BY SARAH LAI STIRLAND | Thursday, June 7 2012
Rebuild the Dream, the progressive advocacy group co-founded by Van Jones, Natalie Foster and Billy Wimsatt focused on economic issues, has hired digital organizer and senior strategist Colin Holtz away from the public affairs firm M+R Strategic Services.
Holtz will be Rebuild the Dream’s national campaigns director. The group’s co-founders want to build a movement to reconstruct America’s middle class. They hope to use their organizational expertise to partner with and boost other like-minded progressive organizations on key economic issues.
Prior to M+R Strategic Strategic Services, Holtz was Organizing for America’s senior email campaigner during the administration’s fight to pass the Affordable Care Act. He helped to integrate online, field, press, and fundraising efforts into one national advocacy campaign.
“Colin is wickedly smart and it was a big score to get him,” said Foster. “I’m so excited to be working with him.”
Holtz, 26, will be based in Washington, D.C. with Molly Katchpole, a campaign associate who built a network of supporters on Change.org last year that compelled Bank of America to rescind a proposed debit card fee.
Holtz started his organizing career as an intern at the New Organizing Institute, and then became Internet director for former Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Penn.).
“From the big picture standpoint, Rebuild the Dream is sitting on top of the issue areas that are going to define American public life for the next couple of years, if not the next decade,” Holtz said in an interview. “From an organizational standpoint, there’s an amazing team, and a lot of potential to do some cutting edge work.”
