Michael Turk
Michael Turk
In his professional career, Turk has lived at the intersection of politics and technology – crossing from the political, to the commercial and into government. Beginning in 1994, with the creation of one of the first political party websites on the Internet, Turk has managed internet operations for the Republican National Committee and three Presidential campaigns – Bush-Cheney ’04, Fred Thompson ’08 and Quayle 2000.
Turk, however, is more than a technologist. With a background in communications and organizing, and a love of public policy debate, he brings a unique blend of offline tactics and new media savvy to every cause.
Previously Turk served as the Vice President of Industry Grassroots for the cable industry, managed Government to Citizen eGovernment projects for the Office of Management and Budget, and began his career in grassroots organizing spending five years as the Deputy and Executive Director of the New Mexico GOP.
In his spare time – what little there is – he enjoys writing about politics, technology and pop culture. His has contributed to multiple books on campaigns including Crossing the River: The Coming of Age of the Internet in Politics and Advocacy, Campaigns on the Cutting Edge, and Margin of Victory: How Technologists Help Politicians Win Elections (New Trends and Ideas in American Politics) and Rebooting America: Ideas for Redesigning American Democracy for the Internet Age.
Turk speaks frequently on trends in politics and technology and maintains a blog related to the intersection of privacy and cybersecurity at DigitalInsurgency.com.