FAIRVOTE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Leader
- Member of the Board
Alice Underwood has been a recognized leader in the actuarial profession and a sought-after speaker for insurance industry events. She has published dozens of articles on actuarial and insurance-industry topics and has held board and officer positions within a number of insurance industry associations. Her actuarial career has included roles in both the U.S. and Europe. Recently retired, she previously headed the global insurance consulting and technology practice for a leading financial services company.
She holds a B.S. with Highest Honors in mathematics from The University of Texas and a Ph.D. in mathematics from Princeton University. She is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society, a Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst, and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries.
Alice is also a voracious reader of science fiction, a student of history and politics, an unrepentant Trekker, a mediocre seamstress, an avid SCUBA diver, an occasional yogini, an enthusiastic eclipse chaser, and a Peloton devotee. She is the co-author of six novels based on Greek mythology and set in the Bronze Age; her most recent "Tapestry of Bronze" novel, Clytemnestra: The Mother's Blade was released in September 2017. Alice and her husband Mark Kimmey live in New York City, where they cater to the whims of two dictatorial felines.
Job Titles:
- Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of California at San Diego
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- Professor of Politics, University of Western Australia
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- Professor of Political Science, University of Iowa
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- UC Berkeley, Research Fellow at the People Lab UC Berkeley, FairVote Board
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- Chief Executive Officer of Pure Edge, Inc
Chi Kim is the Chief Executive Officer of Pure Edge, Inc. a private operating foundation dedicated to the wellbeing of learners and educators across the US. Prior to joining the foundation, she served as a California school superintendent, school principal, leadership coach, classroom teacher, as well as, a program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She is also co-founder of the Teaching Garden program that was adopted by the American Heart Association to support heart health through school gardens.
Chi is a 2018 Pahara-Aspen Education Fellow, serves as the Board Chair & Trustee of the Great Minds nonprofit board, a member of CASEL Board of Directors, YouthBuild USA Board of Directors, Coalition for Career Development Center, and FECOP Board of Directors. She also serves on the national advisory councils of the COVID Collaborative, More Perfect, SEL4US, Project Wayfinder, and Center for Reaching and Teaching the Whole Child.
She earned a B.A. in Psychology and an M.Ed. from UCLA, a Tier I Administrative Services credential from California State University, Dominguez Hills, Tier II Administrative Services credential from Loyola Marymount University, XPT Performance Breathing Certification and Oxygen Advantage Functional Breathing Certification. She is mom to three wonderful girls and resides in the greater Boston area.
Job Titles:
- Campaign Legal Center Outside Counsel, FairVote Board 2004 - 2008
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- Executive Director of RepresentWomen, FairVote Board 1992 - 2020
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Professor
Danielle Allen is a professor of public policy, politics, and ethics at Harvard University, Director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, and James Bryant Conant University Professor, one of Harvard's highest honors. She is also a seasoned nonprofit leader, democracy advocate, national voice on pandemic response, distinguished author, and mom. Danielle's work to make the world better for young people has taken her from teaching college and leading a $60 million university division to driving change at the helm of a $6 billion foundation, writing for the Washington Post, advocating for cannabis legalization, democracy reform, and civic education, and most recently, to running for governor of Massachusetts. During the height of COVID in 2020, Danielle's leadership in rallying coalitions and building solutions resulted in the country's first-ever Roadmap to Pandemic Resilience; her policies were adopted in federal legislation and a Biden executive order. Danielle made history as the first Black woman ever to run for statewide office in Massachusetts. She continues to advocate for democracy reform to create greater voice and access in our democracy, and drive progress towards a new social contract that serves and includes us all. Her many books include the widely acclaimed Our Declaration: a reading of the Declaration of Independence in defense of equality and Cuz: The Life and Times of Michael A.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Politics, University College Dublin
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Vice - Chair
David Wilner co-founded Wind River Systems in 1981 and for many years was its Chief Technical Officer. He is a recognized expert in the field of real-time software engineering. Before founding the company, Mr. Wilner was a Senior Staff Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. He is an expert on computers and technology, topics that are increasingly relevant to electoral reform.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Treasurer
- Fellow and Director of Economic Policy Initiatives at the Urban Institute
Donald Marron is an Institute fellow and director of economic policy initiatives at the Urban Institute. He conducts research on tax and budget policy and identifies opportunities for Urban to develop policy-relevant research on economic and financial issues. From 2010 to 2013, he led the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. He has testified frequently before Congress, and works to popularize economics through his blog and writings. He is a senior research fellow at the Climate Leadership Council and the editor of 30-Second Economics and 30-Second Money, two short books that introduce readers to the most important ideas in economics and finance.
