Who are we?
CivicScience Inc. is a team of career idealists that includes world class economists, scientists, software engineers, leading pollsters, former elected officials, media personalities, and accomplished entrepreneurs.
The Geeks
Will Oberman, Chief Technology Officer
Will is a veteran engineer and software architect with experience in several start-up ventures including Vivisimo and BodyMedia in Pittsburgh. A graduate of the Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science, Will has managed complex technology teams and product roll-outs. His work on high-volume customer data collection and analysis, combined with his expertise in consumer-facing web applications, uniquely position him to lead the technological architecture and build-out of CivicScience.
Derek Pawlikowksy, Senior Engineer
Derek is a Carnegie Mellon University-trained programmer and engineer with extensive experience in software engineering and database development. Derek has designed and developed CivicScience's core technology applications and is now responsible for managing all customer and partner integration and support.
Steve Protulipac, Senior VP of Engineering
Steve, the designer of the iQ Engine and InsightStore, leads the CivicScience software development effort. Steve has a Computer Science degree from Carnegie Mellon University and over eight years of experience as a Pittsburgh-area software engineer.
John Crowe, Creative Director
For over ten years Crowe has dazzled the web with his original user-interfaces and clean-modern style. He firmly belives that simple trumps complex, and that content is king. Crowe is tasked with creating and maintaining consistent designs that reach across the entire CivicScience brand.
Crowe is also the Undisputed Dart Champion of the Office.
The Suits
John Dick, Chief Executive Officer
Following a brief stint on the official government and statewide campaign staff for a US Senator, John founded GSP Corp. in 2001. In five years, John and his team grew GSP to nine offices around the country and an extensive national clientele. His company formation and business development expertise lies at the convergence of technology, business, and the political sector, making him an ideal leader for CivicScience.
John is also the 2009 CivicScience Chili Cook-off Champion & the reigning CivicScience March Madness Challenge Champion.
John Clifford, VP of Business Development
As head of global business development, John is responsible for CivicScience's strategic initiatives, partnerships, and sales. John brings to CivicScience over a decade of innovation and technology expertise. He spent the last several years at Amazon.com where he held various positions developing their early stage initiatives into digital content licensing for both Print on Demand and Kindle. Prior to Amazon, John developed his fascination with opinion- based research through consulting and business development roles for a UK based knowledge management consulting firm. Over that time he worked with experts in many Fortune 500 companies across finance, government, energy, transportation, pharmaceuticals, automotive, and entertainment. These opportunities yielded diverse projects encompassing risk analysis, sales effectiveness, system design/implementation and executive learning.
John Anzalone, Chief Research Officer
John was the founder and President of Anzalone Liszt Research, a national polling firm with a remarkable client list of US congressional candidates, non-profit organizations, and Fortune 500 corporations. In April of 2008, the Washington Post referred to John as "hottest commodity in the consultant business these days" and "the best pollster you've never heard of." John is responsible for providing key domain expertise in survey modeling and data analysis.
Steve Webb, User Experience Director
Steve heads up the day to day customer facing functions of CivicScience. Vast knowledge of web technologies paired with experience in product development and implementation make Steve a vital component of the CivicScience team. Steve holds a degree in Economics from Virginia Tech where he was a member of his fraternity's (Pi Kappa Phi) executive board and an on air personality at WUVT, VT's student run radio station. You can follow Steve on Twitter: @swebbth
Scientific Advisors
Dr. J. Lamar Pierce (Chair)
Dr. Pierce is a professor at the Olin Business School at Washington University, where he teaches Strategic Management. Professor Pierce holds a PhD in Business from the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Pierce has extensively studied the use of large scale databases in modeling voter and consumer behavior.
Dr. Jason Snyder
Dr. Snyder teaches Competitive Strategy at UCLA. Professor Snyder received his Ph.D. from the Haas Business School at the University of California at Berkeley, and studies the intersection of political economy and corporate social responsibility. His research includes empirical work on the impact of media on voting outcomes, the identification of voting fraud, and unethical behavior in firms.
Dr. Aaron Chatterji
Dr. Chatterji is a professor at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and a fellow at the Center for American Progress. His research on innovation policy, entrepreneurship, and corporate social responsibility has received grants and awards from the Kauffman Foundation, The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and centers for responsible business at multiple universities. Chatterji received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.
Dr. Alessandro Acquisti
Dr. Acquisti is a professor at the Heinz School of Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. His research focuses on computational economics, electronic voting, and Internet Privacy. Dr. Acquisti has received national and international awards, including the 2005 PET Award for Outstanding Research in Privacy Enhancing Technologies and the 2005 IBM Best Academic Privacy Faculty Award. In 2000 he co-founded PGuardian Technologies, Inc., a provider of Internet security and privacy services. Professor Acquisti holds a Master and a Ph.D. in Information Management and Systems from the University of California at Berkeley. His work for the Company will focus on developing and promoting the Company's data management, data security, and user privacy policy.
Dr. Jeff Schneider
Dr. Schneider is an associate research professor in the Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science. He received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Rochester in 1995. He has over 15 years experience developing, publishing, and applying machine learning algorithms in government, science, and industry. Dr. Schneider was the co-founder and CEO of Schenley Park Research, Inc. (SPR), a company dedicated to bringing new machine learning algorithms to industry. Later, he developed a new machine-learning based CNS drug discovery system and spent a two-year sabbatical as the Chief Informatics Officer of Psychogenics to set up and commercialize the system. Through his work at CMU and his commercial and consulting efforts, he has worked with several dozen companies and government agencies including ten Fortune 500 companies, and groups from around the world.
Dr. Michael Murakami
Dr. Murakami is the Assistant Professor of Government at Georgetown University. He is an expert in public opinion research with extensive publications in statistical methodology and research design, race and ethnic politics, and party polarization. Dr. Murakami received his PhD and M.A. in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley and his undergraduate degree in Economics from Harvard University.
Board of Directors
CivicScience is proud to stake claim to an active and experienced Board of Directors.
Mr. Kevin McClatchy
Most recently, Kevin served as the CEO and Managing General Partner of the Pittsburgh Pirates (1996-2007). As the youngest owner in Major League Baseball, Kevin was credited with saving the baseball team for the City of Pittsburgh and for leading the construction of PNC Park, which is renowned by many as the best ballpark in the US. Kevin also serves on the Board of Directors of the McClatchy Newspaper Company, the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, and the Extra Mile Education Foundation. Kevin graduated from Trinity-Pawling and the University of California Santa Barbara. He serves on the Board of Trustees for both schools.
Mr. Kevin Sheehan
Kevin currently serves as a partner at Cambridge Ventures based in Indianapolis. Prior to his tenure there, Kevin was the Chairman and CEO of the Flowserve Corporation (NYSE: FLS) a $4B global supplier to the energy and chemical industries. Prior to leading Flowserve, Kevin spent 12 years as the Managing Director of CID Equity Partners after 22 years in management at the Cummins Engine Company. He is a graduate of Williams College and received his MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Jean Wojtowicz
Jean Wojtowicz is President of Cambridge Capital Management Corp., which is a manager of non-traditional sources of capital for businesses. She serves on the corporate boards of Vectren Corporation, First Merchants Bank, First Internet Bank and OneAmerica Funds. Among the nonprofit board on which she serves are Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana, the Indiana State Chamber of Commerce; the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce and the Venture Club of Indiana.
Mr. John Dick
John is the Founder and current President & CEO of CivicScience. Prior to joining CivicScience, John was the Founder and Principal of GSP Corp in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.