Garlin Gilchrist II loves three things: his family, Detroit, and solving problems using technology. That’s why—after a successful career as a software engineer at Microsoft, technology entrepreneur, and political organizer with MoveOn.org and the Obama campaign—he returned home to Detroit with his wife Ellen and then-ten-month-old twins Garlin III & Emily Grace to become the City of Detroit’s Director of Innovation & Emerging Technology.

There Gilchrist has made city services easier to use, city information easier to access and understand, and city departments more efficient. Garlin Gilchrist II is a problem solver and a fighter. He’s protected and expanded voting rights across the country. He’s fixed broken systems and that is the expertise that he’ll bring to the City Clerk’s office to open the doorway to democracy in Detroit.