Welcome to the team Christine!

With the start of March, we’re excited to announce our next hire to the team, Christine Vandevoorde!

Christine is a civic data scientist with an environmental engineering background. She earned her M.S. at NYU’s Center for Urban Science and Progress where she studied public entrepreneurship, machine learning for civic problems, and collective innovation in the public sector.

She is joining Govrn as the Head of Experts and Data, leading both our Expert Marketplace Stakeholder and designing the three separate data components encompassed by Govrn.

• Head of Experts: A big part of Govrn’s platform is enabling “Domain Experts” to propose the correct metrics and goals to an Outcome-Based Donation. Christine has been spending the last two months interviewing and studying how experts currently accomplish this outside Govrn and working on how Govrn can improve that process. As the Product Owner, Christine will drive the strategic direction for all aspects of product, growth, and community building of Domain Experts.
• Head of Data: There are three separate data components within Govrn. 1) Data collected for FEC compliance, 2) Data needed for Govrn to function, 3) Data that can be used to improve governance, politics, and communities. Each one of these components comes with its own set of challenges and unique benefits. Christine will be leading what a responsible data policy looks like and what the data architecture looks like (more on these initiatives to come in a future update.)

We had a chance to sit down with Christine and ask a couple of questions to get to know her better.

Tell us a bit about yourself. Where did you grow up? What were you interested in as a kid?

I grew up in Sunnyvale, CA, which is in the SF Bay Area. As a kid, I was ridiculously interested in geography. I remember going to the public library to check out not just one, but multiple books on each state’s economy, agriculture, demographics, etc. I also loved playing the piano! I started composing music when I was 5, and my mom can definitely attest that my compositions have improved since then :)

What made you want to get involved in the business of improving politics and government?

A few things, one being the current state of campaign finance. Isn’t it crazy that an estimated 71% of Americans believe climate change will harm future generations, yet we have a fossil fuel lobby that spent $359 million just in the latest midterm election cycle alone? There’s a fundamental discrepancy here. Second, I’ve also been very inspired by the current movements toward a more open and participatory government. I’m excited for Govrn to contribute to this ecosystem.

Tell us a fun fact about yourself.

I was born on Friday the 13th — so I like to think that I have good luck wherever I go and superstitions don’t apply to me.

Coolest place you’ve ever traveled to?

Honestly, there’s been a few places that have quite literally taken my breath away, but if I had to pick the coolest place ever it’s hands down Death Valley, CA, and my favorite thing about it is perspective of scale. It’s a place of extremes, with both the highest and lowest points in the contiguous US and it’s a pretty humbling experience.

Do you think it should be allowed to compare apples to oranges?

Hmm…I don’t think we would have realized one category is apples and another is oranges unless we had compared them to each other in the first place.

What is your favorite part about Govrn?

Govrn has the ability to make politics less about the persona of the specific person running for office, and more about their ability to do a good job — as defined by their constituents and measured transparently through public data.

We are super excited to have Christine joining us full time, and can’t wait to see what she accomplishes with Govrn.

Want to learn how to get involved with Govrn (community or employment)? Check out our open positions here or email us at Jim.Helpert@Govrn.io.