Brian Purchia is the CEO of Riff City Strategies and Co-Founder of CivicMakers. The long-time media and public policy strategist has led some of the most high profile efforts at the intersection of government and technology.The former head of digital strategy for SF Mayor Gavin Newsom and Change.org spokesman has been called “genuinely innovative,” by Craigslist founder Craig Newmark. Purchia was the driving force behind the first local open data law and open API in government. The San Francisco Chronicle has described Brian as Newsom’s “go-to guy for new, and especially social media” for his implementation of a digital media strategy called “gutsy” and “brilliant” on NPR. Newsom’s extensive digital media operation was used to build the mayor’s reputation as an environmental and technology leader. Newsom was twice selected the greenest mayor in the U.S. by TreeHugger. In 2006, Purchia ran a first-of-its-kind digital media campaign where students created online TV ads, with the winning video played as an ad during The Daily Show. The campaign was featured in Time Magazine and hailed in the blogosphere as “utterly brilliant.”Prior to starting Riff City Strategies, Purchia worked in media, developing one of the first mobile TV networks for the US market while working for WeatherNews in Japan. From 2002-2006 he was a reporter for Voice of America. He also has worked in local news for KTXL in Sacramento.Specialties: Advocacy, Crisis communications, government relations, public relations, social media, digital media, blogs, public affairs, media affairs, marketing, brand development, online reputation management, corporate communications, internal communications, television, radio, mobile technology