Principal Personnel

Licet Ariza joined The Fratelli Group in 2001, specializing in entertainment publicity.  For the past six years, she has worked on media outreach and special events for the National Geographic Channel.  Ms. Ariza was also a publicist for Discovery Networks and a press relations director for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, the lobbying arm of the cable industry.  She has a master's degree in film and television, and has been a production coordinator for TNT's movies and miniseries division, Lifetime's "Intimate Portraits" series, and the "Wonderful World of Disney" television franchise.

Melinda Becker joined The Fratelli Group in September 2007.  Before joining Fratelli, she had a variety of experiences, including working on Capitol Hill and at a local non-profit organization. Melinda also spent time at Civic Entertainment Group, a marketing and promotions firm located in New York City. 

Melinda graduated from Duke University with a B.A. in history and minors in French and photography.  

Frances K. Cox joined The Fratelli Group in February 2005, bringing with her more than eight years of government and public affairs experience. She has extensive experience in mobilizing local communities and grassroots audiences.  While at General Motors, she managed the company’s grassroots advocacy efforts, where she helped to orchestrate numerous grassroots campaigns on various legislative issues. Earlier, she worked as a federal affairs representative at Ryder System Inc. and as a consultant at Peyser Associates, a lobbying firm that predominantly represented local government and transportation clients.  Frances began her career as a legislative staffer on Capitol Hill.

At The Fratelli Group, she has helped develop communications strategies on issues ranging from education to high-skilled visa reform to travel promotion campaigns.  Frances has been particularly involved in efforts to differentiate high-skilled visas from the larger immigration reform debate.  She also has extensive experience in building Web sites for a wide-range of clients.

Frances holds a B.A. in political science and history from Duke University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.

Jennifer Cummings joined The Fratelli Group in May 2006, following three years at Ketchum Public Relations on the agency’s government/social marketing and healthcare teams.
Jennifer’s experience with the federal government includes message development, media outreach and strategic communications planning for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ award-winning Rescue & Restore Victims of Human Trafficking campaign, as well as its Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage program. In addition to her work with the government, she has been involved in issues management and public health education on behalf of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and has worked to advance the profile of member-driven healthcare associations and their experts, including The Endocrine Society, among others.

Among her other responsibilities at The Fratelli Group, Jennifer currently leads the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) account.  In that capacity, Jennifer has been at the forefront of every major trade deal over the past two years.  She has helped craft NFTC’s communications strategy for the free trade agreements with Colombia, Peru, Panama and South Korea, to name a few, and has played a leading role for the Council in developing messaging and tactics to advance other international trade issues.

Jennifer graduated from Howard University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and public relations.

Tyler Hernandez joined The Fratelli Group in June 2008. Prior to joining Fratelli, he worked for a variety of media organizations, including ABC News in New York where he contributed to the “Good Morning America” news team. Tyler also gained experience in legislative and political communications while working on Capitol Hill and assisting in several state campaigns.

Tyler graduated from Tulane University where he obtained his B.A. in both Political Science and Communication Studies. 

Francis O’Brien founded the company.

Christie Parell joined The Fratelli Group in January 2008 after serving for nearly six years at the White House, most recently as Spokesperson and Director of Coalitions Media in the Office of Media Affairs.  She previously served in various public affairs and policy roles in the Offices of Communications, Cabinet Affairs, and the National Economic Council.  Earlier in her career, she worked briefly for U.S. Senator Arlen Specter, as well as for a renewable energy company in the Boston, MA area doing marketing and investor relations. 

She has a master’s degree in public communication from American University and a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Boston University.

Jack Rafuse joined The Fratelli Group in 2003 after more than 25 years with an international oil and gas company.  Earlier he had worked at the White House, the Office of Management and Budget, Federal Energy Administration, the Navy Department and the Center for Naval Analyses.  Those assignments involved him in hardware engineering projects, military manpower policy, energy and environmental policy, and all phases of public affairs -- issues management, coalition building and maintenance, lobbying, editorial briefings, and campaigns on trade, energy, environment, taxation and health and safety regulations.

Peter Rooney joined The Fratelli Group in 2007 after having served as deputy chief of staff of the House Science Committee. He previously served as staff director of the Committee’s Subcommittee on Research, and before that as staff director of the Subcommittee on Environment, Technology and Standards. Peter was the founding executive director of the Forum on Technology & Innovation, an organization established by Senators Jay Rockefeller and Bill Frist to brief House and Senate staff on emerging technology policy issues. He also served as a policy advisor to the Council on Competitiveness, an independent private-sector think tank with members from industry, labor and academia, focused on innovation policy and technology-based economic development.

Eric Thomas has extensive experience in public policy, corporate and entertainment industry communications.  As a principal of The Fratelli Group, Eric advises a wide variety of clients on all aspects of communications, including message development, coalition building, event planning, and media relations.

Eric was a primary strategist and spokesperson for the U.S. business community efforts in support of congressional approval of NAFTA, DR-CAFTA and Vietnam PNTR.  Through his work for USA*Engage, the National Foreign Trade Council, Business Roundtable’s Trade Task Force, the Alliance for GATT Now, the Computer Coalition for Responsible Exports, US-ASEAN Business Council and numerous free trade agreement (FTA) business coalitions, Eric has been involved in every major trade deal since the early 1990s.   He has also worked closely with The Fratelli Group's high-tech, telecommunications and entertainment industry clients, including Sun Microsystems, Siebel Systems, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, Castle Rock Entertainment, Discovery Communications and the National Geographic Channel. 

Morgan Woerner joined The Fratelli Group in June 2007. Prior to joining Fratelli, Morgan worked at Merrill Lynch Capital, where she researched Medicaid reimbursement rates for proprietary reports. Morgan also gained valuable experience in public relations while working for the healthcare team at Ketchum Public Relations.

Morgan graduated from American University where she obtained her B.A. in Political Science and minor in Communications.