Ginny Badanes leads Democracy Forward, an initiative within Microsoft’s Technology & Corporate Responsibility organization that is focused on addressing ongoing challenges to the stability of democracies globally. The program includes efforts to protect elections, political parties, campaigns, and NGOs from actions that undermine democracy. This work includes Microsoft’s journalism program, which is focused on combating disinformation, expanding news distribution, increasing media literacy, and working with community-based programs and newsrooms to use technology to expand their reach.  

Ginny has spent her career at the intersection of politics and technology. Before joining Microsoft in 2014, she was Vice-President of Political at CMDI, where she advised presidential and senate campaigns on their efforts to leverage data and technology to improve their finance and treasury operations.  

Ginny was recently named to Washingtonian’s 2021 “Most Influential People” list for national security and defense. She is a graduate of Duke University and currently lives in Arlington, VA with her husband, Dave, and their three boys.