Staff Bios

Chris Kennedy

Chris Kennedy is the Research and Analytics Director for the Voter Participation Center. Previously he worked at Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection, where he managed the analytics and online advertising programs promoting action on climate change.  He began his work in progressive politics doing voter registration evaluation at Rock the Vote during the 2008 cycle, where he managed the randomized experiments, phones, and online advertising program, and led the post-2008 redevelopment of Rock the Vote’s online voter registration system. He has also consulted on Avaaz.org’s technology team and with 350.org in support of global progressive online organizing. Kennedy holds a B.A. and an M.P.Aff from The University of Texas at Austin; he has been a member of the Analyst Group since 2007.

Taylor Williams

Taylor Williams is the Assistant Program Director at The Voter Participation Center. Taylor helps direct the VPC’s voter registration and vote-by-mail campaigns in 30 states. Previously, he worked for Obama for America, serving in the campaign’s media planning department in Chicago. He was a field organizer for OFA in 2008, working in New Hampshire, Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, and South Dakota during the primary season before landing in Florida for the general election. His experience also includes U.S. Senate and state house races in 2010. Taylor was drawn to the VPC’s metrics-based approach to mobilization. He studied political data & targeting at the New Organizing Institute and also interned at the polling firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner. Taylor is a graduate of Duke University with a B.A. in Public Policy.

Brian Sandler

Brian Sandler is the Development Coordinator at The Voter Participation Center. Brian brings experience in writing, research, and analytics, having worked previously at the White House Office of Correspondence as well as working as a high-level researcher at the CoStar Group. Brian attended Emory University and received a B.A. in Sociology from California State University Dominguez Hills where he also assisted in teaching social statistics. Originally from southern California, Brian moved to Washington, D.C. in 2011.

Gail Leftwich Kitch

Gail Leftwich Kitch serves as The Voter Participation Center’s Chief Operating Officer. Gail brings years of experience, both as a practicing lawyer and as a successful manager and board member of non-profit organizations active in civic engagement. Most recently, she served as Executive Director of By the People, an intiative founded by MacNeil/Lehrer Productions which uses public television to encourage and support informed non-contentious citizen dialogue around policy issues. Mrs. Kitch was President of the Federation of State Humanities Councils, the national membership organization of the state affiliates of the National Endowment for the Humanities, following service as Director of Cambridge Forum, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is a former chair of the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, and was a Radcliffe College Public Policy Fellow in the late 90s. Among other activities, Gail currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Women’s Foreign Policy Group, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Conference on Citizenship. She has a B.A. from Bryn Mawr College and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.

Leslie Martes

Leslie Martes is Program and Outreach Director at The Voter Participation Center. Leslie brings to the VPC a wealth of political campaign experience across the United States, including work on campaigns in New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Washington, and southern California, and other states. She worked for Dick Gephardt’s Presidential Campaign in Iowa in 2004, and at the Iowa Senate Caucus in 2006. Prior to joining the VPC, Leslie spent four years in North Carolina as the Caucus Director for the State House Democrats. Originally from southern California, Leslie is a graduate of Scripps College in Claremont California.

Bill Sather

Bill Sather is the Chief Financial Officer for The Voter Participation Center. Bill’s career in accounting and finance has included positions in disciplines ranging from real estate to politics. Bill joined the VPC after spending several years with MSHC Partners, Inc., a leading progressive political consultancy firm in Washington, DC. A CPA since 1997, Bill graduated with honors and a BS in Accounting from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. He enjoys the quiet life with his family in Northern Virginia. A former youth baseball coach and member of the Reston Little League board of directors, Bill enjoyed coaching all four of his kids at various stages of their little league baseball careers.