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Kate Krontiris

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Kate Krontiris is a researcher, strategist and facilitator associated with left-of-center activism. 1 Krontiris has provided consulting services to several large organizations such as Google, Facebook, and the Democracy Fund, as well as the U.S. Digital Service within the Executive Office of President Barack Obama. 2

Krontiris’s most notable accomplishment is her work done as part of the Google Civic Innovation Team on understanding civic engagement, publishing a Findings Paper entitled Understanding America’s “Interested Bystander;” A Complicated Relationship with Civic Duty. 3  

Krontiris is a board member of Democracy Works, a left-of-center electoral administration advocacy group funded by several prominent left-of-center private foundations. 4

Education

Krontiris is a graduate of Columbia University. She received a master’s in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and an MBA from MIT‘s Sloan School of Management. For the 2014 through 2016 academic years. Kate held a fellowship at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. 5

Career

In 2010, Krontiris became the Advisor to the Senior Advisor for Innovation and Technology at the U.S. Department of State during the Obama administration. 6

In 2012-2013 Krontiris was a principal at Reboot. 7 Reboot is a civic and social organization that works globally to develop coalitions to support radical, left-progressive change. 8

Since 2013, Krontiris has been an independent civic researcher, strategist and facilitator. 9

Krontiris spent much of 2014 as part of the Google Civic Innovation Team doing research on civic engagement, incorporating interviews and surveys, and publishing a joint Findings Paper in 2015 entitled Understanding America’s “Interested Bystander;” A Complicated Relationship with Civic Duty. 10

Krontiris has worked as a consultant to Google, Facebook, the Democracy Fund, the Knight Foundation, the Omidyar Group, and Mobius Executive Leadership, among others.  Kate also served as a consulting User Researcher for the U.S. Digital Service within the Executive Office of President Barack Obama to develop recommendations to the Obama administration for improving the process of applying for an immigrant visa to the United States. 11

Democracy Works

From 2016 to present, Krontiris has been on the board as a director for Democracy Works. 12 Democracy Works is a left-progressive advocacy group that leverages technology to increase voter participation. 13 Democracy Works has a goal of getting 80 percent of eligible American voters voting by 2024. 14 It is a left-of-center voter reform group funded by prominent left-of-center private foundations, such as the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Democracy Fund, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. 15 During the 2020 election cycle, Democracy Works received $2.5 million from James Murdoch via the Quadrivium Foundation, a left-leaning grantmaking foundation. 16

Democracy Works is a member of the Bridge Alliance. 17 Bridge Alliance is a left-leaning coalition of about 100 organizations that support left-of-center election administration policies. 18

Make the Breast Pump Not Suck

Krontiris currently is a Co-Director for the “Make the Breast Pump Not Suck” project, affiliated with the MIT Media Lab and supported by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, one of the largest private foundations in the United States. 19 In 2018, she published a book called Speaking Our Truths: 27 Stories of What It’s Really Like to Breastfeed and Pump in the United States. 20

Personal Life

Krontiris lives in Sierra Leone and married to David Moinina Sengeh, who works for the government of Sierra Leone. She has two children. She is also a singer/songwriter. 21 In January, 2021 she published her first song. 22

References

  1. LinkedIn – Kate Krontiris. Accessed June 20, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/katekrontiris/
  2. “Getting to 80 Percent” – Speakers. Harvard Kennedy School. Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. Accessed June 20, 2021. https://ash.harvard.edu/speakers
  3. [1] “Understanding America’s “Interested Bystander:” A Complicated Relationship with Civic Duty”. Published June 2015. Google Politics and Elections Blog. Accessed June 20, 2021. https://politics.googleblog.com/2015/06/understanding-americas-interested.html
  4. “The Nonprofit Network Behind “Vote by Mail”” Capital Research Center. Accessed June 20, 2021. https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-nonprofit-network-behind-vote-by-mail/
  5. Berkman Klein Center Alum Page – People. Harvard University. Kate Krontiris. Accessed June 20, 2021. https://cyber.harvard.edu/people/kkrontiris
  6.  LinkedIn – Kate Krontiris. Accessed June 20, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/katekrontiris/
  7. LinkedIn – Kate Krontiris. Accessed June 20, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/katekrontiris/
  8. “About” Reboot. Accessed June 20, 2021. https://reboot.org/about/
  9.  LinkedIn – Kate Krontiris. Accessed June 20, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/katekrontiris/
  10. “Understanding America’s “Interested Bystander:” A Complicated Relationship with Civic Duty”. Published June 2015. Google Politics and Elections Blog. Accessed June 20, 2021. https://politics.googleblog.com/2015/06/understanding-americas-interested.html
  11. “Getting to 80 Percent” – Speakers. Harvard Kennedy School. Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. Accessed June 20, 2021. https://ash.harvard.edu/speakers
  12. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Name search – Kate Krontiris. Accessed June 20, 2021. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/name_search/index?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=kate+krontiris
  13. A 990. Democracy Works Inc, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax. (Form 990), 2019.
  14. Kate Krontiris website. https://www.katekrontiris.com/home/2017/2/22/a-new-year-a-new-purpose
  15. “The Nonprofit Network Behind “Vote by Mail”” Capital Research Center. Accessed June 20, 2021. https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-nonprofit-network-behind-vote-by-mail/
  16. “James Murdoch spent $100 million to help fund political causes during the 2020 election cycle” CNBC. Published June 8, 2021.  Accessed June 20, 2021. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/08/james-murdoch-spent-100-million-to-fund-political-causes-during-2020-election.html
  17. Bridge Alliance – All Members. Accessed June 20, 2021. https://www.bridgealliance.us/all_members
  18. Democracy Works. Influence Watch. Accessed June 20, 2021. https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/democracy-works/
  19. “About” Kate Krontiris website. Accessed June 20, 2021. https://www.katekrontiris.com/about-us
  20. [1] “Announcing Our New Book: Speaking Our Truths”. Kate Krontiris website. https://www.katekrontiris.com/home/2018/5/2/announcing-our-new-book-speaking-our-truths
  21. Kate Krontiris. Bandcamp. Accessed June 20, 2021. https://katekrontiris.bandcamp.com/
  22. Kate Krontiris. Facebook. Accessed June 20, 2021. https://www.facebook.com/kate.krontiris
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