Who We Are

Alex is Polco’s co-founder and CTO. Alex served seven years as an officer in the US Air Force.  Following his time on Active Duty, Alex was a strategy and operations analyst at Google in Mountain View, California. Alex holds a technical degree from the United States Air Force Academy and a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard.

Lisa is a Public Sector SaaS professional with over a decade’s experience assisting government organizations at the city, county and state level with a heavy emphasis on Public Safety agencies. Her passion is helping governments more effectively make data driven decisions and streamlining complex processes with technology. In her current role as Polco’s Director of Sales, she works with government agencies across the country who want to improve their communities with accurate and reliable feedback. When Lisa is not in the office, she can be found exploring the outdoors on her paddleboard/kayak, hiking in the mountains with her four dogs or relaxing on the beach.

After a few years in the publishing industry, Alyssa's interest in data and civic engagement led her to Polco. As a Survey Associate, Alyssa enjoys using her writing background to develop survey questions and compile final reports, all in support of community leaders and the residents they serve. She’s passionate about continuous improvement and is constantly searching for ways to improve processes and platforms. When not at work, Alyssa enjoys reading, gardening (or attempting!), trying out new recipes, and finding new favorite restaurants in Madison, WI.

Grace has a background in customer service and project management. With a passion for community betterment, she eagerly joined the team at Polco. Grace and her husband, Nick, live in Madison, WI where she can be found vegetable gardening, hiking, enjoying local eats, or reading.

Ann Michelle joined NRC after 10 years of freelancing and volunteering for her community. She brings excellent customer service and attention to detail in her work. Ann Michelle works behind the scenes to keep the gears moving so others can thrive in the field. When she is not in the office, Ann Michelle can be found on her bike or skis (depending on the weather) or cheering on her two kids in their various activities.

Communications and Marketing Director Angelica Wedell has worked in multimedia communications for well over ten years and is an Online Marketing Certified Professional (OMCP). She enjoys leading the digital communications efforts and strategies of Polco, networking and speaking professionally at conferences across the country, writing popular guest articles for syndicates like ELGL, working with other partners such as ICMA and NLC, contributing to and editing the monthly newsletter, The Civil Review.  “Polco has given me the highly sought yet seldom found opportunity to do what I love for a living,” Angelica said.  “By telling the world about Polco, I feel like I’m helping communities become better places to live. I truly believe that these surveys and engagement services are absolutely needed, especially for local governments that value transparency, data-based decision-making and the opinions of everyday residents.”  

You can connect with Angelica on LinkedIn and join her in the NRC Resource Group.

Matt has had the opportunity to serve in local government, including over 30 years as a City Manager.  During his career, Matt has had the opportunity to provide leadership at the local, state, and national levels, including serving on the ICMA Board of Directors, the Minnesota League of Cities, and as President of the Minnesota City/County Management Association. 

Building innovative and proactive communities, with a focus on strengthening civic engagement has been a mainstay of Matt’s professional commitment. In his current role as Polco’s VP, National Engagement, Matt is working with communities, associations and other civic organizations to build strong and sustainable engagement and performance measurement programs using Polco’s technology platform and suite of benchmark community survey tools.

Kim has a master’s degree in applied psychology and a passion for using research and data to improve decision-making and the lives of people in communities across the country. Prior to Polco, Kim worked in local government for Milwaukee County where she conducted client experience survey research. Outside of work, Kim enjoys hiking, camping, playing sports and video games, and spending time with her family and two cats, Mufasa and Delilah.

