Founders
Julie Barko Germany
Julie Barko Germany is the Deputy Director of the Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet.
Before coming to IPDI, Julie served as the assistant to the president of ROME Foundation International, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing health care in emerging countries. She has previously worked as a writer, editor and program manager for international initiatives in Korea, Ukraine, Haiti and the United States. Julie is a member of the board of Young Champions, a non-profit that addresses youth health issues.
She served as the principal author and editor of several of IPDI's publications, including Person-to-Person-to-Person: Harnessing the Political Power of Online Social Networks and User-Generated Content, as well as The Politics-to-Go Handbook: A Guide to Using Mobile Technology in Politics and The Political Consultants' Online Fundraising Primer. Julie has appeared on NBC, CBS, C-PAN's Washington Journal, MSNBC, and Fox, as well as on talk radio and in national and international newspapers.
As an undergraduate, she studied Literature, Philosophy, and Classics at Messiah College. Julie also studied at Keble College, Oxford University, as well as in Edinburgh, Scotland. She was a Pew Younger Scholar of Literature at the University of Notre Dame. In 2003, she received an M.A. from The George Washington University, where she was a University Fellow.
Kathie Legg
Kathie Legg is a founding member of Mobile Monday DC, the local chapter of an international community of mobile technology experts and enthusiasts and a blogger for MOpocket, one of the wireless industry's top blogs.
Kathie previously served as a business development manager at MSHC Partners, specializing in developing new political outreach tools and designing innovative SMS campaigns. She also worked as the lead researcher and assistant editor of The Politics-to-Go Handbook: A Guide to Using Mobile Technology in Politics at the Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet at The George Washington University. She also contributed an article to the handbook and managed the conference centered on its release. Politics-to-Go connected sophisticated politicking with innovative mobile technology and has been credited for starting the discussion of the intersection between politics and mobile. Kathie's political career began at the age of 16 with a 4-year internship with her hometown (Binghamton, NY) New York State Senator, followed by an internship with a Member of Parliament in the British House of Commons.
Kathie received her B.A. in Political Science and Information Science and Policy from The State University of New York at Albany, and her M.A. in Political Management from The George Washington University.
