• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year

2

Indeed chief economist says we’re entering an era of ‘great mismatch’ thanks to a generational imbalance of workers

3

Microsoft reports are exposing AI's real cost problem: Using the tech is more expensive than paying human employees

1

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year

2

Indeed chief economist says we’re entering an era of ‘great mismatch’ thanks to a generational imbalance of workers

3

Microsoft reports are exposing AI's real cost problem: Using the tech is more expensive than paying human employees
TechMost Powerful Women

5 Things We Learned From Hillary Clinton’s Campaign CTO

By
Kia Kokalitcheva
Kia Kokalitcheva
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Kia Kokalitcheva
Kia Kokalitcheva
Down Arrow Button Icon
August 29, 2016, 10:47 PM ET
Courtesy of Steph Hannon

Even a presidential campaign needs a strong technology leader to keep the machine well-oiled and the Amazon Web Services bill paid.

Stephanie Hannon is that person—the chief technology officer—for Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Hannon took the job in April of last year, and prior to that, was a director of product management at Google, where she spent much of her career over the last decade.

Clinton’s campaign has turned to the usual tech-driven tactics, like using social media to reach out to voters, but it’s also come up with some creative ideas, like its mobile app for volunteers that helps them participate and adds an gaming element to keep them motivated.

On Monday, Hannon participated in an online question-and-answer session hosted by Product Hunt, a leaderboard for tech products. Here are some highlights:

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

What does a campaign CTO do?

Much of Hannon’s job is similar to a typical CTO role in the private sector. She and her team build and manage the gamut of technology tools developed and used by everyone working on Clinton’s campaign.

“That spans a broad space: fundraising, organizing (empowering field organizers and helping volunteers be efficient in canvassing and phone banking), voters (registering to vote, GOTV, voter protection), data analytics infrastructure, storytelling and rapid response, engagement and mobile apps,” she said.

And her team is quite productive. “This has been one of the biggest surprises of this job, I could not have predicted how many different tools and products we would build and launch,” she said. “The count is likely over 50 now.”

See also: Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Uses This Messaging App to Foil Hackers

Hillary is all about those hip startups

Clinton can’t exactly book a vacation home through Airbnb or pull out her Uber app to grab a ride, but that doesn’t mean she’s totally unfamiliar with these startups.

“I helped host a roundtable with Silicon Valley leaders from the sharing economy, like Airbnb, Box, Lyft, Instacart, and Uber last August,” said Hannon, adding that she expected Clinton to not be a personal user of these companies’ services.

“But she absolutely knew every bit of those companies, products, users, and challenges. And she led a deep and thoughtful conversation about the regulatory, tax and infrastructure challenges that make growing those businesses challenging,” she said.

See also: Alphabet Executive Resigns from Uber’s Board Amid Growing Rivalry

Clinton’s tech team uses Slack

Presidential campaign teams are just like us—they use Slack to chat with their teammates. Along with general shop talk, Hannon’s team also uses the instant messaging system to encourage and celebrate its hard work and achievements.

“Team members will gift a hat with a Pear on it to reward work and then post a picture in Slack,” she said to describe her team’s tradition when celebrating a coworker’s accomplishment.

Other common work tools Hannon’s team uses include JIRA (a tool for managing work tasks made by Atlassian), and Amazon Web Services to host all of its work.

The campaign volunteer app for Android is coming soon

Hillary’s small mobile development team is hard at work on the Android app, which will be out in the coming weeks, said Hannon. The iOS version debuted a month ago.

Hillary’s tech team is diverse

Tech companies, take note: Women make up just under 40% of Hannon’s team, which she said is diverse in other ways as well.

“It took significant investment to get there, so the early part of culture was our recruiting process,” she said. “We focused on sourcing from diverse meet-ups [with] groups and communities in NYC, we were deliberate about diverse interview panels, and we prioritized emotional intelligence and soft skills along with technical skills and experience.”

That’s not to say that it hasn’t faced any challenges when it comes to culture and inclusiveness. For example, some team members were made fun of for not being familiar with certain tools or suggesting ones they had experience using. “With such a diverse team that uses so many different technologies (Python, Ruby, PHP, Node, etc.), we’ve spent a lot of time working with the team to use inclusive language so that no team member feels less than the others for their background or the technology they work with,” said Hannon.

About the Author
By Kia Kokalitcheva
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

SpaceX’s third-generation Starship, which NASA may use to put astronauts on the moon, makes debut in test flight ahead of blockbuster IPO
InnovationSpaceX
SpaceX’s third-generation Starship, which NASA may use to put astronauts on the moon, makes debut in test flight ahead of blockbuster IPO
By Marcia Dunn and The Associated PressMay 23, 2026
22 minutes ago
Is a college degree still worth it? Here are 3 things it can teach you that AI can’t do
Future of WorkColleges and Universities
Is a college degree still worth it? Here are 3 things it can teach you that AI can’t do
By Jake AngeloMay 23, 2026
1 hour ago
Ashley Yetman
Commentarydisruption
Everyone is blaming AI for the death of ‘craft.’ Take a good look in the mirror
By Ashley YetmanMay 23, 2026
3 hours ago
Josh Smith, founder of Montana Knife Company.
SuccessEntrepreneurs
This 39-year-old quit his lineman job during the pandemic and built a $50 million company in his backyard
By Nick LichtenbergMay 23, 2026
4 hours ago
Jon McNeill
SuccessCareers
Former Tesla president shares the secret to success he learned from his former boss, Elon Musk: ‘He demands to only work with world-class talent’
By Preston ForeMay 23, 2026
5 hours ago
clay
CommentaryLoneliness
I’ve spent 25 years studying loneliness. AI is about to make it much worse
By Clay RoutledgeMay 23, 2026
5 hours ago

Most Popular

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year
Success
Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year
By Preston ForeMay 21, 2026
2 days ago
Indeed chief economist says we’re entering an era of ‘great mismatch’ thanks to a generational imbalance of workers
Success
Indeed chief economist says we’re entering an era of ‘great mismatch’ thanks to a generational imbalance of workers
By Emma BurleighMay 22, 2026
23 hours ago
Microsoft reports are exposing AI's real cost problem: Using the tech is more expensive than paying human employees
AI
Microsoft reports are exposing AI's real cost problem: Using the tech is more expensive than paying human employees
By Jake AngeloMay 22, 2026
22 hours ago
Despite a $500 million net worth, Shaq just finished his fourth degree. He warns graduates: 'Your character will take you further than your resume'
Success
Despite a $500 million net worth, Shaq just finished his fourth degree. He warns graduates: 'Your character will take you further than your resume'
By Preston ForeMay 20, 2026
3 days ago
Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 
Workplace Culture
Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 
By Preston ForeMay 19, 2026
4 days ago
Apple’s Steve Wozniak says he cofounded the tech giant after 5 rejections from HP—not to ‘make money.’ For years, his paycheck was just $50
Success
Apple’s Steve Wozniak says he cofounded the tech giant after 5 rejections from HP—not to ‘make money.’ For years, his paycheck was just $50
By Preston ForeMay 22, 2026
24 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.