go to content, main menu, submenu.

People

Cathy McElrath Renna, Managing Partner

Renna is nationally recognized as a media relations expert and as a leader within the LGBT community. As a major force behind the success and growth of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), where she worked for 14 years, Cathy served as a primary spokesperson for GLAAD, as well as its first National News Media Director.

Her work at GLAAD was particularly notable in terms of crisis and strategic communications. Cathy played a central role in shaping media coverage of both the beating death of Matthew Shepard in 1998, a tragedy that became a cultural marker for a shift in the level of media visibility of LGBT issues, and the sexual abuse scandal within the Catholic Church, during which her efforts contributed to thwarting Church officials’ attempts to link the dynamic of abuse to sexual orientation.

Since leaving GLAAD and founding her independent PR firm Renna Communications in 2006, based in New York, Cathy has worked to increase the visibility of clients such as the Williams Institute, OutServe, The Ali Forney Center, The Fenway Institute, The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and more.

As Managing Partner of Renna Communications, Cathy’s foremost accomplishments in recent years include:

• playing a crucial role in the successful 2009 DC for Marriage campaign in the District of Columbia, implementing a communications strategy that put LGBT people of color front and center;
• with The Palm Center, taking a leading role in coordinating the media strategy around the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in late 2010;
• elevating the profile of transgender issues, including transgender and gender-nonconforming children, as a vital component of the broader movement for LGBT equality;
• raising the issue of LGBT youth homelessness to national prominence through media coverage of the work of clients the Ali Forney Center and the Ruth Ellis Center;
• starting a nationwide conversation about Prof. Amy Schalet’s book Not Under My Roof, about parenting and teen sexuality, through attaining coverage on CNN, the New York Times, TIME, The Washington Post, and more; and
• publicizing the groundbreaking research of Dr. Caitlin Ryan’s Family Acceptance Project, which proves that parents can save their LGBT children’s lives by accepting them for who they are.

In addition to her work as a communications consultant, Cathy continues to be highly sought after by the media as a spokesperson on LGBT issues and has appeared on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, Good Morning America and numerous local affiliate shows throughout the country. She has been interviewed by media including the New York Daily News, Politico, and more.

Leah McElrath Renna, Managing Partner

Leah is an expert on communications and language with nearly two decades of experience helping people and organizations clarify and reach their goals.

As a professional clinical social worker with a Master of Social Work degree from the Smith College School for Social Work, Leah has extensive experience both as a communications consultant working with individuals and organizations and as a psychotherapist working with adults and children, individuals and families. Leah’s areas of clinical expertise include child development, family dynamics and the impact of trauma and abuse. In addition, she is an experienced group facilitator and has conducted participatory trainings for groups ranging in size from eight to more than 150 people and hundreds of interactive small group sessions.

Prior to achieving her Masters degree, Leah earned a BA magna cum laude in Economics and International Relations from Smith College and studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science. In addition to her clinical and communications practice, she also has experience in the field of finance, including working as a licensed stockbroker and financial advisor.

Leah is also a talented writer and has authored and contributed to the production of materials published both under her own name and for attribution to others in the New York Times Magazine, USA Today, the New York Daily News, AM New York, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Advocate.com, Gay.com, Time.com and other influential media outlets. Many of these pieces were created for clients in response to breaking news and current events and published as part of strategic or crisis communications campaigns.

Nathan Tabak

NT headshot

Nathan Tabak is a communications professional with a history of putting his writing, research, and organizational talents to use fighting for progressive causes.

Nathan worked as a researcher for Media Matters for America, a liberal media watchdog organization, where he aggressively monitored, fact-checked and rebutted conservative news media for misinformation. He subsequently interned for Renna Communications in the fall of 2009, where he took on work on behalf of clients such as Faith in America, SAGE, and the film Two Spirits. In October 2009, Nathan spent a week in Bangor, Maine, volunteering for the No on 1 campaign. He has also written for the blogs The New Gay and Campaign for America’s Future, and done volunteer communications work on behalf of Metro DC PFLAG.

In June 2010, Nathan moved from Washington, D.C. to New York to work full-time as a member of the Renna team.
Nathan is a graduate of Vassar College, with a B.A. in religion.