Women and Gender Studies, co-created and co-taught The Economics of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender, earned certifications in both TCU’s and Columbia University’s DEI programs, and serves on the AddRan DEI Committee. John has earned the Deans’ Award for Teaching and for Research and Creative Activity and he has been the Social Science nominee for the Chancellor’s Award six times.
Warren Mosler
Warren Mosler is an American economist and theorist, and one of the leading voices in the field of Modern Monetary Theory.
An entrepreneur and financial professional, Warren Mosler has spent the past 50 years gaining an insider’s knowledge of monetary operations. He co-founded AVM, a broker/dealer providing advanced financial services to large institutional accounts and the Illinois Income Investors (III) family of investment funds in 1982. He holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Connecticut and remains deeply involved in the academic community. He has given presentations at conferences around the world and published numerous articles in economic journals, newspapers, and periodicals. Mosler is also the author of “The Seven Deadly Innocent Frauds of Economic Policy” that has been translated into Italian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, and Arabic.
He is attributed with creating Mosler’s law that states, “There is no financial crisis so deep that a sufficiently large fiscal adjustment cannot correct it.”
Andres Bernal
Andrés Bernal resides in New York City, where he lectures at the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Labor and Urban Studies and the City College School of Global and Civic Leadership.
He is a Research Fellow at the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity and a leading expert in Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). His research and work mainly focus on topics in public policy, sustainability, politics and social narratives, systems psychodynamics, and personal, organizational, and economic development.
Andrés has over a decade of international experience as a leadership coach, strategic consultant, and public policy expert. He is a former advisor to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and is currently a Member-Director of the advocacy organization Public Money Action.
Andrés is a faculty member of the Eco-Leadership Institute and a Psychological Safety practitioner certified with Aristotle Performance. He specializes in working with public and non-profit sector organizations, cooperative enterprises, renewable energy, and social impact initiatives.
Andrés holds a Master of Arts in Leadership Studies from the University of San Diego and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
Partner Firms
Almost Tuesday Media
Almost Tuesday Media helps political professionals master social media without outsourcing it. The focus is on practical coaching — teaching campaigns and organizations how to communicate effectively online.
Services include personalized strategy sessions, message development for digital platforms, and proven audience growth techniques.
Almost Tuesday Media is led by Nico Agosta, the creator behind Stocking the Capitol, one of the most influential political social media accounts focused on real-time Congressional coverage. Drawing on experience building political audiences from the ground up on multiple platforms, Nico offers clients insights grounded in both data and lived success in today’s online political landscape.
Contact: nico@almosttuesdaymedia.com
Nitestar Productions
Looking for a turnkey media producer? Award-winning Nitestar Productions has created film and multimedia content from coast to coast since 1992. Under the stewardship of its founder and producing director Jerry Vasilatos, Nitestar has produced and supervised content ranging from features & television programs to DVD & Blu-Ray authoring, corporate & educational videos, commercials & campaign spots to documentaries and graphic design work. Notable political media campaign clients include 2014 & 2017 Chicago Mayoral Candidate Amara Enyia, 2014 Chicago Mayoral Candidate and 2017 Candidate for Illinois Senate Bob Fioretti and 2022 Candidate for Illinois Senate Lanette Hudson.
Utilizing a team of seasoned professionals with a wide range of experience in all areas of multimedia, Nitestar Productions can also assemble and direct a talented cast and crew to create your project from the ground up at the most competitive rates available with a creative vision collaborative to your needs.
We serve our clients 24/7, working with all budget ranges and can negotiate the best quote based on your project's needs. Visit the links in our footer to preview more work by our founder Jerry Vasilatos and to also follow us on social media!
Contact us through our email address below and let us know how we can help you achieve success producing your next film or media project!
Sunrise Political Solutions
Sunrise Political Solutions is a full-service political compliance and treasury management firm supporting clients across California and federal jurisdictions. We ensure your committee remains fully compliant with local, state, and federal regulations so you can focus on running a winning political operation. Our firm provides the tools and financial infrastructure needed to support campaigns and political organizations of all sizes, safeguard the committee’s financial integrity and reputation, and ensure timely and accurate disclosures throughout the campaign.
Contact email: contact@sunrisepolitical.com
Office number: (858) 387-2320
Website: Sunrisepolitical.com
Kira’s Campaign Offerings
Training Volunteer Canvassers & Phone Bankers (and Making Them Effective)
Your volunteer canvassers and callers are the voice and face of your organization. I train them to navigate conversations with confidence, empathy, and skill, no matter what happens at the door or on the phone. My approach includes somatic tools that help canvassers stay grounded, friendly, and persuasive in nearly any situation.
Turnout for Events, Trainings, and Canvasses
I help teams design and implement systems that increase volunteer turnout for events, actions, phone banks, and canvasses. This includes leadership charts, registration pages (with effective copy), scripts, and training materials. Getting people to show up is one of the most critical parts of winning any campaign. I use a wide range of approaches, tailored to the unique needs of each team and action.
CRM Creation & Training
Long-term organizing requires a reliable way to manage and maintain relationships with thousands of supporters, volunteers, and voters. I help teams build and train on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems that allow them to segment and pull lists by filters such as district, past events, and previous communications, and sync that information back to a master database for accurate, ongoing record keeping.
Team Building
Strong teams win campaigns. I help teams develop systems for clear communication across departments, sub-teams, and leadership levels so that everyone is aligned, informed, and moving in the same direction.
Contact Email: kiracorn@gmail.com