Meet the 2011 GovFresh Awards judges

Last week, thousands of votes were cast across every category in the 2011 GovFresh Awards. Our judges are now reviewing and selecting their picks and winners will be announced on Monday, December 19.

We thought you’d like to meet them.

Alissa Black

Alissa Black is the Government Relations Director at Code for America. Through its fellowship program, Code for America recruits passionate technologists into public service to help governments become more open and efficient. Alissa has extensive experience in technology and local government, most recently leading the Open311 effort with the City of San Francisco, and she holds a Masters in Urban Planning from NYU. Connect on Twitter.

Kevin Curry

Kevin Curry is a co-founder and director of CityCamp and is co-founder of Bridgeborn, Inc. CityCamp is an international unconference series and online community dedicated to innovation for municipal governments and community organizations. Since the inaugural event in Chicago, January 2010, there have been 18 CityCamps in 16 cities, including San Francisco, Denver, Raleigh, and Minneapolis. CityCamps have also been held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, St. Petersburg, Russia, and London, England. Connect on Twitter.

Kristy Fifelski

Kristy Fifelski is an award-winning speaker, trainer and advisor on digital strategy and social media. She serves in many advisory roles related to online government and has served over 10 years in public service. Kristy manages web services and social media for the City of Reno, Nevada, and formerly served on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Government Webmasters. She is the host and creator of GovGirl.com, a video blog exploring online government. Kristy earned a Master’s Degree in Communication from Northern Illinois University, where she graduated with honors. Connect on Twitter.

Nick Grossman

Nick Grossman is Managing Director of Civic Commons and Open Cities Evangelist for OpenPlans. For the past 10 years, he has developed products and grown businesses that help cities work better. In 2010, Nick co-founded Civic Commons, a new nonprofit initiative that helps governments collaborate around technology development projects. Since 2006, Nick led new product and business development at OpenPlans, building enterprise open source software for cities. He is also an advisor to Code for America and a visiting researcher at the MIT Media Lab. He is a graduate of Stanford University. Connect on Twitter.

Dustin Haisler

Dustin Haisler is currently the Director of Government Innovation for Spigit, Inc., and former Assistant City Manager and Chief Information Officer for the City of Manor, Texas. Dustin helped launch Manor’s open innovation platform, Manor Labs, in conjunction with the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford University. Dustin graduated Magna Cum Laude from LeTourneau University with a Bachelor’s of Business Administration. Connect on Twitter.

Alex Howard

Alexander B. Howard is Radar’s Government 2.0 Correspondent for 
O’Reilly Media, where he reports on technology, open government and online civics. Connect on Twitter.

Nigel Jacob

With an extensive background in collaborative, citizen-facing technology projects, Nigel Jacob co-founded the Office of New Urban Mechanics. Nigel also serves as Mayor Menino’s advisor on emerging technologies. In both of these roles, Nigel works to develop new models of innovation for cities in the 21st century. Prior to joining the City of Boston in 2006, Nigel worked with a series of technology start-ups in the Boston area. Nigel is also a fellow at the Center for the Advancement of Public Action at Bennington College, where he conducts research on cutting edge models of civic engagement in urban settings. Connect on Twitter.

Nick Judd

Nick Judd is the managing editor of techPresident, a news site covering how technology is changing politics, government and civic life. Prior to joining techPresident’s parent company, Personal Democracy Media, he reported on politics and local government for several publications in and around New York City. Nick also did a stint as an urban public policy researcher at the think tank Center for an Urban Future. Connect on Twitter.

Teresa Lee

Since January, 2004, Teresa has been the webmaster for the City of Prattville, Ala. She also serves as the public information officer and city photographer. Teresa is currently working on an open government project for Prattville that will be the first of its kind in the State of Alabama on the municipal level. She serves as South Region Director for the National Association of Government Webmasters. Connect on Twitter.

Sarah Schacht

The Betty White of Gov 2.0., Sarah Schacht is the Founder and Director of Knowledge As Power & OpenGovWest. Transparency, civic engagement designer. Open legislative info/tech advisor. Connect on Twitter.

Luke Fretwell is the founder of GovFresh. He spent the first part of his career inside the Beltway before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he has worked in and now advises start-up companies, businesses and government on product, content, Web, branding and social media strategy. He holds degrees in Government & Politics and International Relations from George Mason University. Connect with GovFresh on Twitter.