Contributor

David Kralik

Silicon Valley chronicler, West Coast manager for Engage, LLC

David W. Kralik is the West Coast office manager for Engage, LLC. Founded by notable online political operatives, Patrick Ruffini and Mindy Finn, Engage is a leading Washington, D.C. based digital marketing and public affairs firm. As West Coast manager, David is responsible for working with the firms California clients and identifying promising startups to help guide them through gaining greater exposure to the political, non profit, NGO and government markets. In that role, he is, as The Washington Post described in a profile story, “A Bridge from Silicon Valley to Capitol Hill.”

He is also Chief Marketing Officer of Freedom Speaks, a start-up focusing on empowering citizens with tools to take action and make their voice heard within government to improve transparency.

Prior to this experience, David was manager of the Silicon Valley office & director of Internet strategy at American Solutions, founded by former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich. In that role, he was responsible for the online product road-map and chief scout for Gingrich, exploring and reporting back about new technology and finding ways technology can migrate government and politics into the 21st century.

In 2008, Kralik was honored as one of the “Top Ten Changing the World of Internet and Politics,” for his work on the “Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less” campaign which garnered 1.5 million online signatures to a petition. His work on the campaign also led platinum-award winning country music star Aaron Tippin to record a song, “Drill Here, Drill Now.”

From 2003-2007, he was manager of Internet programs at the National Association of Manufacturers where he led the association to adopt blogging, podcasting, the widely popular CoolStuffBeingMade.com web site and a variety of other Web 2.0 initiatives before it was called “Web 2.0” that resulted in the association being widely recognized as a leader in e-communication.

He is often sought after as an authority in online advocacy, blogging, and traffic building and has offered strategic counsel to organizations and corporations of all sizes, having worked in online political advocacy since its infancy in 1997.

David’s work has been profiled by the Washington Post, Investor’s Business Daily, Playboy magazine, as well as in an episode of The Simpsons.

In his spare time, he travels around the world (having been to all 7 continents), plays the saxophone, volunteers with Junior Achievement and resides in San Francisco.