Our Team

DemocracyInAction has significant expertise on our team, including in the areas of online campaigning, nonprofit program work, management, web development, software and database development, systems and network maintenance, and online marketing.

April Pedersen, Executive Director

Chris Lundberg, Chief Technology Officer

Jason Zanon, Director of Outreach and Development

Elissa Laitin, Director of Business Operations

Kelly O'Neal, Strategist

Justin Nemmers, Principle Systems Architect

Mara Veraar, Online Communications Manager

Jeanette Russell, Part-time Outreach Coordinator

Nick Ballenger, Support Engineer

Brian Harrington, Systems Administrator

Anthony Cimino, Chief Strategy Officer

Andy Tomasello, Systems Administrator

Yonathan Haregot, Application Developer

Chelsea Bassett, Client Support Specialist

Erin Nichols, Developer

April Pedersen, Executive Director

April Pedersen is the Executive Director of DemocracyInAction, an organization she co-founded in 2003 with the belief that technology has a critical role to play in building a progressive infrastructure both in the U.S. and abroad. Since its inception, DIA has grown to be a key player in the online engagement service industry and is confirming in practice that the resources leveraged in its operations are capable of bringing decisive force to the myriad social movements they support. April is also the co-founder and Principle of DemocracyInAction.com, a mission-oriented company providing online engagement tools to political campaigns, PACs, the DSCC and State Democratic parties. For the past 10 years, April has worked in the nonprofit sector as an online campaign strategist, writer, organizer and now social entreprenuer. She launched several new innovative projects for organizing online, created vibrant online communities and managed online communications and grassroots lobbying for a coalition of 20 national environmental advocacy organizations. She continues to provide guidance and strategic advice to the nonprofit community on online activism and outreach best practices. April is a devoted human rights & social justice advocate and organizer and also served as the Acting Executive Director of CIVIC, an organization that seeks to mitigate the impact of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and its aftermath by ensuring that timely and effective assistance is provided to unintended victims of conflict. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of CIVIC. April is a graduate Friends World College of Long Island University and has lived and worked in several countries in Latin America and Morocco.

Chris Lundberg, Chief Technology Officer

Chris is co-founder and CTO at DemocracyInAction. He is responsible for the technical direction, software development and administration - bringing 10 years of software development and management in the software industry to the organization. He now focuses on developing "mission technology" and making sophisticated communication technologies accessible to nonprofits. Chris has managed teams developing software for the Library of Congress, worked with the Department of the Navy to develop satellite communications software, and consulted for Accenture developing telecom internet solutions. Prior to that, he produced internet solutions for the financial and entertainment sectors as Director of Applications at Opion, Inc. A strong open source advocate, Chris strongly supports the online growth of nonprofits using readily available open source tools. He holds degrees in both Mathematics and Aerospace Engineering, and is a (Virginia Tech) Hokie through and through.

Jason Zanon, Director of Outreach and Development

Jason comes to DemocracyInAction with, in his words, "the zeal of the converted." Working with the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty - a DIA client - he was able to see firsthand how much our services can mean to a nonprofit organization and he's excited to help other organizations realize the same benefits. He spent over five years with NCADP as Director of Development (with a five-month turn as Interim Executive Director), securing the largest grants in the organization's history while more than doubling its grassroots membership. He also created the Coalition's email newsletter and online advocacy programs. An inveterate traveler, Jason has dabbled in freelance journalism and nannying children. He holds a Political Science degree from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR.

Elissa Laitin, Director of Business Operations

Elissa was hired by DIA in November 2005. She handles contracts, billing, accounting and human resources. Her projects for 2006 will include streamlining client sign-up, billing and management, creating an employee manual and business emergency plans and documentation. Elissa was a co-founder of the Running for Change political committee and its "Run Against Bush" campaign, which raised over $700,000 for the 2004 presidential election. She was responsible for FEC compliance as well as website management. She comes to DIA from the Arlington County Public Health Division. It might seem like a big career switch, but whether fighting infectious diseases or the conservative agenda, at the end of the day she's scrubbing her hands either way.

Kelly O'Neal, Strategist ( Part-time)

Kelly, now with DIA on a part-time basis, helps nonprofits develop strategies to better utilize the Internet as an organizing, fundraising, and outreach tool. Kelly has more than a decade of experience in public affairs specializing in online organizing helping a variety of organizations with their online efforts including the League of Conservation Voters, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Union of Concerned Scientists, and SaveOurEnvionment.org. She also worked on several electoral campaigns and has experience as a lobbyist and grassroots organizer working on environmental protection, campaign finance reform, and consumer safety issues.

