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About |
Ben Balter is an attorney, an open source developer, and a Product Manager at GitHub, the world's largest software development network. |
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Named one of the top 25 most influential people in government and technology and Fed50's Disruptor of the Year, described by the US Chief Technology Officer as one of "the baddest of the badass innovators," and winner of the Open Source People's Choice Award, Ben Balter is a Product Manager at GitHub, the world's largest software development network, where he oversees the company's community and safety efforts. Previously, Ben served as GitHub's Government Evangelist, leading the efforts to encourage government at all levels to adopt open source philosophies for code, for data, and for policy development.
Prior to GitHub, Ben was a member of the inaugural class of Presidential Innovation Fellows where he served as entrepreneur in residence reimagining the role of technology in brokering the relationship between citizens and government. Ben has also served as a Fellow in the Office of the US Chief Information Officer within the Executive Office of the President where he was instrumental in drafting the President's Digital Strategy and Open Data Policy, on the SoftWare Automation and Technology (SWAT) Team, the White House's first and only agile development team, and as a New Media Fellow, in the Federal Communications Commission's Office of the Managing Director. His paper, Towards a More Agile Government was published in the Public Contract Law Journal, arguing that Federal IT Procurement should be more amenable to modern, agile development methods.
As an attorney passionate about the disruptive potential of technology, Ben holds a J.D. and an M.B.A. from the George Washington University and is a member of the DC Bar. When not trying to change the world, he enjoys tackling otherwise-impossible challenges to sharing information using nothing more than duct tape, version control, and occasionally a pack of bubblegum.
Feel free to e-mail him at mailto:[email protected] or you can find him on these social networks: