Meet the Team
Daniel G. Newman
PRESIDENT AND CO-FOUNDER
Daniel, a national expert on government accountability and money in politics, has led MapLight since its founding in 2005. Daniel has appeared in hundreds of media outlets, including CNN, CBS, MSNBC, FOX Business, and NPR. He led a ballot measure campaign establishing public funding of elections in Berkeley, California, and was named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business. He is the author of Unrig: How to Fix Our Broken Democracy from Macmillan/First Second Books.
Daniel’s innovative use of technology to reveal influence on government earned him recognition as a World Affairs Council Civic Innovator in 2014. He has led the organization to awards including a Knight-Batten Award for Innovations in Journalism; a James Madison Freedom of Information Award; a Library Journal Best Reference Award; and a Webby Award nomination for Best Politics Website.
Previously, Daniel was an entrepreneur and political organizer. He authored three books on speech recognition software and founded Say I Can, a speech recognition firm. He has served as a consultant to various political and nonprofit groups, including the Center for Voting and Democracy, Israel Venture Network, and the Mental Health Association of San Francisco.
Daniel received an MA degree in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley, where he attended on a National Science Foundation Fellowship and researched how people think about political and ethical issues. He holds a BA degree in biomedical ethics from Brown University where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa. Daniel was a 2011-2013 Edmond J. Safra Network Fellow at the Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University, addressing the issue of institutional corruption.
Contact Daniel at dnewman@maplight.org.
Frank Bass
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Frank has been a reporter and editor for more than 25 years, beginning as a young journalist in Alabama, where he shared a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the state’s infant mortality epidemic. He was the Texas Headliners Foundation Reporter of the Year for a series of features and investigations at the Houston Post. Bass also has worked at the Wall Street Journal and the Associated Press, where he directed computer investigations and shared the Gerald Loeb Award for a series of stories on mishandling of small business loans related to the September 2001 terror attacks in Washington and New York. He is the author of three books on data-driven investigations: The Associated Press Guide to Internet Research and Reporting; Health is Everything; and Guide to the Census.
Laura Curlin
DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT
Laura oversees the organization's data projects and software product design. Her work includes developing tools to make campaign finance, lobbying, and ethics data more accessible. Her work has included research in a variety of states, counties, and cities. Previously, she worked to pass a public campaign financing ballot measure in 2016 as treasurer of the Berkeley Fair Elections Coalition. Her previous experience also includes work on the Transparency in Political Spending Act as a member of Rhode Islanders for Fair Elections. Laura received a B.A. from Brown University with concentrations in Political Science and Middle East Studies.
Samantha Harris
OPERATIONS ASSOCIATE
Samantha supports MapLight's financial operations. She graduated from U.C. Berkeley with a degree in Gender Studies and has held operational roles in several organizations spanning reproductive rights, childhood literacy, and access to secondary education.
Tien Lu
OPERATIONS DIRECTOR
Tien manages Voter’s Edge, a comprehensive online California elections guide, and leads operations for all organizational functions. Her background includes a diverse range of experiences in social justice and arts nonprofits, from racial justice and arts activism to oral history and community engagement. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan and an MA in Social Documentation from U.C. Santa Cruz.
Tyler Kuromiya Parker
DATA ANALYST
Tyler is responsible for data analytics and quality assurance, assuring the functionality and accuracy of MapLight's data and systems. Prior to joining MapLight, he worked as a mechanical design engineer. Tyler has a B.A. in Mechanical Engineering Technology.
Samuel Erickson
PRODUCT MANAGER
Samuel supports MapLight software products as a product manager, translating complex requirements into intuitive experiences. He holds a B.A. in Chemistry and a Masters in Information Management and has a deep interest in all things information architecture, accessibility, and information security.