DNC hires Raffi Krikorian, a former Uber exec, as their chief technology officer

As Democrats begin to rebuild in the wake of their 2016 presidential election defeat, the party’s official political organ is tapping Raffi Krikorian, a former top engineer at Uber’s self-driving-car program, to be its next chief technology officer. The hire comes as the Democratic National Committee looks to improve its tech tools in a bid to reach more voters — while preventing another major cyber breach, the likes of which by Russian-backed hackers in 2016 helped sink Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Krikorian departed Uber in February; he had served as the senior director of engineering at Uber’s Advanced Technologies Center in Pittsburgh. He then briefly joined New America, a nonpartisan policy think tank, as the director of engineering focused on public-interest technology. He did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment, nor did the DNC. When he assumes his new role, though, Krikorian will face no shortage of endemic tech troubles to tackle — beginning with shoring up the DNC’s cyber defenses after Russian hackers targeted Democrats in 2016, stole their private emails and shared them with WikiLeaks.