Nick loves working at the intersection of public policy and technology. Nick has worked as an active duty officer in the Air Force, on faculty at the Air Force Academy, as a Senior Economist at Amazon, and in the same role on the President’s Council of Economic Advisers in the White House. Nick holds undergraduate degrees in Math & Physics from the University of Notre Dame, and a PhD in Economics from the University of Texas Austin. Nick enjoys canoe trips with his family, playing ultimate frisbee, and the Colonel Blotto Game!. (LinkedIn)

Damema has almost two decades of experience working to help local governments make data-based decisions. She has managed hundreds of successful projects during her tenure at Polco. She enjoys speaking at conferences and presenting survey results to clients. Damema is passionate about Polco’s mission to build a single platform that brings every community together around their most important topics, and ultimately improve community livability. When not working, Damema loves to read, travel, see live music and spend as much time as possible running, hiking and enjoying the Rocky Mountains with her husband and their rescued golden retriever. Connect with Damema on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/damema/ or Twitter https://twitter.com/DamemaMann

Michelle is described by her colleagues as an absolute juggernaut. A maker of logic models, a synthesizer of research from many fields and a firestorm of ideas. She began as a researcher at the City of Boulder and helped found National Research Center more than 20 years ago. She brings deep knowledge of how research can intersect with governance to help communities thrive, and leads innovation at Polco.

After graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy, Parker served as an Operations Research Analyst, leading policy research and analysis for the DOD and Congress. During his military service, Parker earned an M.S. in Predictive Analytics from Northwestern University. His thesis research focused on predictive and causal models of U.S. congressional elections, which was later used by CNN during coverage of the 2018 midterm elections. 

As a Data Scientist, he develops Polco’s analytics technology environment, researches new data science techniques, and conducts custom analyses. Parker also uses his passion for data visualization when designing Polco’s interactive dashboards and reports.

LinkedIn

Jason is a software engineer with many passions. With a background in chemical engineering and audio engineering, he switched careers into IT at the onset of the pandemic, and is excited to apply his engineering skills to aid in social betterment and community outreach. In his spare time, Jason likes to play and write music, play tennis, and spend time with his wife.

After working in the nonprofit sector, Jen's passion for civic engagement and her interest in tech led her to Polco. As an Associate Product Manager, Jen loves helping organizations master community engagement on Polco so that they can know and serve the needs of their communities. Outside of work, you can find her curled up with a good book or trying out a new restaurant.

Don is a (UX/UI) Product Designer with 10+ years experience specializing in data-viz, e-Commerce, SaaS products. With a vast drive to design the future, he wanders between the creative and the analytical. Don is passionate about creating well-structured design files, building trust with product users, utilizing design components to the max, creating comprehensive design handoffs, and being tool agnostic within my industry.

Outside of work, he enjoys creating exploratory concept designs; occasionally hosting a Dribbble meet-up, and he’s a fervent traveler.

Heather has two decades of experience in customer success and management for the public and nonprofit sectors. Heather received an MA from the University of Colorado, and focuses her professional work on cultivating relationships, product adoption, creating efficiencies, and cross-functional collaboration. As Director of Customer Success, she provides guidance and tools for customers to better understand, educate, and serve their populations. She is passionate about having the voices of all community members heard and is excited that Polco provides that opportunity. Outside of work, Heather spends time painting, being outdoors and staying active with her two young boys. 

LinkedIn

After graduating from Grand Valley State University with a degree in Advertising & Public Relations, Emily was introduced into the marketing industry. Her passion for community engagement and her interest in tech led her to Polco. As an Associate Customer Success Manager, Emily enjoys helping organizations learn Polco, so they can better serve the needs of their communities. Outside of work, you can find her playing tennis, lounging on the beach or in a local coffee shop with a good book.

LinkedIn

With over 40 years of experience in local government, Pat brings a unique level of expertise to assist Polco clients.  He has served in a variety of responsibilities in local government including Finance Director, Executive Director of two different Community Development Authorities and as a City Administrator for over eighteen years.  While serving as the City Administrator, the community was continually listed as one of the top ten fastest growing communities in Wisconsin.  The fast pace of growth in the community exposed him to a wide variety of issues.  Pat holds an undergraduate degree in Marketing from Eastern Kentucky University and a Masters of Public Affairs from Kentucky State University.

Suleima comes to Polco as a Customer Success Manager with three years of gov-tech experience where she worked in both the Marketing and Customer Success departments. In her previous roles, she spearheaded many projects and looks forward to doing the same at Polco. In her free time, you can find her practicing calligraphy, remodelling her home, or searching for her next travel destination.

