Meet Your Web of Change Board Candidates
After watching these videos, please return to your ElectionBuddy ballot and click through to vote! Your board candidates are:
Hi! I'm John Brougher, hailing from Washington DC. I'm the Chief Technology Officer for NARAL Pro-Choice America and an alum of three Web of Changes (Webs of Change?). Before NARAL, I was CTO for the Wendy Davis for Governor campaign, and have worked previously at places like NGP VAN, Salsa Labs, and the Democratic Governors Association. I'm also an actor and voice actor (my most recent roles include "diabolical space alien" and "rap somewhat-mogul"), I'm a nerd about almost everything, and I constantly want to dance.
John's LinkedIn profile. Attended WOC in: 2012, 2013, 2015
Head of Engagement Strategy & Planning at Greenpeace International. Previously seen at Ethical Electric, OccupyOurHomes.org, Citizen Engagement Lab, SEIU, Chris Dodd for President, Mark Begich for Senate & Students for a Free Tibet. Writer, rabble-rouser, a fan of endurance events and fine cocktails and wines.
Matt's LinkedIn profile.
Attended WOC in: 2011, 2012, 2015
Ted runs a consulting shop, Bright+3, that does a range of digital communications, fundraising and organizing work but focuses primarily on helping progressive organizations and campaigns to create and run content and data projects. Previously, he served as development director for environmental groups in Colorado and Illinois, helped launch the nation's first statewide email action network and founded Colorado Conservation Voters in 1998. From 2002 to 2006, Ted consulted with political campaigns, PACs and nonprofits, building hundreds of websites and emails that nobody remembers. He also ran digital strategy for The Wilderness Society from 2006-2011. He has been involved with Web of Change since 2007, attending several conferences and participating in planning teams for recent events. Ted has also served as an advisor to the Nonprofit Technology Conference and Social Movement Technologies. Ted is, quite happily, based in Denver where it's sunny almost all the time.
Ted's LinkedIn profile.
Attended WOC in: 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013
To create a more just and equitable world, we need all perspectives at the table. That’s why Emily Jacobi has devoted her career to amplifying marginalized voices. As founder and Executive Director of Digital Democracy, Emily leads the organization’s work empowering marginalized communities to use technology to defend their rights. From mapping and mobile data collection to helping indigenous villagers build their own drones, Digital Democracy works with grassroots communities to build tech solutions that address pressing human rights and environmental challenges.
Emily began her career as a youth journalist, reporting from Cuba at age 13. She is a writer and speaker who has presented to the United Nations, State Department, Aspen Ideas Festival and more. In 2015 she was named a Wired Magazine #MakeTechHuman Agent of Change. Emily lives in Oakland, California. Her passions include dream work, astronomy, nature connection, and healing historical trauma.
Emily's LinkedIn profile.
Attended WOC in: 2014, 2015
Nonprofit leader that can balance administrivia with big dreams and long-term vision. Media strategist with roots in the education, public health and environmental movements. New mom with a passion for leaving this world a little better than I found it. Web of Change evangelist that wants to share the experience with as many changemakers as possible while preserving the magic of this close-knit community. Communications nerd that wants to build on the awesome listserv and budding WOC local program, and find even more ways to support and connect with one another throughout the year.
Nicole's LinkedIn profile.
Attended WOC in: 2012, 2013, 2015
Austen Levihn-Coon is Principal and Chief Innovation Officer at Fission Strategy where he specializes in helping nonprofits and social enterprises leverage technology for social good. Previously, Austen worked in digital and field with Joe Trippi & Associates, The Energy Action Coalition, Obama for America, and Texas Campaign for the Environment. Austen has a B.A. from Middlebury College where he studied Poverty, Social Inequities, and Social Movements and wrote his thesis on new models of distributed organizing. Always attuned to social inequality, Austen became more interested in social change as a result of his time living in Venezuela during the 2002 attempted coup against Hugo Chavez and has been working to address structural inequities ever since.
Austen's LinkedIn profile.
