Marci Harris

Adjunct Professor

Part-Time Faculty

Biography

As co-founder and CEO of POPVOX, Inc and the Executive Director of the POPVOX Foundation, Marci is passionate about the responsible use of technology to benefit humanity. She developed the concept for POPVOX while working as a Congressional staffer on the team drafting the Affordable Care Act. She serves on the boards of LaunchTN and was a fellow with the Harvard Kennedy School's Ash Center for Democracy (2016), New America California (2017), and an affiliated scholar with the CITRIS Policy Lab at UC Berkeley. In 2018, she led a team with the People-Centered Internet that developed recovery recommendations for the government of Puerto Rico. As a member of the American Political Science Association’s Presidential Task Force on Congressional Reform, she co-wrote “Tech and Innovation” recommendations to the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress and has testified several times before the committee. 

Expertise

  • Congress
  • Civic Engagement
  • Participatory democracy
  • Civic and Government Technology

Research Areas

  • Congressional modernization
  • Data-driven policymaking
  • Civic Experience ("CivX") metrics

Education

  • American University Washington College of Law, LL.M. in Law and Government, 2007
  • University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, J.D., 2006
  • Franklin University Switzerland, BA in International Relations, 1997

Prior Experience

  • Co-founder and Executive Director, POPVOX Foundation and CEO, POPVOX, Inc.
  • Affiliated Scholar, CITRIS Policy Lab at UC Berkeley
  • Fellow, New America Foundation
  • Tech and Democracy Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School's Ash Center for Democracy
  • Counsel, Office of Rep. Pete Stark and Health Subcommittee, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives

Awards & Distinctions

  • Tribeca Film Festival Disruptive Innovation Award, 2012

  • #13 of the “Top 100 Most Creative People in Business” by Fast Company magazine, 2012

Selected Publications

  • “American Jobs Plan offers opportunity to invest in 'civic infrastructure,” The Hill, April 3, 2021

  • “How the Pandemic Made Congress Embrace Technology,” Washington Monthly, March 15, 2021

  • "Modernizing congressional tech will require old fashioned collaboration,” Brookings TechTank, November 19, 2020

  • “The ‘SIDE’ Framework: Addressing the Information Needs of a Modern Legislature,” Medium G21C, July 8, 2020

  • “Congressional modernization jump-started by COVID-19,” Brookings TechTank, June 18, 2020