Courtney Jill Sakai
Courtney Jill Sakai is a Senior Campaign Director at Oceana, an international conservation organization dedicated to protecting and restoring the health of the world’s oceans.
Courtney has more than 15 years of experience in politics and public affairs. She has extensive experience in campaigns, media relations, advertising, community affairs, government relations, and strategic partnerships.
Prior to joining Oceana, Courtney was a director of alliance development with the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). While there, she developed, managed and implemented political advocacy programs to advance the association’s federal and state public policy objectives. She was also a vice president at the public relations agency Cohn & Wolfe. Here she provided senior-level counsel and developed and implemented large-scale public relations programs for a wide variety of corporate and industry-related clients.
Courtney was a deputy assistant secretary of the California Resources Agency, where she coordinated the daily public affairs operations for the agency and 18 state departments. She was also a principal at a leading political consulting firm in Sacramento, CA and served for 8 years on the professional and political staffs of California Governor Pete Wilson.
Courtney holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Smith College and is a graduate of the California Executive Fellowship.