I am beyond delighted to announce, on behalf of Sunlight’s Board of Directors, that Chris Gates will become the Sunlight Foundation’s next leader.

Chris, who is a thought leader in the fields of democratic theory and practice and political and civic engagement, has, for the past decade, been a leading voice for strengthening democratic processes and structures and developing new approaches to both engagement and decision-making. He and I have been colleagues for the past several years — we’ve worked together on numerous occasions — and I am truly thrilled that he will become Sunlight’s president.

Chris is currently the executive director of Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE), an affinity group of the Council on Foundations and a learning collaborative of funders working in the civic engagement space. PACE works with philanthropic and non-profit organizations whose goal is to strengthen and invigorate America’s democratic practice, with a particular emphasis on the role that technology, information and social media play in empowering citizens to become more engaged. Chris also speaks and teaches extensively around the country on the topics of civic engagement and democratic theory, history and practice.

He brings to Sunlight a breadth of experience and style of leadership that will take us to new levels. Chris is the perfect person to lead the organization through its next chapter.

Chris will begin his tenure at Sunlight at the beginning of October.

I and everyone here at Sunlight are thrilled to welcome him to the team.