Joe Goldman

Joe Goldman is the President of the Democracy Fund, a bipartisan foundation working to ensure that our political system is able to withstand new challenges and deliver on its promise to the American people. He is also the President of Democracy Fund Voice, previously Democracy Fund Action. Before joining the Democracy Fund, Joe was an Investment Director at Omidyar Network, where he incubated the Democracy Fund for three years.

Joe has spent his career working to strengthen democratic institutions through public deliberation and policy reform. Previously, Joe was Vice President of Citizen Engagement at AmericaSpeaks, where he directed and facilitated large-scale public deliberations across the country, including the Unified New Orleans Planning Process after Hurricane Katrina and the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site after 9/11. Joe has written extensively about the theory and practice of deliberative democracy and spoken about the value of public deliberation in venues around the world.

Joe has also engaged the public from inside government. He managed Mayor Anthony Williams’ Neighborhood Action initiative in Washington, DC, which engaged thousands of residents in shaping the city’s budget priorities. Neighborhood Action was named Program of the Year by the International Association of Public Participation. Joe also managed the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission’s Common Ground regional planning process in Chicago, which later received the Outstanding Planning Award from the American Planning Association for its innovative use of technology and broad community outreach.

Joe was a Public Service Fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he received a master’s degree in public policy. He graduated with honors in political science from Vassar College.