Leadership
Eric Ming, Executive Director
Eric is Executive Director of Open Democracy PAC and a progressive political consultant with 10+ years of experience working from the presidential level to local union organizing campaigns. He has served as Communications Director at Center for Secure and Modern Elections, Director of Digital and Paid Media at Yang2020, Digital Director for For our Future Super PAC and other senior roles at the national and state level. He got his start organizing for Russ Feingold in Wisconsin.
Michael Blake, Advisory Board Member
Michael Blake is the Founder & CEO of Atlas Strategy Group, Inc. which focuses on Economic Empowerment through increasing Access to Capital, Contracting and Opportunities to Minority, Women and Small Businesses along with creating metrics based programs for Social Justice and Civic Engagement for Communities of Color. Michael is also Vice Chair at Large of the Democratic National Committee, being the first Black man elected to DNC leadership since Ron Brown, helping lead efforts to mobilize millennials, communities of color, local elected candidates and training. Previously, Michael served as an Assembly Member in the New York State Assembly representing the 79th District in The Bronx, New York for three terms, and served in the Obama-Biden administration as the White House Associate Director of Public Engagement and Deputy Associate Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs coordinating outreach to the African American, Minority and Women Business Enterprises and state and county elected official communities.
Jessica Post, Advisory Board Member
She is the president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, where she leads the national strategy to elect more state Democrats and win legislative majorities. Under Post’s leadership and data-driven vision, the DLCC has almost tripled its fundraising to $51 million for its 2020 campaign, built eight new legislative majorities, and flipped hundreds of seats from red to blue since November 2016. In recognition of her successful leadership, Post was recognized as one of the 40 best and brightest campaign professionals under 40 years old by the American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC). Post became the executive director of the DLCC in 2016 after being at EMILY’s List leading an initiative to elect more pro-choice Democratic women to key state legislatures. Prior to her time at Emily’s List, Jessica served as the national field director and political director at the DLCC. Originally from Missouri, she is a graduate of Truman State University and lives with her husband, rescue dog, and cat in Alexandria, VA.
Addisu Demissie, Advisory Board Member
Addisu Demissie is a Founding Principal of 50+1 Strategies with nearly 20 years of professional experience in political advocacy and campaign strategy. He has led campaigns at the national, state, and local level for electoral, nonprofit, and corporate clients. Addisu is an experienced campaign manager, having run successful campaigns for U.S. Senator Cory Booker in 2013 and California Governor Gavin Newsom in 2018 and, most recently, serving as the campaign manager for Booker’s run for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020. Addisu currently serves as a Senior Advisor to More Than A Vote, a non-profit organization dedicated to Black political empowerment co-founded by LeBron James and Maverick Carter.
Marc Elias, Advisory Board Member
Marc Elias is the Founder of the Elias Law Group, where he is a nationally recognized authority in campaign finance, voting rights and redistricting law and litigation. He is also considered one of the leading recount and post-election attorneys in the country. Marc represents dozens of U.S. senators, governors, representatives and their campaigns as well as the Democratic National Committee, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, National Democratic Redistricting Committee, Priorities USA, Senate Majority PAC and House Majority PAC. Marc served as general counsel to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016 and John Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2004. As a litigator, Marc has handled scores of cases involving politics, voting rights and redistricting. He has successfully argued dozens of cases in state supreme courts and U.S. courts of appeal. He has argued and won four cases in the U.S. Supreme Court: Virginia House of Delegates v. Bethune-Hill, Wittman v. Personhuballah, Bethune-Hill v. Virginia State Bd. of Elections and Cooper v. Harris.
Jake Matilsky, Advisory Board Member
Jake Matilsky is the founding director of the Center for Secure and Modern Elections, a multi-state project that develops and funds proactive and defensive voting work. Over the past three years, the center has successfully launched, funded, and won pro-voter initiatives across the country. Before launching CSME, Jake served as the founding director of Montana Votes and Montana Voices, groups that align and resource civic engagement, and independent expenditure work in the state. In 2014, Jake managed a defensive ballot measure to protect election day registration in the state.
Kim Rogers, Advisory Board Member
Kim Rogers is the Executive Director of Fund the Future, an organization dedicated to securing and advancing our democracy through state and local elections. In 2022, Rogers led the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State (DASS) and its affiliated c4, Every Eligible American, rebuilding the organization, raising more than $30 million to support democracy and defeating election deniers in every battleground race.
A strategist with more than 25 years of experience, Rogers has worked on campaigns from the state house to the White House, built the nation’s largest voter registration organization, and managed multi-million dollar initiatives across dozens of states, working with organizations like National Education Association, United Food & Commercial Workers, EMILY’s List, and Rock the Vote.
She is a founding board member of the Alliance for Youth Action, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering young people to strengthen democracy, fix our economy, and correct injustices through organizing.
Originally from Iowa, Kim started her career there and is a veteran of multiple caucuses. Never one to forget her farm roots, she’s a certified BBQ judge and while she currently lives in Washington, DC with her dog Ranger, they would both much rather be hiking in the mountains.