TheBridge profile: William Rinehart

Name: William Rinehart

Current city: Washington, DC

Current job: Director of Technology and Innovation Policy at the American Action Forum

Past job: Research Fellow at TechFreedom

Q. Favorite spot for a coffee meeting? Filter in Foggy Bottom

Q. Describe one way how a skill you learned in a previous job helped you in your new job. While working at TechFreedom, I learned one important lesson: read the original. Be it legislation or regulation or a report, details are lost and framing is added when you consume ideas secondhand. It seems obvious, but it is powerful in today's fast paced world.

Q. Job advice in three words? Drink More Coffee

Q. How are you (or your company, org, nonprofit) currently bridging the gap between politics and tech? As I see it, all think tanks are dedicated to translation. For me, I try to translate what is happening in the world of technology and make it relevant and understandable to those in policy making.

Q. Morning routine? Every morning, I wake up and make a pot of Chemex coffee. Then, as I am getting ready, I annoy my neighbors by listening to the latest BBC World News podcast.

Q. Favorite app? Reddit ranks at the top for me because there are still many subreddits where high level critical analysis occurs.  

Q. If you had to live in another city, which would it be? If I had to live in another city, it would be Chicago. It's not the West Coast or the East Coast, but the Midwest Coast.  

Q. What can Silicon Valley teach DC? I have long appreciated the optimism that permeates Silicon Valley and I think that DC could use a strong dose of it. In the past, the Bay Area has been chided for being “a heartless amnesiac” where nostalgia finds little refuge. In DC, especially now, that kind of attitude could be hugely empowering.