Name: re:public XV 2016
Start: 2016-11-13T08:00
Location: Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa

Overview

An invitation-only event convened by the Center for Digital Government

Honoring Our Past – Tilting Toward the Future

Now in its 15th year, re:public is the Center for Digital Government’s flagship retreat for public servants who choose to lead.

re:public brings together some of today’s finest leaders in public service around the important lessons of history and the best ideas of today – all with a view to creating a future worthy of our heritage and our children. On this 15th convening, we honor the past and the legacy of cultural heritage; we examine the state of our civic life together; and look forward to the opportunities and challenges facing a new generation of public entrepreneurs.

A message from our Keynote Speaker

Speakers

Governor Stephen Roe Lewis

Gila River Indian Community

Governor Stephen Roe Lewis was raised in Sacaton, "Gu-u-Ki", on the Gila River Indian Community. He has long been an advocate for Native American issues nationally. In the area of Indian education, Governor Lewis was selected to serve as a board member for the National Indian Education Association (NIEA) and delegate to the White House Conference on Indian Education.
Governor Lewis has served the community as a gaming commissioner for the Gila River Gaming Commission, as a member of the Board of Directors for the Gila River Telecommunications, Inc. and as a member of the Board of Directors for the Gila River Healthcare Corporation.
Governor Lewis was the first Native film curator for the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT and was an associate producer for the groundbreaking and critically acclaimed TBS six-part feature documentary, "The Native Americans."
Governor Lewis has worked on numerous political campaigns and organizing projects throughout Indian Country including Native voter organizing and Native voter protection in 2002 and selected as an Arizona delegate and co-chairing the Native American Caucus for the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC.

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Ken Rudin

Host, Political Junkie

Ken Rudin is one of America’s foremost experts in politics and campaign history. He focuses on all aspects of politics, from presidential elections – with the primaries, national conventions, debates and general election – to the races for the House, Senate and state governors. He has analyzed every congressional race in the nation since 1984. For most of the past 20 years, Ken was the eyes and ears of National Public Radio’s political coverage in his position as NPR political editor and resident “Political Junkie.” That was interrupted only by a three-year stint (1994-97) as managing editor of the Hotline, a daily political newsletter.

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Timothy Egan

National Book Award Winner and New York Times Op-Ed Writer
Photo Credit: Lisa Howe Verhovek

Timothy Egan is an acclaimed writer and veteran chronicler of the West whose interests range wide across the American landscape and American history. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, a popular columnist and a National Book Award-winning author. His weekly online column for The New York Times, the popular “Opinionator,” is consistently among the most read pieces on the NYT site. Before that, he worked as one of the newspaper’s national correspondents, roaming the West and serving as its Pacific Northwest correspondent. In 2001, Timothy was part of the Pulitzer Prize-winning team that wrote the series How Race Is Lived in America.
His book, Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward S. Curtis, a “riveting biography” (Boston Globe) of the famous photographer of American Indians, was named one of the best books of the year by Publishers Weekly and was awarded the 2013 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. The Wall Street Journal said, “Egan fills his chronicle with bright turns of phrase and radiant descriptions, making both places and people come alive . . . A sweeping tale about two vanishing ways of life.”

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Marybel Batjer

Secretary, California Government Operations Agency

Marybel Batjer is secretary of the California Government Operations Agency (CalGovOps). She was appointed to the post by Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. in June 2013 to serve as the first-ever secretary of CalGovOps. The agency was established as part of Brown’s comprehensive overhaul of state government and is responsible for administering state operations including procurement, real estate, information technology and human resources.
Prior to her appointment, Marybel served as vice president of public policy and corporate social responsibility for Caesars Entertainment, Inc., the world’s largest gaming-entertainment company. In this role, she developed and promoted corporate social responsibility policy and initiatives for the company and counseled its senior executive team on issues pertaining to reputation-management, public policy and government relations. Before joining Caesars in January 2005, Marybel held senior leadership posts in the executive branches of two state governments, as well as key advisory roles in two U.S. presidential administrations and at the Pentagon.

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Alex Niemczewski

CEO and Co-Founder, BallotReady

Alex Niemczewski is the CEO and co-founder of BallotReady, an award-winning start-up voter guide to local, state and national elections. Previously, Alex founded and led a human-centered design consultancy whose findings were used by groups including civic organizations, schools, and the White House. She also taught coding at a Chicago developer school and at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. Alex graduated from the University of Chicago with a BA in philosophy.

