Will Byrne is an activist and entrepreneur. Will was named one of

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’s 30 Under 30,"Forbes 30 Under 30"
Forbes, Retrieved on 17 December 2012 and his writing has appeared in''

'' and ''

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''.

Early career

Byrne worked in journalism at ''

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'' as well as the

American Academy in Berlin The American Academy in Berlin is a private, independent, nonpartisan research and cultural institution in Berlin dedicated to sustaining and enhancing the long-term intellectual, cultural, and political ties between the United States and Germany ...

, Germany, before joining

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

’s 2008 presidential campaign."Champions of Change: William Byrne"
Whitehouse.gov During his work on President Obama's 2008 campaign, Byrne utilized online and offline community organizing tactics. Byrne and his co-founders saw the impact of community organizing in the political sphere. Rather than joining the administration after Obama was elected, Byrne went on to develop these tactics as a

social entrepreneur Social entrepreneurship is an approach by individuals, groups, start-up companies or entrepreneurs, in which they develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. This concept may be applied to a wide range of o ...

Groundswell

In 2009, Byrne, Max Harper, Marcus Ryan, John Lauer, Kristen Psaki, and Tony Ficarotta co-founded Groundswell after working on President Obama’s 2008 campaign. Groundswell is a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. that uses

collective buying power Collective buying power is the ability of a group of consumers to leverage the group size in exchange for discounts. In the marketplace Many different companies have used this concept to build business plans. Warehouse clubs function in a simil ...

to drive positive social change, especially in the

clean energy Clean may refer to: * Cleaning, the process of removing unwanted substances, such as dirt, infectious agents, and other impurities, from an object or environment * Cleanliness, the state of being clean and free from dirt Arts and media Music Al ...

sector. Byrne called this model "civic consumption." Byrne served as CEO until 2014; as of 2022, it is led by Michelle Moore, a former White House official.

Stanford Design School

In 2015, Byrne joined the Stanford Design School as a Civic Innovation Fellow.

Later work

Following Stanford, Byrne was Senior Director of the Innovation Lab at Human Rights First, and presented about issues of bias, inclusion, and human rights in computer vision and artificial intelligence technology. He also wrote articles on emerging technology, AI, human rights and democracy for

. As of 2023, he was listed as an affiliated fellow at the Citris Policy Lab, which describes itself as supporting interdisciplinary research and education regarding the role of regulation in promoting innovation.

Honors and awards

*Forbes 30 Under 30 Selection; Social Entrepreneurs, Forbes Magazine (December 2012) *Champions of Change, White House Executive Office of the President, 2011 *Lisa B. Hall Fellow,

Concord Academy Concord Academy (also known as CA), established in 1922, is a coeducational, independent college preparatory school for boarding and day students in grades 9-12. The school is situated in Concord, Massachusetts. In 1971, Concord Academy became t ...

, 2013

References