Alicia is the President of Zinc Collective, a Democratic organization that focuses on recruiting, developing, and retaining diverse talent and addressing gaps in a technologically-enabled Democratic ecosystem.

Prior to co-founding Zinc Collective, Alicia had a successful career as a marketer and an entrepreneur where she founded companies designed to identify and fill unmet needs, including Spark Actions, a progressive millennial engagement platform, and Buttoned Up, a company dedicated to helping busy women get sanely organized. Alicia was also a senior CPG marketer in the US and Europe at Unilever and General Mills where she was named an Ad Age Top 100 Marketer and had her work featured in national publications including The New York Times, Fast Company, and The Wall Street Journal.

Alicia currently serves as a Democratic National Committee (DNC) At-Large Member and is a member of the DNC Budget and Finance Committee. She is also the donor advisor to LinkedIn Co-Founder Allen Blue and an advisor to Defending Digital Campaigns.

Alicia lives in Los Angeles, CA, with her husband, Adam.

Michelle Kleppe-Wellde is the Managing Director and Chief Strategy and Programs Officer at Zinc Collective. In this role, Michelle oversees a portfolio of political contributions and program investments.

Michelle is a seasoned political strategist and professional with experience and expertise in local, state, and national political and advocacy campaigns with a focus on organizational development and executive management.

Previously, Michelle served as Chief Political Advisor to Congressman Seth Moulton, the Executive Director of Serve America PAC, and a Senior Advisor for former South Bend Mayor and current Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s 2020 presidential campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire. She also served as Principal at 270 Strategies.

Michelle got her start in electoral politics working for President Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns, holding several roles in the battleground state of Wisconsin. She then served as a Director on Governor Terry McAuliffe’s successful Gubernatorial race in 2013 and advised Senator Jeanne Shaheen’s re-election campaign in 2014, which was one of the only
successful Democratic Senate races in the country that year. Michelle’s candidate work culminated with Secretary Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign where she led the organizing team through their historic Iowa caucus victory and then served as Sec. Clinton’s National Organizing Director during the general election.

Michelle lives in Raleigh, NC with her husband Tripp and their three children, Caroline, George, and Teddy.

April Hepburn, SPHR SHRM-CP, serves as the Director of People and Culture at Zinc Collective. In this role, she oversees strategic guidance and leadership across all facets of people operations.

With a career spanning more than twenty years, April has solidified her standing as a respected authority in human capital management and organizational development. Beyond her role as a former adjunct professor, April is renowned for her prowess as a skilled trainer and public speaker, having conducted workshops for diverse audiences.

As a forward-thinking HR practitioner, April demonstrates a profound understanding of the dynamic and ever-changing landscape of the modern workplace. She has successfully steered people operations in a range of industries, including technology, government, hospitality, retail, and nonprofit sectors, lending her expertise to both established corporations and emerging startups.

April's academic achievements include a Bachelor's degree in Organizational Management, a Master's in Adult Education, and an MBA in International Business. Additionally, she holds two Professional HR certifications, showcasing her commitment to excellence in the field.

Hannah Nayowith is the Director of Development at Zinc Collective. In this role, Hannah is responsible for overseeing all fundraising and development efforts to ensure Zinc Collective and all of its programs have the support to drive maximum impact and sustain the organization’s long-term goal and mission.

Hannah has dedicated her career to electing a new generation of political leadership and sustaining bold, Democratic majorities. She comes to the organization with a decade of experience in political fundraising, civic engagement, and campaign management, having raised tens of millions for progressive candidates and causes across the country.

A campaign veteran, Hannah spent years on the campaign trail, including managing two high-profile Congressional races in 2020: Jessica Cisneros (TX-28) and Mondaire Jones (NY-17). She also served as a senior staff member for two freshman members of the House, leading transition teams and establishing office operations.

Hannah is passionate about ensuring Democratic candidates have the resources they need to win. In 2021, she founded Progressive Investor Alliance, working with high-net worth individuals to maximize the impact of their giving and connect with investment opportunities that align with their values. In her first year alone she raised over $3 million for 160 candidates and causes, boasting over 95% accuracy in predicting the outcome of key federal, state, and local races.

Hannah lives in Brooklyn, NY and is a proud alumna of Carleton College in Northfield, MN.

Hannah Robinson-Armour is the Director of Budget and Finance at Zinc Collective. She comes to Zinc Collective with experience running operations for 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations, with a passion for solving puzzles at the intersection of finance and compliance.

Prior to joining Zinc Collective, Hannah worked at New Era Colorado where she served as Operations Director. While at New Era she bottom-lined budget, compliance, and human resources for the 501(c)(3)- and (c)(4)-affiliated organizations for three election cycles that saw sweeping success in both their electoral and legislative programs. She continues to be a big supporter of the Colorado progressive nonprofits.