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Aviva Rosman

COO and Co-Founder, BallotReady

Aviva Rosman is the COO and co-founder of BallotReady. Aviva grew up working on campaigns and has worked for candidates at all levels, including her own successful election to Chicago Local School Council. Aviva began her career teaching math and leading the special education department as a corps member with Teach for America. Aviva has a BA and a master’s degree from the University of Chicago, both in public policy.

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Agenda

Sunday, November 13
9:00 am Mountain	Golf Golf tee times begin at 9 a.m. at the Devil’s Claw Golf Course at the Whirlwind Golf Club. Additional golf details.
6:30 pm Mountain	Welcome Reception

Monday, November 14
7:30 am Mountain	Registration / Continental Breakfast
8:30 am Mountain	Welcome Blessing Our retreat is being hosted on the ancient tribal lands of the Gila River Indian Community. We are honored to be joined by Governor Stephen Roe Lewis of the Gila River Indian Community for a special welcome and blessing for our time together.
9:00 am Mountain	Welcome / Participant Introductions
9:30 am Mountain	The Political Junkie’s Non-Partisan “Not Unproud” Sense-Making Review of the 2016 Election Let’s get it out of our system. It has been a long slog with dire warnings of existential threats on all sides. In a final pause before getting back to the business of governing, the internet’s original Political Junkie helps us get our heads around what just happened. Conversationalist: Paul W. Taylor, Chief Content Officer, e.Republic Speaker: Ken Rudin, Political Junkie. Writer, commentator, campaign historian, host of the name podcast, former longtime political editor at NPR and inventor/curator of ScuttleButtons campaign game, Rudin has not seen anything like this campaign in his 36 years of political analysis.
10:45 am Mountain	Break
11:15 am Mountain	Surviving and Thriving Under the Heat of Modernity Our brief time together on ancient tribal land affords us a unique opportunity to consider the past and future of Indian country. Called a “vanishing race” a century ago, the lives of indigenous peoples were captured through the passionate and remarkable lens of photographer Edward S. Curtis. His life as a husband, father, artist, advocate and public figure is documented in the biography, Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher. Its author joins us for the conversation. Conversationalist: Dennis McKenna, Chief Executive Officer / Co-Founder, e.Republic Speaker: Timothy Egan, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, a popular New York Times columnist and a National Book Award-winning author
12:30 pm Mountain	Lunch
1:45 pm Mountain	Choosing to Lead and the Public Pivot According to the World Economic Forum, “governments around the world are faced with new demands, new expectations and a fast-growing array of new technologies and tools. To be efficient and effective in today’s complex, interlinked and fast-changing environment, governments need to redesign their structures and processes to capitalize on a new set of actors and tools.” And it has to be done at scale, across agency and jurisdictional boundaries, with partners that bring expertise and resources to the public enterprise in the service of an increasingly mobile constituency. The State of California’s reformer-in-chief has been leading through that pivot in the golden state. Conversationalist: Cathilea Robinett, President, e.Republic Speaker: Marybel Batjer, Secretary, California Government Operations Agency
3:00 pm Mountain	Time on Your Own
6:00 pm Mountain	Reception and Dinner

Tuesday, November 15
8:00 am Mountain	Continental Breakfast
9:00 am Mountain	The New Informed Citizen and the Vote Voters are often confronted with a long list of downballot races – about which they know little or nothing. Even moderately informed voters may find themselves staring blankly at names of candidates for school board seats, judgeships, neighborhood commissions and so on. Two University of Chicago graduate students set out to change all that this election cycle by crowdsourcing district-by-district ballots – providing detailed voter information with a click of a button. Silicon Valley is paying attention. Our retreat concludes with a real-time progress report on the first election cycle of BallotReady, where your ballot is. Conversationalist: Dustin Haisler, Chief Innovation Officer, e.Republic Speakers: Alex Niemczewski, CEO / Co-Founder, BallotReady Aviva Rosman, COO / Co-Founder, BallotReady
10:30 am Mountain	Closing Remarks
11:00 am Mountain	re:public XV Session Officially Adjourned Meetings of the Digital States Performance Institute and Digital Communities begin following adjournment. Conference times, agenda, and speakers are subject to change.