Dirk Wiggins is the CEO of echo19, a Washington, D.C.-based telecommunications platform that consults for and assists left-of-center political and advocacy groups. He is also the chairman of the board for Code for Progress. 1
Wiggins has promoted technological and data innovation for the Democratic Party and various left-of-center organizations. 2 He previously did technology consulting work for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and for the Democratic Parties in Kentucky and Florida. 1
He was also reportedly a partner with the Democracy Alliance. 23
Early Career
Dirk Wiggins graduated from the University of Arizona after studying engineering. 1
He initially worked in his own field of study. He was a computer system engineer at Berkeley Lab from 1998 to 1999. He later went to work as director of engineering for CORPEDIA from 1999 to 2003. 1
As an engineer, his early career was in the at Los Alamos labs. He later worked for a startup technology company in Arizona. 2
Democratic Politics
Wiggins began to apply his knowledge to left-wing politics by providing software platforms to allow campaigns to use models for reaching voters and for messaging. 2
From 2003 through early 2004, he was the information technology director for the unsuccessful Democratic presidential campaign retired Gen. Wesley Clark. He oversaw measuring the outcomes and effectiveness of the campaign’s field staff and volunteers. 1
After Clark dropped out of the race, Wiggins became the Florida information technology director for Americans Coming Together, a left-leaning independent spending organization backed by George Soros, the late Peter B. Lewis, and labor unions to support the 2004 Presidential campaign of Sen. John Kerry (D-MA),4 when Florida was a key battleground state during a presidential election year. 1
He was the voter file director for the Florida Democratic Party from 2005 to 2007. 1
In 2007, Wiggins was a consultant for the Democratic Party of Kentucky, a Republican-leaning state. That year, Democrat Steve Beshear won the state’s governor’s race, beating Republican incumbent Ernie Fletcher. 1
In 2008, Wiggins was a consultant for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which focuses on raising money for and electing Democratic candidates for the House of Representatives. 1
Business Consulting
Wiggins later moved from electoral politics into the for-profit sector, but still working with progressive campaigns. He was a managing partner at SWITCHBOARD Communications, in Washington, from 2009 through 2011. 1
Wiggins has been the CEO of echo19, since 2011. The telecommunications platform works with progressive organizations. The echo19 company specializes in voter outreach technology. 1
Wiggins is also the chairman of the board for Code for Progress, a position he held since July 2012. Code for Progress is a left-of-center nonprofit that focuses on gender and racial issues within workplace environments. 1
A document uncovered by Washington Free Beacon in 2014 listed Wiggins as a partner with the Democracy Alliance, a funding organization that coordinates the flow of millions of dollars in contributions to left-wing causes in the United States. 3
References
- Dirk Wiggins. LinkedIn. Accessed January 25, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dirk-wiggins/
- Dirk Wiggins. Campaign Leadership Institute. Accessed January 25, 2020. https://www.campaignleadershipinstitute.org/dirk-wiggins
- Markley, Lachlan. Washington Free Beacon. May 5, 2014. Accessed January 25, 2020. https://freebeacon.com/politics/jonathan-soros-left-a-confidential-document-at-his-donor-conference/
- Tell, David. “Who’s Afraid of George Soros?” The Weekly Standard. February 29, 2004. Accessed January 28, 2019. https://www.weeklystandard.com/david-tell/whos-afraid-of-george-soros