Donald has served in senior government positions, including as a member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers under George W. Bush and acting director of the Congressional Budget Office. He has also taught at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, and the University of Maryland; consulted on major antitrust cases; and served as chief financial officer of a health care software start-up. He studied mathematics at Harvard College and received his PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Founder and Principal of the Center for Nonprofit Strategies
Dr. Purnima Chawla is the Founder and Principal of the Center for Nonprofit Strategies. She also co-directs the Tools for Engaging Landowners Effectively (TELE) program and serves as an Executive Mentor at the Miller Center at Santa Clara University. Purnima has helped a broad range of nonprofits and social businesses to make strategic leaps to scale up their impact and negotiate periods of change and growth. She has also designed and executed several ground-breaking campaigns to raise awareness of health and environmental issues. Her clients include nonprofits like the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the ONE campaign; government agencies like the CDC and NIH; and socially responsible corporations like Johnson and Johnson. Prior to starting the Center, Purnima held senior management roles at marquee PR firms like Porter Novelli and Equals Three Communications.
Job Titles:
- General Counsel of Advancement Project, FairVote Board 2005 - 2016
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- Professor of Economics, Harvard University
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- Daumont, Former Executive Director of Oakland Rising, FairVote Board
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- New Yorker Senior Editor and White House Speechwriter, FairVote Board 1995 - 2018
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- Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania
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- Member of the Board
- Partner at Found & Co
Jake is a partner at Found & Co, a venture studio that funds and builds early-stage impact startups. Jake is also a principal at Temerity Capital Partners where he advises their impact portfolio. Previously, Jake founded ChangeRoots, a political donation app designed to combat toxic partisanship. Before ChangeRoots, Jake helped launch Asurity Technologies, a fintech startup helping lenders make fair loans to borrowers. Jake started his career in politics as a campaign consultant and lobbying on behalf of county governments.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director at the CEEP Network, FairVote Board 2016 - 2020
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- Executive Editor of Ms. Magazine, FairVote Board. 2004 - 2008
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- Executive Director, Election Reformers Network
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- Secretary General of Council of Women 's World Leaders, FairVote Board 2004 - 2008
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Secretary of the Board
- Senior Program Officer at the Open Society Foundations
Mark de la Iglesia is a senior program officer at the Open Society Foundations, where he supports organizations that fight international corruption and kleptocracy. He previously worked as a senior program manager at the National Democratic Institute, advancing democratic governance projects in the areas of legislative strengthening, government transparency, and civic technology. Mark also worked as a legislative affairs director at the U.S. Department of State and as a legislative director and foreign policy adviser for U.S. Rep. Adam Smith. He earned a master's degree from Princeton University's School for International and Public Affairs, and a bachelor's from Northwestern University. A native of Washington State, Mark has volunteered on U.S. voting rights campaigns and various other democracy reform efforts over the years.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Political Science, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
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- Professor of Political Science, California Polytechnic State University
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- Assistant Professor, Harvard Law School, FairVote Board
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- President at Liberty Initiative Fund, FairVote Board 2013 - 2020
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- Board Member of Californians for Electoral Reform, FairVote Board 2004 - 2012
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- President of Color of Change, FairVote Board 2004 - 2006
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- Professor Emeritus of Political Science, San Francisco State University
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- President of Californians for Electoral Reform
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- CEO & Founder, Running Start, FairVote Board 2016 - 2020
FairVote engages in research and applied research relating to its efforts to understand and reform American elections. It regularly seeks insights from a working group of scholars with particular expertise in electoral rules, American elections, voting rights and election law. Participation in this group does not imply endorsement of any particular FairVote advocacy goal. Following are active members of this working group as of October 2021, with affiliations listed for identification purposes.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Political Science, University College Cork
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- Member of the Board
- Entertainment Producer
Tim Hayes is an entertainment producer, aviator, business founder and human rights activist based in New York City. Tim has created large scale global events for UNICEF, Amnesty International, The Special Olympics USA, Wounded Warrior Project, Sandy Hook Promise, The Movember Foundation, and other leading NGOs.
He has lead negotiations for the release of political prisoners of conscience in Russia and was instrumental in launching Havel's Place in St. Patrick's Park in Dublin to memorialize Vaclav Havel's velvet revolution; the a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia.
Tim founded Productions New York LLC in 2006 and currently serves as the president. Earlier in his career, he worked as a production executive at the Walt Disney Company / ABC. Prior to that, Tim toured the world with leading artists such as U2, Bon Jovi, The Who, and Van Halen settling each show and promoting human rights and democracy around the globe.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Political Science, Western Washington University
Job Titles:
- Vice President at BIA Advisory Services, FairVote Board