About

Luke Fretwell is a champion of open, accessible technologies that drives inclusive and collaborative democracy.

He is the co-founder and CEO of ProudCity, a platform empowering local governments across the nation to deliver better digital services. In its esteemed GovTech 100 list, Government Technology annually recognizes ProudCity as one of the nation’s leading civic technology companies.

In 2009, he started GovFresh, where he writes about the intersection of design, technology and democracy.

Luke worked as a government technology journalist for many years and has written for TechCrunch, Government Technology, FCW, FedScoop, StateScoop, and has been referenced by media outlets, including The Washington Post.

Luke has helped a number of early-stage government-focused companies gain momentum, including FedScoop and StateScoop, where he stood up editorial and digital operations, and the open data platform company NuCivic (acquired in 2014), where he led product marketing.

In 2014, he founded Agile Government Leadership as a community project that brought awareness to open and agile methodologies for better digital service delivery by government. AGL is now Technologists for the Public Good.

In 2019, Luke served as product designer for California’s Alpha team, an innovation project by the State of California to re-imagine CA.gov. He also worked with the state on Code California, aimed at creating awareness around open source software and culture inside government.

A civic hacker at heart, he’s built a number of open source, community-based projects, including ScanGov (government digital service monitor), Proudly Serving (local government digital services handbook), GovPress (government WordPress theme) and CityCamp (global civic technology unconference).

He civic hacks with his son, Elias, under the moniker Civic Hacking Agency. They also host and mentor Code@TheLibrary, a self-directed youth coding meet-up at their local library.

Beyond civic technology, Luke has led the rebrand and product design for Inspire.com; was a designer, marketing and product manager for Technical Communities; and managed the executive management newsletter and press-related functions for the American Society of Association Executives.

His past volunteer service includes mentoring youth with Fairfax County’s (Virginia) Befriend-A-Child program; hosting a Bosnian refugee family with the International Rescue Committee; and providing hospice care support with Pathways Home Health and Hospice.

Luke graduated from George Mason University with degrees in government and politics and tnternational studies. He was editor-in-chief of the GMU newspaper, The Broadside, where he led staff to win the university’s first national Associated Collegiate Press honors.