CivicActions

Gregory Heller is seemingly everywhere at once. A frequent (and carbon-neutral) flyer, technology strategist and partner at CivicActions, he combines his knack for social and professional networking and deep understanding of how non-profits work in deploying complex technologies for the company's clients. The accidental techie came to CivicActions after retaining the firm on behalf of the New York State Democratic Senate Campaign Committee. He is a relentless evangelist for Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) tools including Drupal and CiviCRM as well as social media magnets including Facebook and Twitter.

Navigating the firm's clients through a burgeoning social media ecosystem, Gregory paves the way for critical thinking that leads to results-oriented engagements. Working on behalf of the Free Software Foundation, he employed a variety of strategies that spelled out the “Defective By Design” meme: Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) technology is not acceptable. As the campaign gained momentum, the mainstream media jumped on board, prompting iTunes to acknowledge that DRM doesn't work and compelling major record companies to give up on it. Gregory's activism can be traced to his days at NYU, where he led the charge against PepsiCo's dealings with an oppressive regime in Burma. Here again, a sticky meme (“You Can't Buy Freedom With Pepsi Points”) and an assist from the media led the conglomerate to divest its Burmese holdings.

With an eye on the triple-bottom-line (people, planet, profits), Gregory is a champion of the environment, sustainability, human rights and social justice. He organizes the Seattle Drupal User Group and numerous DrupalCamps, is an EcoTuesday Ambassador and participates in Saturday House, an ad-hoc get-together of geeks and thinkers.