| Zack Exley | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 5, 1969 |
| Nationality | United States |
| Occupation | political and technology consultant |
Zack Exley (born December 5, 1969) is a political and technology consultant, currently employed as the Chief Community Officer at the Wikimedia Foundation[1] and previously from ThoughtWorks, a global IT consultancy.[2] He is also the Co-Founder and President of the New Organizing Institute, a progressive political technology training organization.
In 2004, he was the Director of Online Communications and Organizing on John Kerry's presidential campaign and, according to British press reports, he directed Internet operations for the UK Labour party's re-election campaign in 2005. In both cases, the campaigns' opponents attacked Exley as a controversial figure, hoping to make his hiring a campaign issue.[3]
Exley was Organizing Director at MoveOn.org during the group's campaign to prevent the Iraq War, and during its controversial involvement with the Dean campaign. He was criticized then too, for "rigging" the "MoveOn Primary" in favor of Dean—a charge the group rejected.[4]
Prior to working for MoveOn, Exley created the political parody website, GWBush.com, as well as cnndn.com, a site that parodied financial reporting. Both sites attracted legal action by the 2000 Bush presidential campaign and CNN, respectively. CNN successfully closed cnndn.com. The Bush attack led to increased publicity for Exley's site and set legal precedent[5] that has allowed political websites to operate without FEC regulation. In response to GWBush.com, George W. Bush—then a presidential candidate—called Exley a "garbage man" and said he believed the website should be forced to be shut down, explaining "There ought to be limits to freedom."[6]
Around the 2000 election controversy, Exley used a website to allow citizens to self-organize more than 100 protests around the United States.[7]
Exley also used to run the site Revolution in Jesusland, a blog that sought to create dialog between the secular left and groups within Evangelical Christianity that promote economic and social justice as a matter of faith.
Exley began his political career working as a union organizer, and has worked also as a computer programmer.