Andrew Rasiej

Infobox Person
name = Andrew Rasiej


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occupation = Journalist, Entrepreneur
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website = [http://www.rasiej.com/ rasiej.com]
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Andrew Rasiej is the Founder of Personal Democracy Forum, an annual conference and community website about the intersection of politics and technology.

He is also the co-founder of techPresident, an award winning group blog that covers how the 2008 presidential candidates are using the web, and how content generated by voters is affecting the campaign.

Early life and career

In 1990 Andrew Rasiej founded Irving Plaza, a concert venue located in New York City and produced concerts by well-known artists such as Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and Dave Matthews Band. Andrew Rasiej was also the Founder and President Emeritus of the New York Nightlife Association, a business trade group representing major New York City nightclubs and bars. [Gothamist]

Andrew Rasiej is the founder of MOUSE (Making Opportunities for Upgrading Schools and Education), an educational non-profit organization started in 1997 focused on providing technology support to public schools.

Career

Andrew Rasiej has served as an advisor to Senators and Congressman and political candidates on the use of Information Technology for campaign and policy purposes since 1999. Among those he has worked with are Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Tom Daschle, Congressman Dick Gephardt, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

In 2001, he addressed the United States Senate Democratic Caucus in the US Capital Building on the "Digital Divides Facing Democratic Party" and has been actively involved in the campaigns of many Senators and Congressmen. For the 2004 Presidential race he served as Chairman of the Howard Dean Technology Advisory Council.

In 2005 Andrew Rasiej ran a highly visible campaign for Public Advocate of New York City, running in the Democratic primary on a platform to bring low cost wireless access to all New Yorkers. In the aftermath of the September 11th tragedy, Mr. Rasiej helped organize hundreds of local technology professionals to provide relief and recovery to small businesses and schools in lower Manhattan. From this experience, he proposed the creation of a National Tech Corps that would act similarly to the National Guard and provide emergency technical, communication, and database support in the event of a natural disaster or terrorist strike. This idea, now called NetGuard, was approved in a bill by the US Senate by a vote of 97 to 0 within four weeks from inception and was integrated into the Homeland Security Act and is currently being built by the US Department of Homeland Security.

Personal Democracy Forum

In 2004 Andrew Rasiej founded the Personal Democracy Forum, an annual conference and community website about the intersection of politics and technology. He is also along with [Micah Sifry] http://www.micah.sifry.com] co-foundedTechpresident, an award winning group blog that covers how the 2008 presidential candidates are using the web, and how content generated by voters is affecting the campaign.

References

Notes

http://gothamist.com/2005/05/07/andrew_rasiej_candidate_for_public_advocate.php