Name: Julia Bryan
Gender: Female
Candidate: Chair
Member since: 2009
Residence: Czech Republic
Biography:
I’m originally from South Carolina, where I grew up with a passion for civil rights and voting accessibility. Since 1999 I have lived in Prague, Czech Republic, running a management consulting company specializing in IT services and digital media. My volunteer work with Democrats Abroad has been a defining part of my life for several years now. I am very grateful to my husband and two children for their flexibility and support (and their volunteer time too!). I vote in North Carolina.
Links to MYC video.
Describe your volunteer work with DA and cite your greatest DA accomplishment.
International Secretary (2015-2017)
Co-Chair, Communications Committee (2016-2017)
Delegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention (2016)
Deputy Regional Vice Chair for EMEA (2013-2015)
Chair, Data Committee (2013-2015)
Chair, DA Czech Republic (2012-2017)
Vice Chair, DA Czech Republic (2011-2012)
Founder, DA Czech Republic (2009)
My greatest volunteer achievement for DA would be the work that I did to help Democrats Abroad reach out to voters last year. I helped set up the new DA website, organized the Global Presidential Primary online vote count, managed our Facebook ads, and set up the processes and managed the Global Phone Banking System and the Voter Help Desk. During that time our teams made over 120,000 phone bank calls to members, helped 30,000+ voters through our Help Desk and reached millions of people in our Facebook ads. Thanks in part to these efforts we saw an 83% increase in voters using votefromabroad.org to vote in 2016 compared to 2012.
Why are you running for this office?
If ever there was a time to stand up and serve, now is that time. We must fight against the authoritarianism that is threatening to take over American politics and we must take back the House in 2018.
I have volunteered within Democrats Abroad for several years now, working at the local, regional and global level. I have been actively involved in nearly every aspect of the global organization, helping to guide it forward, to reach more voters, and to push our issues in Washington. I am ready to represent our organization with the Democratic National Committee, support our country committee leaders, and continue to expand our outreach efforts to Americans around the world. My belief in DA’s mission, its value to the Democratic Party and its worth to the Americans abroad community has never been stronger. We will play a critical role as our party rebuilds and I promise to bring the energy, innovation and determination to the role that it richly deserves.
How will your skill sets and experience contribute to DA’s success?
Team leader - I have years of experience organizing teams in a multi-country online environment, both as a consultant and for DA. Recently I've managed hundreds of volunteers for DA in projects such as online vote tallying, phone banking, the voter help desk and the Communications committee.
Organizer - As International Secretary and a project manager for DA I've set up the processes and organized teams and information for some of the biggest projects we've worked on recently.
Digital strategist - I’ve worked as a digital consultant for international companies for years and understand the challenges of a constantly changing technical landscape and the need to understand audiences that differ by geography and age.
Communicator - I am a natural networker who has never met a stranger. I also believe that listening to others is vital for figuring out problems and finding solutions.
If elected what are the three top issues within DA you will work to affect and how?
Simplify the overseas voting process by improving votefromabroad.org and continuing to expand our voter help systems.
Improve communication and idea sharing amongst leaders across country committees, regions and global groups through updated tools, open ExCom meetings, training opportunities and more.
Create targeted outreach programs for the nearly 40% of members who live outside of areas densely populated by Americans.
What three planks/issues are you most passionate about to include in the DA 2020 Platform and why?
Overseas vote protection must be included in the Democratic plank for a “fair and representative electoral system”. We need to start working now to ensure that we are prepared and ready to fight hard to protect this fundamental right for Americans abroad. We know this matter is important to the state Democratic Parties as well - our voters are their voters. We can engage their support in the work to protect overseas voting.
Fair taxation for overseas Americans should be included in the Democratic plank “fight for economic fairness and against inequality.” It is astonishing how many sections of the tax code discriminate against Americans living abroad. Building an understanding of the profile of the Americans abroad community - we are ordinary, working class Americans whose relationships by and large have caused us to move abroad - will help us engage the Democratic Party in our work to enact reforms.
