Alisa has been involved with Netroots Nation since the beginning. She has loved working backstage, and is excited to stage manage the plenary sessions this year. She has been involved with a variety of political organization, including working in Iowa for Howard Dean and serving as the regional coordinator for MoveOn in Manhattan.

When she isn't volunteering for good lefty causes, she teaches college. While her dissertation was on Political Satire in American Musical Theatre, lately she has focused on teaching public speaking at Hostos Community College, located in the South Bronx, the poorest congressional district in the country. She has published on political musical theatre and pedagogy.

She is currently enjoying playing with mud (or porcelain) and writing a screenplay about WWII.

Sarah Granger has 20 years of experience at the intersection of technology and government, including security, technology policy, online politics, new media, and open democracy projects. She recently founded the Center for Technology, Media & Society. A Fellow for the Truman National Security Project, Sarah helps guide progressives on cybersecurity as co-chair of their national expert group.

Sarah began her career working in cybersecurity for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and then at the California Maritime Academy, after finishing a degree in "Technology & Society" at the University of Michigan. She then worked at three Internet startups before pursuing technology policy projects at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, where she served as a delegate to the World Summit on the Information Society. Now she chairs the digital government committee of the U.S. Public Policy Council of ACM, a global organization of technology professionals.

During the 2004 presidential campaign cycle, she directed the launch of the first ever blog to be published by a prospective candidate. Since then, she has advised statewide and national political organizations and candidates on new media strategy through PublicEdge, WomenCount and now the Women’s Campaign Forum. In 2009, the California Democratic Party presented her with their New Media Award.

Sarah has regular blogs at The Huffington Post and The San Francisco Chronicle at SFGate.com. She has written for a wide range of publications including Security Focus, techPresident, MOMocrats, and MSNBC.com, and she has covered the Democratic National Convention and the White House. A contributing author of the book, Ethical Hacking, Sarah has edited five books on government 2.0, mobile security, cryptography and biometrics. She has also been featured on CBS News, Good Morning America, RT and NPR.

Sarah is on the advisory committee for Netroots Nation and regularly speaks at conferences around the country, including South by Southwest Interactive, Computers, Freedom and Privacy, and Fem 2.0. Find her at SarahGranger.com and on Twitter as @sairy.