About RTV Staff
Heather Smith is the Executive Director of Rock the Vote
Prior to Rock the Vote, Ms. Smith founded and directed Young Voter Strategies, a nonpartisan project in partnership with The Graduate School of Political Management at The George Washington University with support from The Pew Charitable Trusts, that provided the public, parties, candidates, consultants and nonprofits with data and research on the youth vote as well as best practices to effectively mobilize young people. In 2006, Smith and Young Voter Strategies coordinated the nation’s largest non-partisan project to register young voters using innovative and replicable methods of voter outreach. The project registered over 540,000 youth ages 18-30 and played a large role in the young voter turnout increase in 2006.
Prior to launching Young Voter Strategies, Smith served as the national field director for the Student PIRGs New Voters Project, the largest nonpartisan grassroots effort ever undertaken to register and mobilize young voters. Across the country, the New Voters Project, under Smith’s direction, registered nearly 600,000 voters and conducted an intensive, multi-faceted get-out-the-vote effort to bring these newly registered voters to the polls on Election Day. Youth turnout was 11 percentage points higher than in 2000.
Prior to her work at the New Voters Project, Smith was an organizing director for Green Corps’ Field School for Environmental Organizing in Boston. Smith received a B.A. with honors in economics and public policy from Duke University. In 2006, Smith was named one of Campaign & Elections magazine’s Rising Stars for her work with young voters. She has also been named one of Esquire Magazine’s Best and Brightest of 2007.
Chrissy Faessen is the Deputy Director at Rock the Vote overseeing RTV’s media strategies, advertising and marketing campaigns. Prior to joining Rock the Vote in 2008, Chrissy worked at DDB Issues & Advocacy, a global advertising and communications firm focusing on social and progressive issues. At DDB, Chrissy developed campaigns and supported communication and marketing programs for clients such as the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, PATH, Philips Sonicare and HopeLab just to name a few. Her work included waging advocacy, public policy and advertising campaigns including developing marketing strategies and placing stories in the top U.S. media outlets. She has a B.A. in communications with a concentration in journalism and public relations from George Mason University.
Kim Rogers is the Political Director at Rock the Vote, where she manages our voter registration and GOTV programs.
Kat Barr is the Political Outreach Director, overseeing Rock the Vote’s outreach to candidates, campaigns, political parties, and other organizations as part of RTV’s work to build the political power of the Millennial Generation. Kat manages Rock the Vote’s candidate forums, political briefings, and events with political leaders, as well as Rock the Vote’s advocacy work, including our Rock Your Rights program and our voter education program. Kat also manages Rock the Vote’s research work, focused on testing the best practices for registering, educating and mobilizing young voters, and better understanding the youth cohort through opinion research. Kat is a long-time actor in the youth vote community, having served on the Executive Committee of the Youth Vote Coalition's Board of Directors from 2002 to 2004. She is originally from Santa Rosa, California, and graduated from Cornell University in 2000 with a degree in psychology.
Mary McClelland is our Deputy Political Director for Field Operations, which means she works with Rock the Vote’s street teams and volunteers, and coordinates RTV's large scale voter registration, education and get-out-the-vote efforts. She’s been working on making sure young people turn out for a couple of election cycles now and got her start organizing students in California around environmental issues. With a B.A. in English Literature from Denison University, Mary is definitely putting her degree to work! She originally hails from the great city of Chicago and would challenge anyone to a duel about the greatness of the Midwest.
Hannah Fishman is the Development Associate at Rock the Vote.
Kelly Fogel is the Artist/Label Relations manager.
Chris Kennedy is Rock the Vote's research analyst, where his work is focused on evaluating voter registration and GOTV programs. His projects span statistical analysis, randomized field experiments, political marketing, and digital media. In his spare time he enjoys catching up on his Netflix queue, photography, and Rock Band drumming. He has an M.P.Aff. from the LBJ School of Public Affairs and a B.A. from The University of Texas at Austin.
Julia Marden is our Digital Associate. Prior to joining the team here, Julia worked for Democracy for America in Burlington, VT and as a student activist in North Carolina. She has produced several short documentaries about grassroots social activists. Julia graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a degree in public policy and a minor in creative writing.
Michelle Mayorga is our Mobile Program Manager. She has been traveling around the country working on political campaigns for ten years and is excited to be back in DC.
Orma Moorman is Director of Finance and Administration.
Whitney Porter is the Executive Assistant for Heather Smith and Anna Lefer. She also acts as the Intern Coordinator, Logistical Planner, General Questions Responder and In-House Baker (if you register to vote, she may send you cookies). Prior to joining Rock the Vote, Whitney worked for the U.S. Department of State and served as the correspondence intern in the Office of the First Lady. She could also been seen as a mouse strolling around the White House Easter Egg Roll. She is a graduate of Georgetown University's Class of 2007.
David Pruter is the web and design guru at Rock the Vote.
Stephanie L. Young, our Media Relations Associate, is a spokeperson for Rock the Vote's fabulous upcoming campaigns, events and partnerships. She also coordinates special projects like Rock the Trail, our youth journalism program. Stephanie came to Rock the Vote from PBS's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Prior to the NewsHour, Stephanie interned in local newsrooms in Florida and Virgina. She's a 2006 graduate of Hampton University with a degree in broadcast journalism and thrilled to be ROCKIN the VOTE!
