Campaigns & Elections Announces 2011 CampaignTech Innovators Presented by New Media Strategies
Digital-political superstars honored for their legacies of innovation in technology

Ten digital-political practitioners and strategists at the top of their fields are being honored as the inaugural class of Campaigns & Elections’ CampaignTech Innovators presented by New Media Strategies.

Nominated by their peers, Innovators work in the fields of technology, campaigns, advocacy and government and have developed a legacy of innovation and collaboration using technology to inform, enable and engage voters and constituents on behalf of a political or issue advocacy campaign or legislative office. Winners of the award all demonstrate a visionary approach to the future of digital politics and advocacy.

The following recipients will be awarded in the following five categories on November 10 at the CampaignTech conference in Washington, DC:

· Campaign Innovator – Individuals with a legacy of innovative outreach on the digital campaign trail

· Advocacy Innovator – Individuals who apply their strategic technological minds to issue advocacy

· Capitol Hill Innovator – Individuals in Congressional offices who use technology to communicate with constituents and craft public policy

· Candidate Innovator – Individuals whose vision while running for office led their campaigns to use technology in an open, interactive way  to inform and engage voters

· Nonpartisan/International Innovator – Individuals who have made an impact digitally in the nonpartisan world or internationally

Profiles of the winners are below:

Campaign Innovators
Wesley Donehue: CEO, Donehue Direct
Republican
After South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson shouted “You lie” at President Obama during a joint address to Congress, it was Donehue who helped Wilson raise some $2 million online in just two weeks. He also helped Sen. Jim DeMint build an online presence and become an Internet force during the 2010 cycle. Donehue launched his own firm in 2010 with a focus on new media and technology. 

Sarah Granger: Founder and CEO, PublicEdge
Democrat
Credited by Wired magazine with launching the “first true weblog to be put up by a politician,” (for former Sen. Gary Hart’s 2003 presidential exploratory committee) Granger has more than 20 years of experience in new media and online communications. Her firm crafts online messaging and social media strategies for campaigns and organizations. Last cycle, Granger served as new media strategist for the Women’s Campaign Fund and as the interim political director at BlogHer.  

Vince Leibowitz: Principle Consultant, the Dawn Group
Democrat
After working as a newspaper editor and journalist out of college, Leibowitz entered politics full time in 2003. He founded his own firm, now known as The Dawn Group. A co-founder of the Texas Progressive Alliance and TexBlog PAC, his digital outreach work on Hank Gilbert’s campaign for Agriculture Commissioner last cycle was recognized nationally by the New Organizing Institute.   

Steven Moore: Chief of Staff, Office of Illinois Republican Rep. Peter Roskam
Republican
On Capitol Hill, Moore played a key role in the effort to update House rules to allow online advertising to be used for constituent communication. Last cycle, Moore launched an experiment to determine whether online ads persuade and just how many impressions it takes to move votes. In a study co-authored with Google and CampaignGrid, Moore concluded that 18 million impressions delivered over eight days to voters in Florida’s 11th congressional district moved 18 percent of the campaign’s targeted demo.  

Advocacy Innovators
Michael Ertel: Supervisor of Elections, Seminole County, Florida
Nonpartisan
After eight years in the U.S. Army and with a dozen years of experience in the PR field, Ertel was one of the first election supervisors in Florida to engage with voters through social networking using Facebook and Twitter. Ertel became the co-founder of the foursquare "I voted" badge where users earn the badge by checking in at their local polling place on Election Day.

Jim Gilliam: Founder and CEO, NationBuilder
Nonpartisan
A former documentary filmmaker, Gilliam is the creator of NationBuilder, an online management platform. NationBuilder organizes online tools for campaigns, regardless of partisanship, including free access to a nationwide voter file. Among Gilliam’s other creations—act.ly, a tool to help circulate petitions on Twitter. Gilliam’s speech at this year’s Personal Democracy Forum has more than 300,000 online views.  

Capitol Hill Innovator
Matt Lira: Digital Director, Office of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor
Republican
Lira is the first digital staffer to be given a full-seat at the senior leadership table in a Congressional leadership office and his time on Capitol Hill includes many Congressional firsts. Among them are the first Congressional web video, Twitter account and the first online ads under the franking program. Lira is also responsible for the YouCut program, which allows the public to vote on which item to cut from the federal budget with the winning item actually brought up for a vote on the House floor.

Candidate Innovator
Jill Miller Zimon: City Council Member, Pepper Pike, Ohio
Democrat
Zimon is the first nationally recognized female blogger to be elected to a city council in the country and the first candidate for her city council to utilize a website or social networking tools during a campaign. Zimon, who blogs at writeslikeshetalks.com, is also the project director for the Civic Commons EfficientGovNetwork Project which aims to make local governments in Northeast Ohio more efficient through online collaboration.

Nonpartisan/International Innovators
Margarita Cedeño de Fernández: First Lady of the Dominican Republic
International/Non-American
As first lady, Margarita Cedeño de Fernández has worked to improve education and close the digital gap through access to information and communication technologies. She has worked to strengthen the country’s community technology centers, which are located in 75 rural communities nationwide. Last year, the centers provided more than half a million citizens with free access to online tools and services.

Clay Johnson: Owner, Big Window Labs
Nonpartisan
During the 2004 election cycle, Johnson served as the lead programmer for Howard Dean’s presidential campaign—a catalyst for the use of the Internet in politics. He went on to found Blue State Digital, which played a key role in Barack Obama’s digital strategy in 2008. He also led a campaign titled, “Let our Congress Tweet,” part of the effort to allow members to use social media under Congressional franking rules.

The CampaignTech conference is being held in Washington, DC on November 10-11 at The Washington Marriott. For more information, media credentials, or to buy tickets, please visit www.campaigntechconference.com.

Launched in 1983, Campaigns & Elections’ seminars attract political professionals, candidates, political junkies and those involved in campaigns from all over the United States. In recent years, attendees have also come Europe, Canada, Africa, Australia, Latin America and Mongolia. Campaigns & Elections events are nonpartisan, making the seminars the one place politicos can learn and network from the best of the best, regardless of party affiliation.

Exclusive sponsor of the CampaignTech Innovator Awards, New Media Strategies (NMS), leverages the power of social media to give clients a respected and influential voice in that conversation. Now celebrating its 12th year of growth and social media excellence, NMS has a record unmatched by any other firm: more than 1,800 social media marketing campaigns in more than 80 different industries; unparalleled experience in the industry. It is this experience that gives NMS clients a distinct competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Contact: Megan Simpson
Assoc. Director of Political Programs
Campaigns & Elections
Phone: 703-778-4022
msimpson@campaignsandelections.com