LinkedIn

Jade is an experienced program manager and survey expert, and has managed many community, business, and custom surveys in her seven years with Polco. Her day-to-day work for her clients includes developing survey questions, creating sampling plans, performing extensive data analysis, writing thoughtful and perceptive reports on survey results, and, her favorite, delivering informative, crowd-pleasing presentations in the communities she works with. Before joining the team at Polco, Jade worked as a professional research assistant and graduate-level writing tutor and instructor while attaining her master’s degree in Agricultural and Applied Economics. In her off hours, Jade enjoys playing music, cooking, running, reading, and hiking and camping in the beautiful Colorado outdoors with her young daughter and golden retriever puppy.

LinkedIn

Julia comes from a background of education, entrepreneurship, and communications. For the past decade, she has worked in education policy implementation at the state government and school district levels. When her son was born, she was able to maintain half time employment with the Madison School District while launching several small businesses with her husband. She has also been lucky enough to work part-time with the amazing team at Polco to use and develop her skills in marketing and communications. Julia holds a masters degree in education leadership from Harvard University. Julia and her husband Kristopher and son Fritz live in a tiny apartment with a sauna on a lake in Madison, Wisconsin.

Cory is the Vice President, Client Development for Polco having previously served in leadership positions including Executive Director of the Wisconsin City/County Management Association and Membership Director for the Alliance for Innovation.  She worked as a 911 Dispatcher and in the City Manager’s Office in several Illinois communities and has spoken around the country on topics including use of data, civic engagement, and innovation in local government. While employed at Northern Illinois University Cory co-authored research papers for local government, including an article on shared service delivery published in a peer-reviewed, professional journal. 

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Michael is a software engineer with a passion for social betterment. He started his career as a STEM educator before going on to work as a Google software engineer. He combined these passions leading curriculum development teams at Codecademy and MongoDB. He is excited to now be using his engineering skills to increase civic engagement. Though he still finds time to teach aspiring software engineers on the side. 

Erin (MSPH) has over 30 years’ experience as a researcher and has designed and conducted hundreds of surveys, needs assessments, policy studies and program evaluations for public sector clients. Erin has a wealth of analytic experience and leads our most complex data analyses and is a great mentor to all our data scientists. At home she is an avid volunteer, player of music, history buff and walker of Kermit (her awesome pup).

Sonya has a Master’s Degree in Economics and a strong interest in what communities can do to best support their residents. She has two decades of experience working with all levels of government to frame and execute research projects and her love of problem solving has led her to the role of COO at Polco. She is continually inspired by the passion and innovative work of her colleagues. When off the clock, her favorite place to be is the mountains or any nearby nature trail. 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonya-wytinck/
https://twitter.com/SWytinck

Ian graduated from Northern Illinois university with a Masters in Public Administration. Driven by his desire for public service, his need to solve problems, and his love of analytics he found his home at Polco. When he is not neck deep in data, he enjoys hanging out with his family, playing games, and reading. Plus, like everyone else at Polco, he loves his fur babies.

Cory is the Vice President, Client Development for Polco having previously served in leadership positions including Executive Director of the Wisconsin City/County Management Association and Membership Director for the Alliance for Innovation.  She worked as a 911 Dispatcher and in the City Manager’s Office in several Illinois communities and has spoken around the country on topics including use of data, civic engagement, and innovation in local government. While employed at Northern Illinois University Cory co-authored research papers for local government, including an article on shared service delivery published in a peer-reviewed, professional journal. 

With her background in both sociology and computer science, Tracie brings a unique perspective to software development and technology leadership. After a decade as a software engineer, Tracie transitioned from being an individual contributor and has now been a part of leadership teams for companies in both the public and private sector. In her current role as the VP of Technology, Tracie brings her passion for people and technology to Polco. Outside of work, she can be found enjoying her favorite pastimes of reading, crafting (knitting/crocheting) and spending time with her husband, 2 children and 2 dogs in the great Colorado outdoors.