People Profiles

Learn how specific individuals are influencing public policy. Each profile below is carefully curated by an InfluenceWatch contributor, and includes funding data where appropriate.

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View Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders

Activist, Politician, Abortion Policy, Economic Policy, Elections Policy, Firearms Policy, Healthcare Policy, Labor Policy
Bernard "Bernie" Sanders is a Vermont politician, serving as the state's senior United States Senator. Sanders ran for the Democratic Party nomination for President of…
View Carlos P. Odio

Carlos P. Odio

Activist, Identity Politics (for race-based policy/activism), Labor Policy
Carlos P. Odio is a left-of-center political operative working as of 2021 as head of EquisLabs. Odio worked on the 2008 Obama presidential campaign as…
View Liz Shuler

Liz Shuler

Activist, Labor Policy
Elizabeth H. Shuler is an American labor union official who assumed the presidency of the AFL-CIO after the death of Richard Trumka. She is a…
View Randi Weingarten

Randi Weingarten

Other, Labor Policy
Randi Weingarten is a 30-year union executive who, aside from a brief one-semester stint as a full-time teacher, has almost exclusively served as a union…
View Becky Pringle

Becky Pringle

Other, Education Policy, Labor Policy
Rebecca Pringle is a teacher and teachers’ union officer working as the president of the National Education Association (NEA), America’s largest labor union. Pringle has…
View George Gresham

George Gresham

Activist, Board Member or Executive, Healthcare Policy, Labor Policy
George Gresham is president of the New York-based 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, a position he has held since 2007. It is the largest union…
View Tara Raghuveer

Tara Raghuveer

Activist, Labor Policy
Tara Raghuveer is a left-of-center activist who serves as director of the Tenant Union Federation and KC Tenants.
View Andy Stern

Andy Stern

Board Member or Executive, Labor Policy
Andy Stern is the former president of the Service Employees International Union. A longtime union official, Stern rose to the presidency after leading former SEIU…
View Lily Eskelsen Garcia

Lily Eskelsen Garcia

Activist, Education Policy, Firearms Policy, Labor Policy
Lily Eskelsen Garcia is a teachers union activist and the former president of the National Education Association (NEA), the largest labor union in the United…
View Drummond Pike

Drummond Pike

Activist, Board Member or Executive, Environmental Policy, Immigration Policy, Labor Policy
Drummond McGavin Pike is an American businessman, philanthropist, and left-of-center political activist. He is notable for founding a number of organizations that promote and fund…
View Mary Kay Henry

Mary Kay Henry

Board Member or Executive, Labor Policy
Mary Kay Henry serves as the international president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Henry worked for the union almost continuously since 1979, holding…
View Saul Alinsky

Saul Alinsky

Activist, Identity Politics (for race-based policy/activism), Labor Policy, Multi-Issue Advocacy
Saul Alinsky (1909-1972) was a leading political activist and theorist, social critic, self-described “radical,” and an architect of the modern Left’s structure and approach to…
View John Morgan

John Morgan

Activist, Lawyer, Criminal Justice Policy, Labor Policy
John Morgan is a Florida-based trial lawyer and a partner and founder of one of the nation’s largest law firms, Morgan and Morgan.
View Daniel Kebede

Daniel Kebede

Board Member or Executive, Education Policy, Identity Politics (for race-based policy/activism), Labor Policy
Daniel Kebede is the general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), a national teachers union in the United Kingdom. Kebede had previously served as…
View Larry Cohen

Larry Cohen

Activist, Identity Politics (for race-based policy/activism), Labor Policy
Larry Cohen is a former trade union official who headed the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and a Democratic political operative who chairs Our Revolution,…
View Jing Zhao

Jing Zhao

Activist, Labor Policy, Multi-Issue Advocacy
Jing Zhao is a think tank manager who is active in shareholder advocacy, frequently submitting left-leaning shareholder resolutions to some of the largest companies in…
View Anna Burger

Anna Burger

Activist, Labor Policy
Anna Burger spent a nearly 40-year career working for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Labeled as the “Queen of Labor,” Burger was elected an…
View Cecile Richards

Cecile Richards

Activist, Board Member or Executive, Abortion Policy, Labor Policy
Cecile Richards was a social activist who worked as president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America from 2006 through 2018. As president of Planned…
View John Sweeney

John Sweeney

Activist, Environmental Policy, Labor Policy
For more information, see AFL-CIO (Labor Union)
View David Rolf

David Rolf

Board Member or Executive, Labor Policy
David Rolf is the international vice president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and serves as president emeritus of local chapter SEIU 775NW.

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Sunita Leeds

Sunita Leeds (sometimes referred to as Sunita Gupta Leeds) is a philanthropist based in Washington, D.C. who has been involved with numerous left-of-center advocacy groups,…

Madison Teachers, Inc. (MTI)

Madison Teachers, Inc. (MTI) is a labor union representing teachers and other educational employees of the Madison Metropolitan School District in Madison, Wisconsin. Its teachers’…

Democracy Matters Foundation (formerly Franklin Education Forum)

The Democracy Matters Foundation is an activist organization that makes grants in support of left-of-center communications and advocacy campaigns. It was known since its 2013…

D.N. Batten Foundation

The D.N. Batten Foundation contributes millions to a broad array of organizations including left-of-center environmentalist groups focusing on climate change, and other environmentalist priorities. The…