Our Team

Marci

Harris


Cofounder & Executive Director

marci@popvox.org

X / Bluesky / LinkedIn


About

As founder and CEO of POPVOX.com and the Executive Director of the nonprofit POPVOX Foundation, Marci is passionate about the responsible use of technology to improve government and benefit humanity. She is a lawyer and former Congressional staffer, who worked on the House Ways and Means Committee's Affordable Care Act team. She has held fellowships with Harvard Kennedy School's Ash Center for Democracy and the New America Foundation, and taught public policy, government, and civic technology courses at the University of San Francisco, San Jose State University, and the University of California Berkeley.

  • As co-founder and CEO of POPVOX, Inc. and the Executive Director of the nonprofit POPVOX Foundation, Marci Harris is passionate about using technology for social good. She conceived POPVOX while working on the Affordable Care Act as a Congressional staffer. Marci has rich experience unifying communities, including leading redevelopment in Jackson, TN after a 2003 tornado. In 2018, she advised Puerto Rico's government on recovery strategies. Marci makes regular contributions to Congressional modernization, testifying before the House Select Committee and co-writing tech recommendations for the American Political Science Association. She has held fellowships with Harvard Kennedy School's Ash Center for Democracy and the New America Foundation, and taught public policy, government, and civic technology courses at the University of San Francisco, San Jose State University, and the University of California Berkeley. She holds a B.A. from Franklin University Lugano, Switzerland, a J.D. from the University of Memphis, and an LL.M. from American University.

  • As co-founder and CEO of POPVOX, Inc. and the Executive Director of the nonprofit POPVOX Foundation, Marci is passionate about the responsible use of technology to benefit humanity.

    She developed the concept for POPVOX while working as a Congressional staffer on the Ways and Means team drafting the Affordable Care Act from 2008–2010. She often says her “first startup was a town,” as she served as Tornado Recovery Coordinator for Jackson, Tennessee following a 2003 tornado that devastated the city’s downtown and adjacent residential area. She brought community members, stakeholders, and experts together for a city-wide participatory process to incorporate public input on a community redevelopment plan in the impacted area, including the largest FEMA hazard mitigation project in Tennessee history to relocate floodplain residents. She was a Technology & Democracy fellow with the Harvard Kennedy School's Ash Center for Democracy (2016), a New America California fellow (2017), and an affiliated scholar with the CITRIS Policy Lab at UC Berkeley. In 2018, she led a team with the People-Centered Internet that developed recovery recommendations for the government of Puerto Rico.

    In 2020, Marci co-wrote “Tech and Innovation” recommendations for the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress as a member of the American Political Science Association’s Presidential Task Force on Congressional Reform, and testified several times before the Select Committee. In 2024, she co-wrote the first survey of global legislatures’ adoption of artificial intelligence and generative AI.

    Marci has taught public policy, government, and civic technology courses at the University of San Francisco, San Jose State University, and the University of California Berkeley. She holds a B.A. from Franklin University Lugano, Switzerland, a J.D. from the University of Memphis and an LL.M. from the American University Washington College of Law.


Areas of Expertise

  • Legislative modernization

  • Artificial intelligence (AI) for legislatures

  • Civic technology

  • Civic engagement

  • Administrative law

  • Outcomes-driven policy


Publications


Media


Additional Info

  • Pronouns: she/her

  • Prefix: Ms.

  • Suffixes: J.D., LL.M


Photos