“There’s no better place in the field that I can and should do,” Wallace-Jones said of her appointment. “It really brings together in a really profound way two areas of my life that I care deeply about, and through which I believe I can have the most powerful impact on this country.”
Wallace-Jones, 48, came to ActBlue from lending platform LendStreet Financial, where she served as chief operating officer. She holds a degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University and a master’s degree in public policy from UCLA, and previously worked at eBay, Facebook, and Yahoo.
Wallace-Jones said she plans to use her years of technology and public service experience to strengthen the security of the ActBlue fundraiser, while meeting the needs of large events and small donors, “to ensure that those who would otherwise be excluded There is a way of expressing their values.”
“Regina is ideally suited to help build ActBlue’s transformational efforts and ensure our platform provides a strategic advantage for Democrats,” ActBlue founder Matt DeBergalis said in a statement. platform, and she understands how to ensure the system continues to evolve.”
Wallace-Jones has also been involved in politics for more than a decade. She organized President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign in East Palo Alto, California, and ran for city council in 2018. Wallace-Jones served four years on the East Palo Alto City Council, including a year as mayor in 2020.
Wallace-Jones said she is passionate about technology and public policy because she wants to ensure that underserved communities also benefit from the latest innovations. But she said she realized her tech experience made her seem like a political outsider to people in East Palo Alto, a city surrounded by tech giants and facing gentrification.
“When I ran for office, one of the deepest fears citizens had about me was that when I was pushing my hat forward and hoping to be scrutinized by my constituents, my community, I was an evil tech out there. Sold out the whole city,” she said. “Part of my candidacy is really about … debunking that myth and being open and vulnerable.”
Stacey Brown-Philpot, a longtime friend of Wallace-Jones and former CEO of the handyman matching service Taskrabbit, said that Wallace-Jones’ dedication to serving others is also true of her work at ActBlue. Very helpful. Brown-Philpot and Wallace-Jones are members of Delta Sigma Theta, a historic black sorority through which they support the career aspirations of black girls and donate work attire.
“She’s one of the most dynamic people I know,” Brown-Philpot said. “She built a following because she brought a level of optimism, enthusiasm and excitement to everything she did.”
Now, at ActBlue, Wallace-Jones will also have the opportunity to bring a “new dimension” of breaking the glass ceiling, Brown-Philpot said.
Wallace-Jones said: “I’m at the helm of an organization that is dedicated to small donations, and it’s all about making sure that families like … the family I grew up with have a way to express a value, express a point of view, and put money Spend it on a candidate they really believe in.”