And finally, environmental protection is essential as is the inclusion of the Combat Climate Change plank in the 2020 platform. I believe we have no choice but to build a global commitment to protect the earth for future generations.
What can Democrats Abroad do to increase its profile among voters globally and better work to elect Democrats?
We need to expand our outreach efforts by activating our thousands of volunteers, growing our communication channels, and continuing to reach out to areas around the world where Democrats Abroad does not have a chapter or country committee.
We need to make voting from abroad easier by improving votefromabroad.org, expanding our voter help support, and working with the states to ensure ballots are smoothly processed by their local election offices.
We need to listen to our voters to make sure we are addressing the issues important to them, helping them feel that we are their voice in the United States.
How can DA work best with the Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee to represent the issues of Americans living abroad? What can be enhanced or improved in this relationship?
Our current chair, Katie Solon and other DNC members have put in a great deal of time making sure the DNC understand who DA is and what our challenges are. We need to continue to make the work we do clear to the DNC through our global communications, meetings, and personal conversations.
It's important to understand what state parties are looking for - GOTV support in areas they can't access. We have started this process but it is important to continue forward, working with Secretary of State offices to encourage them to fulfill their data duties, working with the DNC to establish the structure for them to collect it and working with state parties to target the elections we can make a difference in. We need to continue to demonstrate our professionality to DNC staff through the voter and advocacy work we do, and in our communications at DNC events.
What will you do to grow DA and ensure greater overall participation by Chapter Members?
Americans around the world are looking for communities of like minded people they can turn to during these stressful times. By helping bolster these communities, and by providing tools and opportunities for activism, we can respond to their needs and grow DA at the same time. Each person we help on the road towards becoming a voting and civil rights activist is another person who will in turn reach out to other Americans they know - growing the Democratic voter base across the globe.
And as I have mentioned several times before, we must always work to simplify the process of voting abroad, and make sure every American abroad knows they can vote and knows how they can vote.
Endorsement from John Eastwood
Having seen how well Julia Bryan works with leaders for the past many years, I know her intelligence, work ethic and patience have the makings of an excellent chair. She's been scrupulously honest and fair, working with leaders around the world to help us all be better. She does it without tooting her own horn. She knows our organization inside and out, having served in many essential roles as a country leader, on our ExCom, in communications, and as a valued voice of kindness and respect that has helped to draw our organization out from the divisions we had several years ago. She is extremely capable, but she has the valuable skill of bringing out the best in the people she works with. Julia will make an excellent chair for Dems Abroad.
John Eastwood
DNC Member
Former International Counsel
DA Taiwan
Endorsement from Inge Kjemtrup
I would like to endorse Julia Bryan for Democrats Abroad International Chair.
In helping Democrats Abroad make the transition to new technologies, Julia has shown herself to be an inspiring and pragmatic international leader who is able to work effectively and collaboratively with country committee leaders.
I worked with Julia during the changeover to NationBuilder and in the use of Call Hub in the 2016 campaign. I found her guidance, creative problem solving, and willingness to accommodate new ideas to be impressive and refreshing. Julia gets stuff done and makes it fun.
I saw first-hand how effectively Julia can manage and coordinate the efforts of an international team and a country committee during the London campaign office project. She helped us understand and evaluate the capabilities of the Call Hub system, and she was instrumental in formulating our combined campaign office and remote dialling strategy.
Julia’s vision for Democrats Abroad is one in which the international officers enable the country committees to work together to solve common problems. It’s a vision I share and that’s why I enthusiastically endorse her candidacy.
Inge Kjemtrup
Chair, Democrats Abroad UK
Endorsement from Carmelan Polce
Dear Democrats Abroad Colleagues,
It gives me great pleasure to endorse Julia Bryan of Democrats Abroad Czech Republic for International Chair of Democrats Abroad. I’ve worked with Julia on some complex and stressful DA projects over the years and have found her to be incredibly clever, efficient, innovative and fun to work with. I hope you will consider my comments and support Julia for International Chair.