Justin Nemmers, Principle System Architect

Justin brings over a decade of IT experience to the DemocracyInAction.org team. His professional expertise lie in large systems administration, which encompasses design, delivery, maintenance, and security of supercomputing environments, as well as the smaller support systems such as storage, mail and web servers. He has in-depth knowledge of the mechanics and principles behind the design and implementation of high-availability systems. His past clients have ranged in size; one is a small service-oriented chain of small businesses, another is a large brokerage firm, and yet another the Federal Government.

Mara Veraar, Online Communications Manager

Mara joined DemocracyinAction to aid in outreach and strategy consulting within the progressive community using our online tools. She helps us plan trainings and community events, write strategy guides, create usability improvements and integrate new users into the DIA community. Mara comes to us with an M.A. from American University's Anthropology department, where she studied emerging trends in online communication and advocacy. Her professional experience includes several years within the nonprofit sector using e-activism for causes such as public health, electoral campaigns and the environment. Mara was recently included in IPDI's Person-to-Person-to-Person: Harnessing the Political Power of Social Networks and User-Generated Content.

Jeanette Russell, Part-time Outreach Coordinator

Nick Ballenger, Support Engineer

As Support Engineer, Nick is one of DiA's main points of contact for clients. In addition to troubleshooting technical fixes and helping users interact with the DiA platform, Nick is responsible for writing documentation, creating usability improvements, and communicating between the technical and administrative staff. Nick comes to DIA after spending the last year teaching web programming in a charter school in Eugene, Oregon. After starting and launching a successful political documentary project in the fall of 2000, Nick returned to school for further coursework in political theory and computer science. He then went on to do freelance Geographic Information Systems and GPS work, as well as grant-funded geographic research on Tibetan and Feng Shui sacred forests in Hong Kong and mainland China. Nick brings his experience in geographic analysis to his work at DIA, and hopes to eventually integrate tools for spatial analysis and visualization into DIA's online services.

Brian Harrington, Systems Administrator

Brian has been working in the tech industry since 1998 beginning as a data librarian and progressing to Network Engineering & Systems Administration. Brian's role is to ensure the proper functioning of all hardware critical to the DiA infrastructure. In his free time Brian plays music in multiple Washington, DC-based bands and tours the country with them occasionally.

Anthony Cimino, Chief Strategy Officer

Anthony has over 11 years creating compelling web experiences. Early in his career he designed e-commerce and account management systems for Apple Computer. In 2000 he moved over to the non-profit field. Once there he became the Creative Director for The Public WebWorks, a non-profit multi-media firm. Recently he worked at Greenpeace USA where he rebuilt their online communications and technology strategy and turned the online department into a profit center.

Over the years Anthony's work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, CNN, the NY Times and other major media outlets. In his spare time Anthony authors the site Design Pornography covering issues of usability.

Andy Tomasello, Systems Administrator

Andy has worked in the IT industry since 1997 where he has specialized in systems and network administration. He has worked for Western Digital and LucasArts as well as a couple of small, local companies. With his background in supporting all types of networks, he plans to use his expertise in not only supporting the current DiA network, but will also be planning for the future. Andy holds a degree in Classical Studies from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

Yonathan Haregot, Application Developer

Yonathan has 7+ year of experience building tools for non-profits. Most recently he has been working with GreenpeaceUS as the lead application/web developer. He has worked with Greenpeace International as part of the system development team that has underscored todays globally distributed working environment. Prior to that he worked with Essential Information building affordable database driven tools for non-profits.

Chelsea Bassett, Client Support Specialist

After serving as an intern in the Summer of 2005 at DIA, Chelsea discovered that all other job opportunities paled in comparison. She returns to DIA as Client Support Specialist after graduating with degrees in Music and Sociology from Viterbo University of La Crosse, Wisconsin. Interested in conveying technological concepts to fellow non-techies while also developing her writing and research skills through fundraising and marketing development, Chelsea looks forward to becoming less useless as she learns to better serve this diverse community of progressive clients.

Erin Nichols, Developer

Erin comes to DemocracyInAction from the Friends Committee on National Legislation, where she did programming, database administration, systems administration, and user support. She is happy to make the transition to software development at DIA.