About CiviliNation
CiviliNation is a global, 501(c)(3) non-profit education and research organization focused on advancing the full capability of individuals to communicate and engage in cyberspace in a responsible and accountable way.  A strong supporter of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, CiviliNation believes that free speech is enhanced through civil dialog and a rational exchange of information and ideas. By fostering an online culture in which individuals can fully engage and contribute without fear or threat of being the target of unwarranted abuse, harassment, or lies, the core ideals of democracy are upheld. CiviliNation’s name is derived from a combination of the words civilization, civility, and nation.

Bios

Andrea Weckerle, Founder and President

Andrea Weckerle is an American attorney who earned her Juris Doctor at T.C. Williams School of Law, University of Richmond, where she also served on the Senior Staff of the Richmond Journal of Law & Technology, the first exclusively online, student-edited law journal in the U.S. In addition to her law degree, she underwent extensive mediation training, earning certificates in Commercial Mediation and Conflict Resolution Processes. She also holds a Master of Arts degree in Communications/Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University.

After law school, Andrea worked within the Legal Management Services division of the international professional services firm Ernst & Young, where she helped design, develop and implement comprehensive alternative dispute resolution systems for Fortune 500 companies. During her tenure at the firm, she served on the international team of a high-profile, politically sensitive investigatory review of World War II-era banking records for two international financial institutions and a U.S. state regulatory agency. Prior to founding CiviliNation, she ran her own boutique communications consultancy and also worked with national agencies, where her experience included legal and corporate communications, online communications and social media.

Jimmy Wales, Director

Jimmy Wales is an American Internet entrepreneur best known as the founder of the Wikimedia Foundation, the charity which operates Wikipedia.org, and as the co-founder of Wikia.com.

In January of 2001, Jimmy started Wikipedia.org, the online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and today Wikipedia and its sister projects are among the top-five most visited sites on the web. In 2004, Jimmy co-founded Wikia.com, a completely separate company that enables groups of people to share information and opinions that fall outside the scope of an encyclopedia. Wikia’s community-created wikis range from video games and movies to finance and environmental issues. Wikia’s network is now ranked in the top 75 of all websites according to Quantcast.com, and strong growth continues.

In 2007, The World Economic Forum recognized Jimmy as one of the “Young Global Leaders.” This prestigious award acknowledges the top 250 young leaders for their professional accomplishments, their commitment to society and their potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world. In addition, Jimmy received the “Time 100 Award” in 2006, as he was named one of the world’s most influential people in the “Scientists & Thinkers” category.

Gina Smith, Director

Gina Smith is a New York Times best-selling author, award-winning investigative journalist and technology expert and analyst.

At ABC News, she appeared weekly on such programs as Good Morning America, World News Tonight with Peter Jennings and 20/20. Her syndicated newspaper columns and radio shows have reached millions of Americans since she began covering technology in the late 1980s.

For her work in technology, Gina has received numerous awards. Upside Magazine listed her among the top 100 most influential people in the computer industry in 2000. In 2003 she was named to the Board of the University of Southern California (USC) School of Engineering. Her book, The Genomics Age, was a Barron’s Book of the Year in 2005. In 2006, her book, cowritten with Steve Wozniak, iWOZ, became a New York Times bestseller and is selling in 15 languages worldwide.

Gina, a native Floridian, was recently honored as a noted graduate of Florida State University. She holds a BA in Chemistry from FSU and an MA in Clinical Psychology from Saybrook University.

James P. Clark

James P. Clark is founding chairman and CEO of the World Technology Network, a global association of over 1,000 of the peer-nominated, peer-elected most innovative people in science and technology elected annually through the World Technology Awards. The most recent Awards were presented at the close of the 2010 World Technology Summit & Awards, held in association with TIME magazine, CNN, Fortune, among others, in New York City. Now in its ninth annual cycle, the World Technology Summit & Awards is a two-day, global gathering of the WTN membership (primarily winners/finalists from previous World Technology Award cycles), as well as World Technology Award nominees. The WTN has also convened more focused summits, such as the World Energy Technologies Summit (WETS) at UNESCO headquarters in Paris in 2004, and the latest WETS in 2010 in NYC, as well as other smaller roundtables in cities around the world

Educated at Wesleyan University and Cambridge University (UK), James has served in a wide variety of leadership roles across business, politics, technology, academia, and the non-profit sector. A serial entrepreneur, James’ first venture, a clearinghouse for professional careers in the non-profit sector, was founded at Wesleyan University and then green-housed, by invitation, at Harvard University, where he was appointed to the faculty. In 1992, James served in a director-level position in Little Rock, AK, for then-Governor Bill Clinton’s successful Presidential campaign. He was responsible for both the Non-Profit Sector and also National Service (Americorps). During the Presidential Transition period after the election, James co-developed the Presidential Transition Roundtable Series, bringing experts together to examine key issues, including Northern Ireland, Entrepreneurship, The Role of the Non-Profit Sector in Government, The Politics of Inclusion, and Homelessness. In 1993, he started one of the country’s first Internet consulting firms, focused on bringing online technology to the non-profit sector, and whose main client/partner was a start-up called America Online (AOL). In 1997, he founded the World Technology Network.

James has appeared on CNN, CNBC, BBC, and in many print publications over the years, and speaks regularly to a wide variety of audiences and has consulted to a wide variety of organizations. He has served on various boards over the years, including as a founding board member of Teach for America, as chairman of ACCESS: Networking in the Public Interest, and as a director of Transclick.