Our Team

Jason Mida serves as President & CEO at Mida Associates, which he founded in 2011. Previously, Jason served as Vice President of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, the largest LGBT political action committee in the United States. From 2005-2011 and during his time at the Victory Fund, Jason worked with LGBT candidates running for office at the local, state and national level, including trailblazing candidates who broke barriers by achieving electoral firsts for the LGBT community. As President & CEO, Jason works closely with all clients to ensure that each and every engagement is overseen to ensure daily success.

Jason has led roundtable discussions, fundraising trainings, and spoken in front of various audiences across the country, including the Democratic National Committee’s LGBT Caucus, The Eisenhower Institute, American University’s Campaign Management Institute, The National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, Out & Equal Annual Conference, The Gay & Lesbian Leadership Institute’s Candidate & Campaign Training, The Robert J. Dole Leadership Series, and the New American Leaders Project’s Ready to Win Training. As a donor and activist, Jason is a proud member of the LGBT Equality Council at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Jason earned his Bachelor of Science in Human Communications from Abilene Christian University where he served as Executive President of the Students’ Association. Jason resides on Capitol Hill with his husband and their beloved French bulldog, Hugo.

Christine Chew serves as Director of Senior Events & Programs at Mida Associates and is based in Washington, DC. Christine works directly with clients to ensure that events and programs of all sizes are handled with precision and care. She has worked with vendors across the country to ensure the implementation and execution of programs that bring together top-level stakeholders, including: politicians, corporate leaders, and community advocates. Previously, Christine held positions at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, George Mason University’s Center for the Arts, and the Kennedy Center.

Christine graduated from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University with a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance. As an internationally prize-winning classical pianist, Christine has been awarded opportunities to perform solo and concerto repertoire in venues such as The John F. Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and abroad in South Korea.

Emily Hanna is the Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships at Mida Associates. Emily brings experience in non-profit grant writing and administration, program management, human resources, and a mindset for advocacy to her role. Emily provides clients of Mida Associates across the country with support and guidance while ensuring they receive top-notch service. Most recently, Emily worked for a national disability rights organization in Washington, DC managing their program portfolio, including youth employment initiatives, leadership development programs, mentoring programs, scholarships, and corporate diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Emily earned her Master of Professional Studies degree in Human Resources Management with a concentration in Diversity and Inclusion from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. and her Bachelor of Science degree in Management from Clemson University in Clemson, S.C.

Rick Fowler has over 25 years of experience in the Meetings, Marketing and Media industry. Prior to starting his own company, RFP Events, in 2018, he was the Vice President of Events & Experience with the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. Having started in February of 2007, he worked by planning and executing event strategy and production for all of the organizations national and international, signature events. Prior to NGLCC Rick worked as the Senior Event Planner at the national headquarters of USA TODAY. Since 1999 he managed the National Circulation department’s presence at over 200 annual trade shows, coordinated collateral development and production, managed the national hotel label program and planned unique client events. He worked closely with the leaders in the travel, retail and education industries by providing them with exceptional client service and unique ways they could utilize the newspaper to grow customer satisfaction and increase learning standards in the classroom. Prior to his 7 years at USA TODAY, he worked as the Senior Account Manager at the advertising firm of Abramson Erlich Manes, where he worked for 3 years in the Entertainment division managing movie studio clients such as 20th Century FOX, MGM, Trimark, Lions Gate and Strand Releasing. Gaining exposure to successful studio campaigns, Rick began to hone his event and marketing management skills by handling premier screenings, press junkets, celebrity appearances, television, radio & print campaigns as well as innovative promotional partnerships with local restaurant and retail outlets.

Growing up in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Rick completed his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) in Communications Media in 1991. His career began by his participation in an internship program the previous year, at the Washington, DC based FOX television station, WTTG Channel 5. He moved to Washington, DC permanently the following year to work full time at WTTG starting at an entry level position as a Broadcast Screener. Before leaving WTTG for Abramson Erlilch Manes, he worked his way up the corporate ladder for 6 years by accepting positions in the Traffic department as the Log Editor and then as the Coordinator of the Promotions department, where he got his first taste of marketing and event planning projects.

He is currently a member of MPI, is a certified LGBT Business Enterprise and holds the Virtual Event & Meeting Management certificate from the Event Leadership Institute.

Noah Friedman serves as the Senior Advisor for Concept and Graphic Design at Mida Associates. Noah works with clients to help them tell urgent stories through a variety of forms, including social media campaigns, event artistic direction, branding and identity suites, and other collateral. Through deep collaboration, Noah aims to create design and branding experiences that are moving and resonant for a diverse array of clients, including the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, the American Association for People with Disabilities, the Capital Area Immigrants Rights Coalition, and Brady.

Noah graduated from the University of Rochester with a Bachelor’s of Arts in English with a concentration in creative writing. While serving as a middle school social studies teacher with Teach For America’s Phoenix Corps, Noah pursued and completed his MFA in Creative Writing at the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. After moving to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 2015, Noah continued his career in education as a curriculum writer, program manager, and then Creative Director of SummerCollab, a nonprofit based in Wilmington, DE dedicated to enhancing student opportunity by closing the summer learning gap in communities of low-income.

It was during his tenure at SummerCollab that Noah opened Noah Friedman Studio, a one-stop creative shop that provides storytelling services such as branding development, graphic design, photography, and videography. Of the projects he has taken on since opening his studio, one of Noah’s favorites has been his portrait series, F2, where he documented Philadelphia’s creative community through portraiture and interviews.