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 Kate Shaw

Kate Shaw

Journalist, Lawyer, Scholar, Multi-Issue Advocacy
Kate Shaw is a professor at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University and a left-of-center political commentator. She frequently comments on legal…
View Ray D. Madoff

Ray D. Madoff

Scholar
Ray D. Madoff is a Boston College Law School professor and academic who focuses on modern philanthropy. She is best known for her criticisms of…
View Vijay Prashad

Vijay Prashad

Journalist, Scholar, Economic Policy
Vijay Prashad is a Marxist journalist and historian. An ardent supporter of communism, Prashad is the author of many books defending the ideology’s legacy and…
View Amber A’Lee Frost

Amber A’Lee Frost

Activist, Scholar, Multi-Issue Advocacy
Amber A’Lee Frost is a socialist writer and co-host of the podcast Chapo Trap House. She is the one who coined the phrase “dirtbag left”…
View Rosa Brooks

Rosa Brooks

Lawyer, Scholar, Foreign Policy, LGBT Policy
Rosa Brooks, born Rosa Ehrenreich, is the daughter of longtime feminist activist Barbara Ehrenreich and is a law professor at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C….
View Cornel West

Cornel West

Scholar
Cornel West is a left-wing academic, philosopher, and public intellectual noted for working as one of the honorary chairs of the Democratic Socialists of America…
View David Rothkopf

David Rothkopf

Journalist, Scholar, Multi-Issue Advocacy
David Rothkopf is a left of center podcaster, writer, and consultant whose firm, The Rothkopf Group, conducts work on behalf of the embassy of the…
View Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky

Scholar, Economic Policy, Foreign Policy
Noam Chomsky is an American linguistics professor best known for his radical-left politics. Chomsky has been described as “the most prolific radical critic of U.S….
View Judith Butler

Judith Butler

Scholar
For more information, see Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS)
View Ibram X. Kendi

Ibram X. Kendi

Activist, Scholar, Identity Politics (for race-based policy/activism)
Ibram X. Kendi is a professor, activist, and author known for advancing the ideology of “antiracism,” which claims that any inequalities are inherently the result…
View Reiner Beeuwkes

Reiner Beeuwkes

Donor, Scholar, Abortion Policy
Reinier Beeuwkes is a scientist, biomedical-pharmacy entrepreneur, and Democratic Party philanthropist. Between 2016 and 2020, Beeuwkes and his wife, Nancy Beeuwkes, have collectively made $1,752,100…
View Dallas Dishman

Dallas Dishman

Board Member or Executive, Scholar, LGBT Policy
Dallas Dishman is the executive director of the David Geffen Foundation, the charitable organization of Hollywood mogul and long-time Democratic Party fundraiser David Lawrence Geffen….
View Kimberlé Crenshaw

Kimberlé Crenshaw

Board Member or Executive, Scholar, Identity Politics (for race-based policy/activism)
Kimberlé Crenshaw is a left-leaning law professor at UCLA and Columbia University known for her work in “civil rights, black feminist legal theory, and race,…
View Michel Foucault

Michel Foucault

Scholar, Criminal Justice Policy, Multi-Issue Advocacy
Michel Foucault was a French philosopher best known for his contributions to post-structuralism and postmodernism. Foucault is often considered one of the most influential philosophers…
View Angela Davis

Angela Davis

Activist, Scholar, Multi-Issue Advocacy
Angela Davis is a life-long, radical-left activist and academic. Davis was a longtime member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and twice served as its…
View Peter Daszak

Peter Daszak

Board Member or Executive, Scholar, Healthcare Policy
Peter Daszak is a virologist and the president of EcoHealth Alliance, an American nonprofit dedicated to developing global healthcare infrastructure.
View Melina Abdullah

Melina Abdullah

Activist, Scholar, Identity Politics (for race-based policy/activism)
Melina Abdullah is a university professor and a co-founder of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles who has been credited as one of the leading early…
View Barbara Fried

Barbara Fried

Lawyer, Scholar, Multi-Issue Advocacy
Barbara Fried is a Stanford Law School professor and a co-founder of Mind the Gap, a pro-Democratic super PAC. She is the mother of disgraced…
View Slavoj Žižek

Slavoj Žižek

Scholar
Slavoj Žižek is a Slovenian Marxist-Leninist philosopher who has achieved celebrity status among the radical left. In 2012, the magazine Foreign Policy listed him 92nd…
View Michael E. Mann

Michael E. Mann

Scholar, Environmental Policy
Michael Mann is a professor of atmospheric science at Penn State University and a prominent climate scientist. He is best known for his promotion of…

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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…

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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…