Republican National Committee (RNC) Names Azarias Reda as Chief Data Officer

RNC Names Azarias Reda as Chief Data Officer
 
WASHINGTON –  Continuing to expand the Party’s digital and data efforts, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus is announcing the addition of Azarias Reda as the RNC Chief Data Officer.

“Azarias will join Deputy Chief of Staff and Chief Digital Officer Chuck DeFeo, Chief Technology Officer Andy Barkett and Deputy Data Director Jesse Kamzol to expand our Digital and Data Department’s creative platforms and our Party’s innovative tools for successful campaigns,” said RNC Chairman Priebus.

“Azarias’ background in computer science and experience working with start-ups makes him the best fit to build a data engineering team to lead our candidates to victories in 2014, 2016 and beyond,” said Co-Chair Day.

“When I heard what the RNC was trying to accomplish, I was genuinely impressed by their approach to create an environment, and allocate the necessary resources, to build some remarkable systems that push the envelope on data engineering as it applies to politics,” said Reda.  
 
“For all intents and purposes, this is much like building a startup. It means creating an environment where talented people can tackle large problems, experiment with new ideas and create products that will have serious impact – and do so within short deadlines and limited resources. This is the best way to innovate and I look forward to being a part of it.”
 
The RNC Chief Data Officer is responsible for the collection and enhancement of the party’s data. He will work with our CTO on the distribution of data that we get back from the Political field program.
 
DATA PRIORITIES:
•    Build the best data engineering team in the world. We are well underway creating an open and exciting environment for talented people to work on some incredibly interesting projects that have a lot of social impact.
•    Leverage our unique strength with traditional voter data to build an advanced data platform and a set of innovative products that will power campaigns.
•    Fully engage with the tech community and contribute to open source projects.
•    Work with our ecosystem of startups and tech providers within the republican party to advance the state of products provided to campaigns.
•    Create a young, technical and engaged image for the Republican Party.
 
BIOGRAPHY:

Azarias graduated from college in Kansas, with three degrees in computer science, applied mathematics and business administration. He later earned a PhD in computer science engineering from the University of Michigan, where he researched building computer systems to work in environments with limited network connectivity---such as in developing countries, like Ethiopia. While attending graduate school, Azarias worked at LinkedIn in Silicon Valley, and Microsoft Research in India. Following graduate school, Azarias joined Meritful, an enterprise start-up company that provided a software platform to connect companies with graduating students. He was born in Ethiopia and moved to the United States while in college.