Your partners in creating impact and saving democracy.

Betsy Hoover

Founder and Managing Partner

Betsy has spent the past 5 years running Higher Ground Labs. She founded the firm in 2017 and has built the political tech ecosystem through their work. Prior to HGL, she worked throughout the political space including as a founding partner at 270 Strategies and as the National Digital Organizing Director on the Obama Campaign. Her political work sat at the intersection of technology and politics. She has been recognized by Business Insider as “at the forefront of political innovation”and was featured on Forbes magazine’s “30 Under 30: Law & Policy” list.

Shomik Dutta

Co-Founder and Board Member

Shomik is a veteran of both Obama Presidential campaigns and served as Special Assistant to the White House Counsel and as an Advisor to Federal Communications Chairman. BA from Williams College; MBA from Wharton Business School.

Andrew McLaughlin

Partner

Andrew has served as Deputy CTO of the United States, partner at betaworks, CEO of Digg and Instapaper, senior exec at Medium and Tumblr, head of global public policy at Google, and Chief Policy Officer of ICANN. B.A. from Yale University; J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Sarah Eberhard

COO & General Counsel

Prior to joining HGL in 2019, Sarah was the COO and General Counsel at 270 Strategies and the the GC of After School Matters, a large not-for-profit in Chicago. Sarah spent the first 10 years of her legal career at Jones Day, with a focus on fund formation and securities law. Sarah earned her BA from Colgate and her JD from Northwestern School of Law.

Gerard Niemira

Managing Director, Fund IV

Gerard has spent 15 years in the social good and political tech space working to scale electoral and social impact organizations by serving as VP of Product and Engineering at Kiva, as Senior Director of Product at Hillary for America, and as a political tech founder and political nonprofit senior exec. Most recently he served as Chief Product Officer at PDI.

Hillary Lehr

Principal, Partnerships

Hillary Lehr has served as the VP of Client Success at Hustle, managed partnerships at Brigade and Causes.com, and spent five years innovating digital resources to scale nonprofit organizing campaigns. She earned BA and BS degrees from UC Berkeley where she serves as Board Vice President of the college alumni association.

Vin Morada

Vice President, Investments

Prior to joining HGL, Vin worked in investing and banking roles at Wells Fargo and Merrill Lynch respectively. He also worked at Microsoft as a product manager early in his career and had a brief experience as the co-founder of a failed startup. He has a degree in electrical engineering from the University of British Columbia and an MBA from NYU.

Leah Bae

Community Director

Leah has a decade of experience guiding progressive organizations with their digital campaigns and community engagement strategies. She specializes in the intersection of tech and social impact, and has worked on campaigns in Canada, the US, and UK.

Katie Moroski

Executive Assistant

With a background ranging from campus ministry to sales, Katie has found her niche in the world of executive assistance. She has EA experience working for a large regional healthcare system and a small digital product agency. Katie is a proud resident of the City of Cincinnati and earned a BA in Theology from Xavier University.

Beth Bafford

VP of Syndications and Strategy, Calvert Impact Capital

Jeremy Bird

Chief Policy Officer, Lyft

Catherine Bracy

Executive Director, TechEquity Collaborative

Ben Brandzel

Founder, The OPEN Network

Gary Brown

President, Political Data Inc.

Ryan Clinton

co-Founder & Partner, Ridgeline

Ron Conway

Founder, SV Angel

Jiore Craig

Principal, GQR

Charlton Cunningham

Program Manager – Tulsa, Lightship Foundation

Charlton Cunningham is a community professional, with experiences in program management, ecosystem building, and curriculum development. Previously, he served as the Head of Programs at HBCUvc and as Executive Director at Startup Atlanta.

Addisu Demissie

Partner, 50+1 Strategies and Campaign Manager, Cory 2020

Jon Favreau

Founder, Crooked Media

Natalie Foster

President, Economic Security Project

Anthony Foxx

Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation

Richard Frankel

Former Founder/President, Rocket Fuel

Michael Frias

Chief Executive Officer, Catalist

Kate Gage

Founding Partner, The Movement Cooperative

Kathleen Gasperine

Co-Founder & Principal, Paradigm PM LLP

Julius Genachowski

Former FCC Chairman and Managing Director at Carlyle

Danielle Gray

Partner, O’Melveny & Myers

Josh Hendler

President, Bacon and Grit Strategies

Matt Hodges

Head of Technology, Zinc Collective

Ilyse Hogue

President, Purpose

Allen Kramer

Co-Founder, Mobilize

Raffi Krikorian

Managing Director, Emerson Collective

John Lee

CTO, NGP VAN

Rebecca Leventhal

Founder, The Helm

Marlon Marshall

Partner, City Fund

Terrell McSweeny

Partner, Covington & Burling LLP

Caitlin Mitchell

Partner, NEWCO Strategies

Tamer Moktar

Partner, InvestinginUs

Tamim Mourad

Serial Tech Entrepreneur

Tatenda Musapatike

CEO, Voter Formation Project

Scott Nathan

Founder, Atlantic Neptune Impact

Jose Nunez

Deputy Chief Mobilization Officer, Organizing, DNC

Josh Nussbaum

Founder, The Movement Cooperative

Michael O’Neil

Director of Public Policy & Community Engagement, Vivid Seats

Derek Parham

Former Deputy CTO, Hillary for America

Deval Patrick

Former Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Michael Podhorzer

Political Director, AFL-CIO

Jeff Potter

Technologist

Laura Quinn

Co-founder and President, Catalist

Shiva Rajaraman

VP Product, OpenSea

James Rucker

Partner, Springboard Partners

Mollie Ruskin

Founder, Trestle

Aia Sarycheva

Venture Capitalist

Mike Schneider

Partner, Bully Pulpit Interactive

Sonal Shah

Executive Director, Beeck Center for Social Impact & Innovation at Georgetown University

Ian Simmons

Co-Founder & Principal, Blue Haven Initiative

Liesel Pritzker Simmons

Co-Founder & Principal, Blue Haven Initiative

Steph Speirs

Co-Founder and CEO, Solstice

Nellwyn Thomas

Chief Technology Officer/Chief Analytics Officer, DNC

Stephanie Valencia

Co-founder, EquisLabs

Colin Vernon

Technologist and Product Lead

Tommy Vietor

Founder, Crooked Media

Jonae Wartel

Managing Director, Arc Initiatives

Ross Weiner

Partner & General Counsel, Qatalyst Partners

Tom Wheeler

Former Chairman, FCC

Bryan Whitaker

Chief Innovation Officer, TargetSmart

Mike Yang

Investment Advisor