Hannah holds a BA in history and chemistry from the University of Colorado and an MBA from the same university. She lives in Denver, CO with her husband and three children—two human and one canine.

Justin Myers is the Executive Director of Blue Leadership Collaborative. He has led the group's effort to develop and implement the organization’s highly competitive State Manager Program which recruits and supports diverse managers on state legislative campaigns around the country. Justin is committed to building the bench of the next generation of diverse and talented campaign managers and creating more equity across the Democratic Party's leadership.

Justin is the former CEO of For Our Future and For Our Future Action Fund, one of the largest permanent progressive organizing programs across Florida, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Prior to working at For Our Future, Justin managed races at various levels of the ballot and served as the Executive Director of the New Jersey State Democratic Committee. He also served as DCCC’s Northeast Political Director, where he helped flip two congressional seats during a challenging electoral year.

Justin grew up as the son of a minister and two long-time union members in Philadelphia. After graduating from Colgate University, he taught history at a Title I high school while attending Fordham University for graduate school. His career in politics began in Harlem, where Justin became a community organizer and City Council liaison. He has been featured in national and local media outlets including, NBC News, POLITICO, AP, ABC News, C-SPAN, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Marketwatch, and New York Magazine.

Justin resides in Washington, DC, with his wife, Tanya, and two children, Ellis and Olivia.

Kane Miller is the Executive Director of DigiDems, an organization within Zinc Collective that recruits, develops, supports, and retains diverse, high-potential tech talent and addresses technology gaps in the Democratic campaign sphere. After spending more than a decade running organizing programs and campaigns across the country, he joined DigiDems to focus on work that will build long-term tech and talent infrastructure advantages for Democratic campaigns.

Prior to joining DigiDems in 2020, Kane played leadership roles on multiple nationally prominent campaigns. He was one of the first handful of staff on the ground for Hillary Clinton’s successful 2016 Iowa caucus campaign and in 2018, he managed Abby Finkenauer’s successful Red to Blue challenge in IA-01, helping to secure the first Democratic House majority since 2010. He then went on to oversee the Early States program for Senator Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 Presidential primary campaign.

Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, Kane grew up in metro Atlanta and got started in campaigns by volunteering to register voters and knock on doors for Barack Obama in one of the most conservative counties in America. That volunteer work led to a job as a Field Organizer for the Obama campaign In Pennsylvania, and after returning to complete his undergraduate degree at the University of North Georgia, he embarked on a political career that would take him to ten different states in just over ten years.

Outside of work, Kane’s an avid baseball and college football (Go Vols) fan. He currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife Liz and his two rescue dogs, John Marshall and Bugsy.

Matt Hodges is the Executive Director of Zinc Labs, a political innovation lab at Zinc Collective that houses the organization's strategic work in Democratic technology and pilot programs. Matt brings a blended background of technology and Democratic politics through his work in software development, data analytics, and systems infrastructure.

Matt sits on the Advisory Board of Higher Ground Labs, an accelerator that invests in early-stage political tech companies. He also is a member of the Advisory Board for Quiller, an Artificial Intelligence copilot that helps Democrats draft and deploy high quality, effective fundraising content. Previously, Matt was the Director of Engineering for President Joe Biden's 2020 campaign. His team was responsible for developing and implementing the technology infrastructure that powered the campaign, including data pipelines, fundraising tools, and voter outreach platforms. Prior to this, he was a Senior Software Engineer for The Groundwork, which provided the application and infrastructure platform that powered the 2016 presidential campaign of Secretary Hillary Clinton.

Before entering the world of political technology, Matt worked in the tech industry as a Software Engineer and Infrastructure Engineer at companies like Datadog, Lisnr, and Cardinal Solutions.

Allen Blue is the Chairman of Zinc Collective and a co-founder of LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, and currently serves as Vice President of Product Management, where he directs overall product strategy. His areas of focus include Equity Products, Climate Products, and LinkedIn’s Economic Graph, working with governments and institutions in the United States and worldwide to share economic data and improve education and workforce policy.

Allen is also engaged in policy advocacy around economic opportunity, the future of work, and climate change. He’s been featured at Chatham House, the Aspen Institute and the Council on Foreign Relations, where he’s collaborated with advocates and issue experts on some of the world’s most pressing problems.

Allen chairs the board of the Hope Street Group, a non-profit that brings economic opportunity to Americans through a combination of policy and practice, and sits on several other non-profit boards. Additionally, Allen is on the board of Defending Digital Campaigns and was a seed investor for the Democratic Data Exchange. Previously, Allen served as a member of the US Commerce Department’s Data Advisory Council under President Barack Obama.