Meet the Team
Principal
Maureen O'Connell
Maureen O’Connell is the principal of O’Connell Consulting, LLC started in October, 2012. Maureen brings over 25 years of policy and government relations experience to our clients.
Her areas of expertise include health care, human services, and economic justice issues. She has worked for a variety of nonprofit organizations including AARP, Coalition of Asian American Leaders, Minnesota APRN Coalition, Minnesota Nurse Practitioners and TakeAction Minnesota. She is also the co-founder of Health Access MN, a MNsure navigator agency, providing health care outreach and enrollment assistance to individuals accessing health insurance coverage through MNsure.
Maureen spent over twenty years with Legal Aid as a staff attorney and then Director of the Legal Services Advocacy Project which works on policy issues impacting low-income Minnesotans and the Minnesota Legal Services State Support project. From 2010-2012 she served as the Assistant Commissioner of the Chemical and Mental Health Services Administration at the Minnesota Department of Human Services.
A St. Paul native, Maureen enjoys biking, hockey, skiing and travelling when she is not at the Capitol.
Senior Consultant
Sarah Greenfield
Sarah Greenfield has over 15 years of experience integrating policy, advocacy, and grassroots organizing to win ambitious policy change. In her eight years at TakeAction Minnesota, Sarah played a key role in winning campaigns to expand and defend Medicaid and Minnesota Care and implement the Affordable Care Act in Minnesota.
Since joining O’Connell Consulting in 2019 she has worked with a diverse set of clients to advance and win policy objectives. She is committed to well-crafted policy, collaborative relationships, and helping organizations engage their members and win in the policy arena.
Sarah holds a B.A. in political theory from Hampshire College. She lives in Minneapolis with her family, two cats, and an ever-expanding vegetable garden.
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Senior Consultant
Liz Doyle
Liz Doyle brings to O’Connell Consulting over 15 years of experience in organizational leadership and policy advocacy at the local, state and national levels. Prior to O’Connell Consulting, Liz was the Executive Vice President of Programs at Demos, a national ideas and advocacy organization that works toward an equitable economy and democracy.
Prior to her role at Demos, she was the Associate Director at TakeAction Minnesota. Liz has worked on a wide variety of policy issues and brings particular expertise in health care, voting rights, labor and employment, and economic development. Liz partners with our clients to achieve concrete policy goals while growing their public policy influence for the long term.
Liz has a B.S. from University of Wisconsin, Madison and a Master of Public Policy from University of California, Berkeley. She is a proud Minneapolitan who on the weekend enjoys touring the city’s bakeries via bicycle with her family.
Consultant
Cacje Henderson
​Cacje Henderson is an experienced policy and advocacy leader with a strong background in both grassroots organizations and local government. She has previously worked at the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners as Policy Director in the District 4 office. Before Hennepin County, Cacje served as a Policy Aide in the Ward 5 office at Minneapolis City Hall. She has experience working on a variety of issues including economic justice, public safety, and housing.
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Cacje received her B.A. in Political Science from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. She lives in Minneapolis with her partner and their pets.
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Senior Consultant
Sean Burke
Sean Burke has over 12 years of experience in legal and policy advocacy working with individual and organizational clients. Sean has also worked as an attorney at Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, the Minnesota Disability Law Center, and as the Public Policy Director with Minnesota Elder Justice Center.
Sean has advocated on a range of topics including: vulnerable adult maltreatment prevention, disability advocacy, Medicaid and health care access, health care appeals, consumer protection issues, housing advocacy and eviction defense, guardianship issues, and more.
Sean has a B.A. from Creighton University, Omaha and a law degree from the University of Minnesota. Outside of his work at the Capitol you can probably find Sean somewhere around his home in South Minneapolis, attempting to keep up with his twins.
Senior Consultant
Kenza Hadj-Moussa
Kenza Hadj-Moussa is a public affairs and communications professional with over 15 years of leadership experience in the field. At O'Connell Consulting, Kenza helps organizations and coalitions advance their goals by supporting strategic communications and advocacy efforts, from long-term narrative campaigns to legislative action.
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She has worked on a range of issues including health care, housing, human services, labor and employment, economic development, public safety, and democracy.
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She previously served as the Director of Public Affairs & Communications for TakeAction Minnesota, Communications Director for the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless and was the Board Chair of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits.
She holds a Master’s in Advocacy & Political Leadership from the University of Minnesota-Duluth and a B.A. in economics from Guilford College. She lives in Minneapolis and enjoys hiking, chess, yoga and dance.
Legislative and Policy Associate
Hana Abdelhamid
Hana Abdelhamid is the newest member of the O'Connell Consulting team. Hana has a dual bachelor's degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of Minnesota, where she was a distinguished undergraduate research intern for the Department of Political Science and served on the board of Student Legal Services.
Before joining OC, Hana was a Government Relations Associate at O’Rourke Strategic Consulting, where she worked with several nonprofits including the Minnesota Association of Small Cities, Better Futures MN, and SciMathMN. Her main advocacy areas of focus were transportation, healthcare, workforce development, education, and environmental justice. Hana’s work with OSC was part of the Capitol Pathways program, a leadership initiative centering BIPOC students’ government and policy work in Minnesota.
Hana resides in Minneapolis and annually visits her hometown of Cairo, Egypt. She loves the Minneapolis skyline and finding new ways to take it in from different parts of the city.