Attended WOC in: 2013, 2014, 2015
Jed Miller is a veteran digital strategist working to bridge the divides between technology and social justice and between open data and international development. Since 2012, he has been a senior consultant to organizations including Global Witness, the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, Natural Resource Governance Institute, Open Society Foundations, the Transparency and Accountability Initiative and the World Bank, among others. Jed was the first national Internet director for the American Civil Liberties Union, where he convened a cross-departmental team of legal, field and development directors and oversaw the launch of ACLU's first blog and social media initiatives. As interactive editor of NYTimes.com from 1996 to 2001 he managed all reader discussions, including forums for the Pulitzer-winning 2000 series on race in America. He has also taught digital communications at Columbia's School for International Public Affairs (SIPA). Jed lives in San Francisco but is permanently from Manhattan.
Jed's LinkedIn profile.
Attended WOC in: 2014, 2015
Harold has been an on and offline organizer for progressive causes for almost 10 years. After leading a canvass on a congressional campaign in southern Indiana in 2006 he has worked in increasingly responsible field, data, and digital roles with innovative organizations including Rock the Vote, Call To Action, Obama for America, the Service Employees International Union, AFL-CIO and most recently Blue State Digital. Harold has been trained by the DCCC, Camp Wellstone, the New Organizing Institute and many others and is committed to returning the favor by helping train, mentor and provide resources for the next crop of troublemakers. When not working to empower the middle class Harold likes to travel, play and watch sports and drink whiskey.
Harold's LinkedIn profile.
Attended WOC in: 2014, 2015
Mariana Ruiz Firmat has been an organizer and digital campaigner for over 15 years. She hails from California but moved to NYC on a bicycle 15 years ago. She is Director of the Kairos Fellowship, a program to train and mentor digital campaigners of color. The first cohort will launch in January 2016. She was the Managing Director at Presente.org and a Campaign Director at MoveOn. When she isn't campaigning or thinking about how to increase racial equity in the digital progressive space, she is a poet and titi to her niece Sonja Lee.
Attended WOC in: 2014, 2015
Marcy Rye is the founder of Wire Media, a brand strategy and design firm that works with nonprofits and socially responsible businesses to create growth and build support. She has previously worked as creative director at a leading direct mail firm in DC, and as a graphic designer at a museum exhibit design firm.
She is an award winning creative director and designer with Davey, International Media Council, and Communications Arts magazine awards over several years.
She is Chair of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce Small Business Roundtable, former Chair of Big Up Kidz board of directors, and organizer for NTEN's Los Angeles tech club.
Marcy has been a speaker at several conferences and events including Nonprofit Technology Conference, 501(c) Conference, and the LA Chamber of Commerce. She holds an MFA in design and technology from Parsons the New School for Design, and a BA in political science from U of Wisconsin-Madison.
Marcy's LinkedIn profile.
Attended WOC in: 2012, 2013, 2015
Jenn Sturm is a brash, queer, and earnest geek. As the ACLU’s Director of Online Engagement, Jenn heads up digital campaigning and communications strategies, mobilizing the ACLU’s million plus supporters to fight to get the U.S. on a better track. Jenn’s illustrious career has included stints as a UNIX sysadmin, cab driver, and baker. Her proudest educational achievement was completing Computer-Circus camp as a child, where she learned to eat fire, walk a tightrope, juggle, and code video games in Pascal and C — all life experiences that come in handy as a digital mobilization strategist working for social change. Jenn really wants to be one of your new WOC board members and will use her humor and passion to further cement a vision of a more equitable and inclusive Web of Change.
Jenn's LinkedIn profile.
Attended WOC in: 2014, 2015
The child of political activists, Mattie has been doing direct action, community organizing, campaign and election work, training and facilitating her entire life—with AFSCME, Race Forward, the League of Pissed Off Voters, Wellstone Action, and now Educators 4 Excellence. She served as Web of Change facilitator for the past two years, and deeply values Web of Change for all of the ways it has nurtured, connected, ignited and challenged her and others. Mattie is a mom, a visual artists, a Midwesterner, and a lover of people.
Mattie's LinkedIn profile.
Attended WOC in: 2014, 2015