Canaan McCaslin is a program officer for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Policy and Advocacy team. Prior to this role, McCaslin served as the director of programming for Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics and Public Service (GU Politics). He has also worked in electoral politics and campaigns, including campaigns for Congresswoman Kathy Castor (FL-14) and Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign in Iowa, where he was part of a large-scale organizing team that led to Secretary Buttigieg’s historic victory in the Iowa Caucuses. Before jumping into the 2020 campaign cycle, McCaslin was a public policy and communications professional, serving as the special assistant to the county administrator for Pinellas County Government and previously as the associate vice president of communications for Lutheran Services Florida (LSF), a statewide human services agency. He earned a bachelor’s degree in international affairs with a concentration in Latin American and African Studies from Georgetown University. He also has a master’s degree in public policy and management from Carnegie Mellon University.