David Madden is an Australian entrepreneur associated with

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

causes. He is a co-founder of GetUp! a web-based political movement, and Avaaz, a global advocacy movement. He is passionate about rock climbing. In 2015, Madden founded Phandeeyar, a technology seed accelerator based in Yangon,

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

Early life and education

Madden grew up in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

and served as an Army officer before studying Arts and Law at the University of New South Wales in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. David excelled in the law of the sea. Madden served as president of the

University of New South Wales Student Guild The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

. After winning the University Medal in History, Madden was awarded

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

and Frank Knox scholarships to study at Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University, where he completed his master's degree in public policy. He met

Jeremy Heimans Jeremy Heimans is co-founder and CEO of Purpose and the co-author of '' New Power: How Power Works in Our Hyperconnected World - and How to Make It Work for You.'' He has a TED talk on the topic named ''What new power looks like''. Heimans is an ...

, with whom he later co-founded GetUp and Avaaz, waiting for a scholarship interview panel while studying at Harvard. Madden and Heimans became involved in the Harvard Living Wage campaign in 2001, and Madden credits it as their first political collaboration.

Career

Madden has worked for the World Bank in Timor Leste, and for the United Nations in Indonesia. He is the co-author of ''Imagining Australia: Ideas for Our Future'' (

Allen & Unwin George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It went on to become one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and to establish an ...

, 2004), with economist turned federal MP

Andrew Leigh Andrew Keith Leigh (born 3 August 1972) is an Australian politician, author, lawyer and former professor of economics at the Australian National University. He currently serves as the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury. ...

, Macgregor Duncan, and Peter Tynan. In 2004, Madden was one of the founders of Win Back Respect, a web-based campaign against the foreign policy of United States President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

. The following year, together with

, he co-founded GetUp, a similar campaign against the recently re-elected

Howard Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...

government in Australia, inspired by what he had seen with MoveOn in the United States. In 2006, Madden and Heimans were credited by the World E-Government Forum as being among the top 10 people involved in changing the world of the internet and politics. He subsequently stepped back from the day-to-day operations of GetUp, but maintained a position on the organisation's board. Madden and Heimans subsequently ran a political consultancy in the United States, before co-founding international campaigning outfit Avaaz. In the private sector, Madden is credited with the creation and marketing of TwitterPeek, the world's only mobile Twitter-only device. CNN named it as one of their top 10 tech fails of 2009.CNN:The top 10 tech 'fails' of 2009
/ref>

References

External links

GetUp!
{{DEFAULTSORT:Madden, David Year of birth missing (living people) Australian lobbyists Harvard University alumni Living people Student politics in Australia People educated at Baulkham Hills High School University of New South Wales alumni