The Center for Democracy Innovation’s (CDI) Director, Matt Leighninger, has been named Vice President of the National Civic League. Matt will retain his position as CDI Director while taking on new responsibilities central to League operations—such as supporting the Board of Directors and contributing to budget planning—in collaboration with League President Doug Linkhart.
Matt has been with the League since March 2023, bringing his expertise in democracy innovation from the National Conference on Citizenship. He previously served as Vice President at Public Agenda and as Executive Director of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium.
In his role at CDI, Matt has forged new partnerships with organizations including CFLeads, Bridge Alliance, AAA-ICDR Foundation, and $1 Billion for Trust, and developed programs such as the League’s Healthy Democracy Map, Better Public Meetings program, Civic Engagement Scorecard, and Civic Health Action Guide for Rhode Island. Most importantly, Matt has helped the League fine-tune its work to renovate the nation’s democracy by helping communities implement innovative approaches to engage their residents.
“Matt brings a deep understanding of democracy and how to improve civic engagement and good governance across the nation, as well as strong working relationships with other organizations in this field,” Linkhart said. “It’s an understatement, but we certainly need new ideas and energy to not only save democracy but make it better.”
The League is also welcoming two new team members who will work on specific projects, with potential for expanded roles. Mikayla Townsend will join as Project Manager for the Community Foundations for Civic Health project, and Anna Corning will collaborate with the League and ActiVote to advance datasets for both ActiVote and the Healthy Democracy Ecosystem Map. Mikayla is also on staff with New Hampshire Listens, and Anna most recently worked for the Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management.
Meet our full team: https://www.nationalcivicleague.org/who-we-are/
