Patrick Ruffini is the president and founder of Engage, a leading digital agency that partners with Fortune 500 companies, technology disruptors, and candidates and causes across the nation and around the globe.
Patrick was one of the first digital organizers in American politics, starting at the Republican National Committee in the 2002 cycle, for President Bush’s victorious 2004 re-election campaign, and returning to lead the RNC’s digital strategy in 2006. He is a veteran of three Presidential election campaigns, and in 2013 oversaw outside web and technology efforts for Australia’s Liberal Party as they achieved their biggest election victory in 107 years.
In these roles, Patrick has led the development of technology to engage millions of supporters that would later become the standard for national campaigns.
Known for his involvement in causes that unite his passion for bare-knuckle politics and technology-driven disruption, Patrick helped shape the strategy behind the come-from-behind defeat of the SOPA and PIPA Internet censorship bills and co-edited Hacking Politics, a book chronicling the fight. He is a fierce believer in the power of the Internet to change political campaigns and government for the better.
Named a “Tech Titan” by Washingtonian magazine in 2011 and 2013, and a Rising Star in American Politics by Campaigns and Elections magazine in 2008, Patrick has written for numerous publications including theWashington Post and National Review, and he has appeared on Fox News, HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, and NPR. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
[2006] Patrick Ruffini is never far from the place where politics meets technology. Since October 2005, he has been eCampaign Director for the Republican National Committee, where he oversees GOP.com and the integration of the Web into all aspects of strategic communications, grassroots, and fundraising. Before that he was webmaster for the Bush-Cheney ’04 presidential campaign, proudly serving as part of the team that executed the most sophisticated online strategy in political history. At the campaign, Ruffini was responsible for day-to-day website operations, designing creatives to crisply communicate the President’s message, and developing special features surrounding major events like the Conventions and Presidential debates. Ruffini also designed and served as chief writer for the campaign’s official blog, and managed the campaign’s outreach to the blog community.Both before and after his work on the Bush campaign, Ruffini maintained a political blog which launched in July 2001, back when such sites were still known as “me-zines.” Ruffini graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2000, with a B.A. in Diplomatic History and Political Science. He currently lives in Falls Church, Virginia.
