The Unite America Institute is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that seeks to encourage broad-based, nonpartisan civic engagement and political participation and engage in research and scholarly analysis on important issues of public concern, including the root causes, effects, and potential solutions to political polarization and partisanship.
Kathryn is co-founder and president of Quadrivium, which supports practical, evidence-based solutions for critical societal problems. Kathryn currently serves on the boards of Unite America, the Climate Leadership Council and Climate Central. She is a founding board member of SciLine and co-chairs the Oceans and Communications committees as a trustee of the Environmental Defense Fund. Previously, she served on the advisory board of the Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford University and the Board of Trustees at Rockefeller University.
Kent Thiry (KT) was CEO of DaVita from 1999 to 2019, a Fortune 250 company with 65,000 teammates across 12 countries. He is significantly involved in the national U.S. democracy movement and has been a leader in seven successful statewide ballot initiatives across three states. KT serves on the global board of The Nature Conservancy. He also founded and chairs Colorado Thrives, a group consisting primarily of large Colorado company CEOs, which is focused on advancing economic mobility for all its citizens. He co-founded The Aspen Group with Senators Bill Frist and Tom Daschle, a group dedicated to non-partisan healthcare reform. He is also a founding board member of Colorado Endeavor, an international entrepreneurial network.
Sam Mar leads Saber Strategies, a philanthropic and political consultancy. Prior to Saber, Sam was Executive Vice President and Senior Advisor at Arnold Ventures, where he led the organization's advocacy, grant-making, communications, and government affairs across diverse initiatives, including climate and clean energy, election reform, immigration, and organ donation. Before that, he served as CEO of the Action Now Initiative, a political advocacy organization founded by Laura and John Arnold. Sam began his career in the private sector, spending a decade in consulting, banking, investment management, and product innovation.Sam is a member of the Board at Unite America, ClearPath, and Bipartisan Climate Action as well as the Conservative Climate Caucus PAC. He also serves as a Senior Advisor on policy at the Polynera Fund. Sam is a graduate of the University of Texas McCombs School of Business and IE Business School.
Executive Director
Nick Troiano has been involved in the political reform movement for over a decade, including running for U.S. Congress in 2014 as an independent candidate. Nick previously ran a bipartisan fiscal reform advocacy organization called The Can Kicks Back. In 2016, he was named to the "Forbes 30 Under 30" for Law & Policy.
Policy Director
Beth is the Policy Director at Unite America, where she oversees original and commissioned research that diagnoses the problems with party primaries and evaluates the effectiveness of reform solutions.
In addition to her research portfolio, Beth leads outreach efforts to educate stakeholders on elections and reform. She brings a nonpartisan perspective shaped by her experience at the National Conference of State Legislatures, the Oregon State Legislature, and the U.S. Senate. Beth also served as a producer on the 2024 film Majority Rules, which explores how election systems shape representation and governing incentives. Born and raised in rural Alaska, she holds a bachelor’s degree in politics from Willamette University.
Senior Policy Manager
Carlo brings a background in nonpartisan election reform to his work with extensive experience in policy, research, and grassroots advocacy. He conducts original research on primary elections, including the problems with party primaries and the evidence of reformed primary systems as solutions. He also consults with many internal and external stakeholders on best practices for primary election policy. Carlo was the researcher for Unite America Executive Director Nick Troiano's book The Primary Solution. Carlo previously worked for Fair Elections Portland, a nonpartisan electoral reform campaign that successfully expanded the use of ranked choice voting in Portland, ME, his hometown. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Government from Colby College.
Senior Research Fellow
Rich is a Senior Research Fellow at Unite America, where he conducts original research on how primary elections shape political incentives, party power, and legislative outcomes. His work evaluates the impact of reforms such as all-candidate primaries on representation and governance.In addition to his research at Unite America, Rich is a professor at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School, where he teaches public policy. His scholarship has been published in leading political science journals, and his public writing has appeared in outlets such as The Washington Post and CNN. Rich holds a Ph.D. in Government from Cornell University.
Research Fellow
Joe is a Research Fellow at Unite America, where he conducts original research on primary elections and contributes to the development of a scholarly research community focused on questions of election reform. His recent projects have explored the representativeness of candidates and electorates under different primary systems, as well as voter behavior under various types of reformed primaries.In addition to his work on election reform, Joe's other research investigates political communication and public opinion in diverse electoral contexts worldwide. Joe resides in the Philadelphia suburbs. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from George Washington University and B.A. in international relations from Saint Joseph's University.