Effective June 2019, Karundi Williams will be the new Executive Director of re:power. Karundi will be based in Washington, D.C. and lead a national team of strategists, organizers, and technologists towards re:power’s bold mission of building transformative political power with and for communities of color, at all levels in our government and power structures. At SEIU, one of the largest labor unions in the world, Karundi served as the Political Director for the Midwest initiative and Director of State and Local Programs, which included directing national policy priorities, managing a host of state legislative campaigns, and elevating the needs of working people in the national discourse. Her work included forming coalitions between elected officials, civic organizations, and local progressive organizers as a means of building power for working families, especially communities of color. The depth and breadth of her work in the Midwest, Florida, California, Oregon, Connecticut and around the country is an asset to re:power as we believe that state-based infrastructure work must happen even in off-cycle years. As the Deputy Director for Government Affairs for the State of Ohio, Karundi was instrumental in not only implementing legislation and policy, but working across party lines to create coalitions of elected officials and constituents, influence the ways in which policymakers and elected officials work together, and work with large, multi-issue teams.