People

As Executive Director, Ben is responsible for Reset’s strategic direction. In this capacity he oversees the coordination of our policy, technology, and civic engagement work, while providing expert counsel on policy development and advocacy. His mission is to create a global network of organisations working to achieve Reset’s aims by coordinating and integrating financial, knowledge, and relational resources across the globe. Ben’s role at Reset is an evolution of his previous position as Luminate’s Director of Policy & Advocacy (he continues to be policy and advocacy advisor at Luminate). Ben previously co-led the Stiftung Neue Verantwortung (SNV) in Berlin, helping develop the organisation into a leading tech policy voice in German politics. He was also a Senior Adviser to New America in Washington DC, helping design the Public Interest Technology Initiative. Ben led the technology policy advisory group for the 2016 Clinton US presidential campaign.

As UK Director, Poppy leads our UK policy and political strategy. Combining her expertise in policy and technology, Poppy’s mission is to maximise Reset’s impact in the UK and help drive its influential policy agenda. In addition to previously running multiple technology advisory businesses and supporting some of the world’s leading technology companies and start-ups, Poppy also worked in Downing Street for two years where she was an advisor on public appointments and tech policy. Poppy is a World Economic Forum “Global Shaper” and in 2018 was recognised in Brummell Magazine’s “Ones to Watch” list celebrating London’s high-potential talent.

Vivian is Director of Operations for Luminate Strategic Initiatives — which is the home of Reset’s operations. She leads the operational execution of Luminate Strategic Initiatives’ global funding and contracting and works closely with the Finance & Operations team on finance, risk and compliance controlling. She previously served as Operations Manager for Reset, the policy team within Luminate Strategic Initiatives.

Prior to joining Luminate, Vivian was a Grants and Operations Manager for the Medicines Patent Pool Foundation in Geneva and built out the operations function for the International Budget Partnership’s organisation in Kenya.

Vivian specialises in operations transformation and continues to serve as an advisory resource for multiple nonprofits.

As Policy Advisor, Dylan conducts research and strategic planning to support our programmatic work on law and policy around the world. He works to expand Reset’s network of relationships by evaluating projects and scoping funding opportunities in support of cutting-edge research, technology development, civic engagement, and policy advocacy. Dylan’s role at Reset builds on his previous work as a researcher for Luminate and Omidyar Network where his remit focused on developing understandings about digital threats to democracy and studying elections, disinformation, and data privacy legislation. In this capacity, he also worked on due diligence for grants and investments.

As Senior Advisor, Felix leads our German policy and political strategy and advises on Reset the overall policy direction. Based in Berlin, Felix currently focuses on building civil society coalitions in the face of growing digital threats to democracy. Also, he helps policymakers develop systemic approaches to regulating Big Tech and reining into surveillance capitalism. Previously, Felix was with the European External Action Service, Europe’s diplomatic arm, where he helped shape the EU’s strategic response to disinformation and malign digital interference. He also spent a number of years with the European Commission after starting his career as a researcher and journalist.

As Strategic Consultant, Brandi supports Reset’s strategic programs and research. Brandi Geurkink is a campaigner who wrestles with some of society’s thorniest problems — and then maps a pathway to systemic solutions. With a background in digital rights, civic rights and economic justice movements, Brandi has honed her skills in grassroots mobilization, investigative research, and coalition building. Her background is varied, but her approach to social change is singular: interrogating power imbalances in society and shifting power to those who are impacted most.

Currently, Brandi is a Senior Policy Fellow at Mozilla, the global nonprofit behind Firefox. At Mozilla, Brandi comes up with new ways to hold the internet’s biggest platforms accountable for algorithms, online advertising, privacy, and other issues. Brandi is the creator of YouTubeRegrets, the largest-ever crowdsourced investigation into YouTube’s recommendation engine and its impact on society. YouTube Regrets has been featured in hundreds of news stories, cited in the EU’s Digital Services Act, and won a coveted Shorty Impact Award.

Brandi’s research and commentary has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, NBC News, NPR (U.S.), BBC, the Times of India (India), Rappler (Philippines) and dozens of other publications. Brandi is based in Berlin, Germany.

As Senior Policy Counsel, Yosef supports programmatic work in the United States to help shape policies and regulations that safeguard digital rights and mitigate platform business practices that cause public harm. Yosef works with Reset’s partners to develop legal, policy, and corporate accountability strategies to combat digital threats to democracy. His work focuses on data privacy, transparency, artificial intelligence, content moderation, and other issues.

Prior to joining Reset, Yosef served as the Media and Democracy Program Director for Common Cause where he led strategic campaigns to educate and engage the public and policymakers on critical reforms needed to advance an open and accessible media ecosystem that supports democracy.

As Chief Technologist, Dan oversees our technology-centred efforts. He leads Reset’s technology funding and implementation work, provides strategic counsel, and connects a network of experts to support Reset and our partners across the full portfolio of our work. His mission is to build Reset’s capacity as a trusted source and sharer of knowledge at the intersection of technology and democracy. Dan previously served as Principal Director and Chief Technologist of the Open Technology Fund (OTF), which he co-founded in 2012.