About the Authors

Andrew Therriault was the Democratic National Committee’s Director of Data Science from 2014 to 2016, leading a team that developed voter targeting models and other analytic tools used by thousands of Democratic campaigns. Therriault has spent the past decade working on all types of political data as both a researcher and practitioner, and he received his PhD in political science from New York University in 2011. He was recently appointed as the City of Boston’s first Chief Data Officer, leading a team that applies the tools and techniques of data science to improving municipal government.

Dan Castleman is cofounder and Director of Analytics at Clarity Campaign Labs, a modeling and targeting consulting firm for progressive candidates, political coalitions, corporations, international campaigns, and charitable groups. His expertise covers strategic program targeting, data analysis, modeling, and polling. Prior to starting Clarity, Dan helped found ISSI in 2007, where he grew and oversaw their analytic services and developed internal systems to streamline and optimize cutting-edge data-mining tools and technologies. Dan holds a dual BA in Political Science and Computer Science from Brandeis University.

Audra Grassia leads political engagements at Civis Analytics. She has spent the majority of her career working on political campaigns across the country, including statewide, local, and federal races. She has also spent time managing technical programs for two separate companies and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Additionally, Audra was the Deputy Political Director for the Democratic Governors Association during the 2014 election cycle. Originally from Sugar Land, TX, Audra graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BA in Government. She also received her Masters in Public Health from Washington University in St. Louis.

Patrick Ruffini is a cofounder of Echelon Insights, a survey research and analytics technology company. He has been applying data and technology to political campaigns for more than a decade. Ruffini helped establish one of the first full-fledged digital operations in Presidential politics for Bush-Cheney ’04, led digital strategy for the Republican National Committee, and later founded and grew Engage, one of the leading digital agencies on the right.

Alex Lundry is the cofounder and Chief Data Scientist at Deep Root Analytics. Alex has worked as a political data scientist, pollster, microtargeter, data-miner, and data-visualizer for presidential candidates, national organizations and Fortune 50 companies. As a pollster, he has conducted surveys and focus groups on everything from the race for the White House to Hollywood movies. He is one of the country’s leading experts on media and voter analytics, electoral targeting, and political data-mining, and has directed the data science efforts of two presidential campaigns.

Derek Willis is a news applications developer at ProPublica, focusing on politics and elections. He previously worked as a developer and reporter at The New York Times, a database editor at The Washington Post, and at the Center for Public Integrity and Congressional Quarterly. He began his journalism career at The Palm Beach Post. He is a cofounder of OpenElections, a project to collect and publish election results from all 50 states.

Daniel Scarvalone is the Associate Director of Research and Data at Bully Pulpit Interactive (BPI). BPI serves as the largest digital marketer for the Democratic party as well as working for major corporations and causes. Before joining BPI, he served as Director of Data and Modeling at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2014 and as National Reporting Director for the Obama 2012 campaign. Daniel also previously worked with Catalist and NGPVAN.

Natalie Jackson is Senior Polling Editor at Huffington Post, coordinating the Pollster section of the site. Her primary focus is on polling coverage and methodology, statistical methods, and using polls to forecast elections. Natalie has a PhD in political science from the University of Oklahoma, with heavy emphasis on statistics, survey methodology, and American politics. Prior to joining Huffington Post, she worked as a survey consultant as a postdoctoral associate at Duke University and as senior analyst at the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion.