Federal 100 winner: Macon Phillips

Macon Phillips

Director of New Media

Obama-Biden Transition Team

Phillips developed Change.gov and oversaw the Obama-Biden Transition Team’s overall online communications. Change.gov went live Nov. 6, 2008, soliciting suggestions from citizens and providing a guide to the people and procedures behind the transfer of executive power.

The site resembled that of other government agencies, with biographies of the transition team, backgrounds on the incoming president's policy priorities, and links to information about the Cabinet offices to be filled. The speed with which the site was launched signaled a commitment to bringing greater transparency to government and putting more data online more rapidly for public comment.

Change.gov is now whitehouse.gov, the official Web site of the Obama administration.

“Macon brought deep knowledge and experience in the application of new technology and the political world,” said Andrew Rasiej, founder of the Personal Democracy Forum, a technology and politics Web site. “Change.gov was significant because it was the first example of the White House or executive branch acknowledging the two-way nature of the Web in robust and honest way. Macon’s work with Change.gov sent a signal to the online activists who participated in the election campaign online that culture of the Internet was going to become a significant part of the Obama White House strategy.”