Title: Founder and President

Organization: AmericaSpeaks

Dr. Carolyn J. Lukensmeyer is an innovator in deliberative democracy, public administration, and organizational development. She is Founder and President of AmericaSpeaks, a US-based non-profit that develops and implements innovative deliberative tools.

AmericaSpeaks and its international arm, Global Voices, have engaged more than 145,000 people in governance, in all 50 states and globally. Under Lukensmeyer’s leadership, AmericaSpeaks has earned an international reputation as a leader in the field of deliberative democracy and democratic renewal.

Lukensmeyer was Consultant (1993-1994) to the White House Chief of Staff, and Chief of Staff (1986-1991) to Governor Celeste of Ohio. Lukensmeyer earned a PhD in Organizational Behavior from Case Western Reserve University and completed postgraduate training at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland. Lukensmeyer is author of numerous publications, including Public Deliberation: A Manager's Guide to Citizen Deliberation published by IBM’s Center for the Business of Government (2006) and Institutionalizing Large-Scale Engagements in Governance: A Link Between Theory and Practice in Beyond e-Government and e-Democracy: A Global Perspective (2008). She is the 2009 recipient of the Straus Innovator Award, a yearly honor given by the College of the Atlantic to highlight practices that make a positive and tangible contribution to the health of our global civil society.