A small group doing big things.
Our team is joined by purpose and passion for making sure people can be heard to empower better decision making.
Our Founders & Directors
Suffrago was founded in the summer of 2024, by Andrew Gray and Dr. Simon Wallace who share a common passion for politics, and first worked together during Andrew's Selby and Ainsty by-election campaign in 2023.
The perfect combination of poltical understanding, business expertise, start-up experience, and technical skills – combined with a relationship forged by doing very hard things in a short timeframe – they were able to take Suffrago from concept to product in less than 12 weeks.
Andrew Gray
A successful entrepreneur who has successfully overseen the exits of 2 previous businesses, Andrew's love of politics has been a guiding force in his career. As an ex-lawyer who helped those against seemingly insurmountable odds, Suffrago is the perfect confluence of Andrew's professional expertise and personal passion.
Dr. Simon Wallace
Self professed "Tech Nerd who learned how to speak human", Simon brings not only technical proficiency and a solid business understanding of the start up space; but also a passion for psephology and politics. Since graduating with a Ph.D. in Statistics he has worked in and advised start ups, as well as advising investors.
The Team
At Suffrago we want to incorporate as many different views, expertises, and as much knowledge as possible so we can ensure the voice of the people is heard by decision makers. We are proud of each member of our team and you can find more information about them below.
Richard Pitt
Richard has a rich experience in the development of software product solutions and services at companies ranging from start-ups to the largest multinationals both within the UK and internationally. Richard brings both his skills a passion for the application of technology in political democracy to help Suffrago grow.
Collaborators
Suffrago has already been, and will continue to be, and amazing journey. We believe Suffrago can revolutionise politcs, surveys, and insight discovery with our combination of people, process, and intellectual property. We are always on the lookout for people and businesses who want to be a part of this amazing journey with us.
Prof. Steve Pile
The Open University
Professor Steve Pile is Professor of Human Geography at the Open University, UK. Steve Pile teaches Geography at The Open University. He has published widely on issues concerning place and the politics of identity. Mostly recently, Steve wrote Bodies, Affects, Politics (2021), which explores the entanglement of emotions and politics. Has been involved in a number of research projects. The Open City project investigates the ways that London has been influenced by ever changing patterns of inhabitation, migration and mobility. The project is especially concerned with issues of political participation and democracy at the local, borough and city scales.
Dr. Yu-Shan Tseng
University of Southampton
Yu-Shan Tseng is Anniversary Research Fellow at the University of Southampton, UK. Yu-Shan’s research explores and compares the impacts of open-source platforms on dimensions of democracy—decision-making, empowerment, and participation—in Taipei, Madrid, and Helsinki. She has published in Social and Cultural Geography, Urban Studies, Big Data and Society, and more. Her monograph, entitled Liquid Democracy, is due to be published by Wiley next year. This book offers an intersectional approach to unpacking the entanglements between digital platforms, cities, and democratic politics.
Advisory Councils
From the outset of Suffrago's creation, we always wanted to have the best, brightest, and thought provoking viewpoints within the business; we don't want to be surrounded by sycophants. To this point, one of the first actions our directors took was to create two advisory councils to ensure Suffrago lives up to its mission statement and vision.
Each of these councils have access to the business, it's board of directors, and team to ask questions to ensure our continuing complaince and will periodically publish reports that will be made available to the public.
Political Neutrality
It will come as no surprise that the politcal world today is highly partisan; and whilst as a business Suffrago does not proactively support any ideology, with our goal being to always remain politically neutral so users can make their own decisions, we are run and operated by humans. This is why Suffrago has appointed a "Political Neutrality Council" which is made up of poltical representatives from all viewpoints to ensure that whilst our activities may not always be positive or negative to a political party or ideology, we are not biased in the way in which we report and present information. (Note. As of the time of writing this council is being assembled and this page will update as councillors are appointed)
The recommendations, and responses from Suffrago, for this council can be seen here
Rowan Halstead
Yorkshire Party candidate for the Hull and East Yorkshire Mayoral election. Co-leader of the Yorkshire Party. Rowan joined the Army aged 18 as an electrical engineer. Passionate about fairness, equality and fostering a society where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.
Technological & Data Ethics
Whilst the ethical and legislatively complaint use of data is ingrained in Suffrago with everything that we do, we cannot ask people to trust us if we are approving our own work. As such we have appointed this council to ensure our continuing ethical use of technology and data within Suffrago; their remit includes our use of AI technologies such as Generative AI, our judgements regarding compliance with relevant data legistlation, and how any new technologies are adopted ethically within the business. (Note. As of the time of writing this council is being assembled and this page will update as councillors are appointed)
James Moulding
James enhances the UK democracy sector through technology, focusing on network infrastructure and collaboration. He co-founded AirPublic, Games for the Many, and Campaign Lab, promoting political innovation. James is a Fellow and Lecturer at Newspeak House, the London College for Political Technology.
Richard Pitt
As well as serving an advisor to Suffrago, Richard has extensive experience with a strong technical and project management background. Richard now focuses on business development and innovation, leveraging his highly developed commercial, business communication, and product creation skills.
John White
John has over 40 years experience in the IT industry, designing, implementing and consulting on information systems in the public, private and voluntary sectors. He has acted as an Expert Witness in court cases relating to system procurement and worked with the National Audit Office on Value for Money studies.
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