At a time when the political environment demands that we re-think our mission, re-tool our organisation and re-engage our members, I believe Julia has the particular skills, experience and characteristics to lead Democrats Abroad in the critical years ahead. Julia’s great strengths are in technology and team building. She also has excellent judgement and a further strength rarely found in someone with Julia’s immense intelligence: she genuinely loves working with people.
Technology
One of the lessons of the 2016 election is that we must understand technology and implement it aggressively or risk becoming a victim of others who do. Fortunately, Julia has a deep understanding of the digital world and the power it can bring to our work. She spearheaded the establishment and implementation of our new website and member database system and our ground-breaking online helpdesk and phone-banking system. These tools not only carried our record-breaking 2016 GOTV strategy; they also coordinated with each other to capture intelligence across the platforms, providing us with a powerful understanding of our members and the most effective outreach methods for communicating with and engaging them.
We will benefit enormously from the thought leadership of a systems expert like Julia who continues to push DA to fully exploit technology to help deliver on our mission.
Team-Building
The international chair needs to set appropriate goals, enlist capable support, ask good questions, and build volunteer engagement. Effective teams are at the core of all we do, which makes teambuilding one of DA’s most critical success factors. Julia has demonstrated time and again how adept she is at communicating our needs, engaging volunteers, delivering good training and driving our teams in the delivery of important projects. Cases in point include: Global Presidential Primary ballot verification; CallHub™ phonebank campaign; and the 2016 Intercom™ Voter Help Desk.
Julia understands the value of and has a special talent for building robust teams to engage eager volunteers and deliver mission-critical projects under short, high-pressure time frames.
Judgement
Democrats Abroad answers to many masters – our members certainly; bureaucrats at the DNC; our fellow DNC members; and all of you volunteers who come forward to lead our country committees and initiatives. The international chair is responsible for projects of all sizes, involving all these constituency groups, with conflicting timelines and competing resource requirements. Balancing the demands of disparate constituency groups and competing priorities requires nimble thinking, collaborative planning and coaching in order to build and maintain consensus. I find Julia to possess all these skills and the essential element for implementing them – sound judgement.
In addition to all the work she does for DA, Julia is a technology business owner/manager and parent of two. Talk about disparate constituencies and competing priorities! You can’t keep all those balls in the air unless you manage your time well and exercise excellent judgement in all things.
People
I’m sure whole books have been written about volunteer management (and I suspect a number of us could write one as well!) and I suspect such a text would start with the recognition that control is elusive, commitment must be won (and re-won) and determination, listening and patience are essential.
Volunteers are DA’s life-blood. But volunteers are difficult to manage. They often over-commit, under-prepare, misunderstand and, inadvertently, disappoint. Volunteers who, for whatever reason, fail to deliver can cause considerable disruption. It’s a real skill, in this instance, to rescue the situation by deftly diagnosing the problem, re-deploying the volunteer, installing a replacement and keeping the project going. I have seen Julia do this on a number of occasions. It’s an invaluable skill and one that tells us something more about Julia.
Julia loves people. She genuinely loves them.
She loves meeting them, getting to know them, engaging their talents, helping them develop new skills and building a relationship with them - based on respect, affection and trust - that cements their bond to DA.
At this moment in time we have legions of people being drawn to us by the terrifying Trump agenda. We need to sincerely engage them, embrace and efficiently deploy what they have to offer, provide space for learning, creation and innovation, and create a lasting bond with them. I think this is Julia’s natural talent - and also one of her most endearing. Importantly, it is a powerful asset for the leader of an all-volunteer organisation that relies on stability in leadership to achieve its goals.
If you got this far then I thank you most sincerely for reading this testimonial. I hope you will support Julia and cast your vote for her - a woman who is a technology expert, thought leader, team builder, skilled project manager and, above all, lover of people.
With gratitude,
Carmelan Polce
FBAR/FATCA Task Force Chair
Acting Issues Advocacy Coordinator
Former Chair, DA Australia
Former Chair, DA Singapore