Alum hired as CTO of Obama 2012 campaign

Chicago alum Harper Reed ’01 is serving as chief technology officer of the Obama 2012 campaign.

According to a June 2, 2011, Chicago Tribune article, Reed will focus on helping field operators improve voter contact.

“I am here to make sure technology is a successful force multiplier within the campaign,” Reed said in a statement e-mailed to the Tribune via a campaign spokeswoman. “This is a campaign, unlike a startup where technology drives. What we do here is empower.”

Nick Rosa, managing director of venture capital firm Sandbox Industries, where Reed recently served as an adviser, told the Tribune, “Harper is not the guy you’d typically imagine inviting to a board meeting, but we always did and he was very impressive.  If you heard him talk and speak, you’d think he was a suit, but he’s not. He takes pride in being different.”

A June 2 post on the Atlantic runs down five interesting projects Reed has been involved with, including CTA Alerts, which puts Chicago public transit information into one place. The Atlantic piece notes that Reed has long been involved with software that includes interaction with users.