Staff

John Bracken

Executive Director

John (he/him) has been DPLA’s executive director since 2017. Previously John worked for nearly two decades as a philanthropic investor in digital media, media policy, and innovation. He most recently served as vice president for technology innovation at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, where he oversaw the Knight News Challenge, Knight’s Prototype Fund, and other efforts to improve the creation, curation, and accessibility of information. He previously managed technology and civic innovation programs at the MacArthur Foundation and the Ford Foundation. He has a master’s degree from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. from Pitzer College. He serves on the board of the Poetry Foundation.

Dominic Byrd-McDevitt

Interim Director of Community Engagement

Dominic is DPLA’s interim director of community engagement, helping to identify and develop services, partnerships, and products to support our national network. Dominic is also working to integrate DPLA’s collections into Wikimedia projects and make them more readily accessible and reusable online. Most recently, Dominic worked at the National Archives and Records Administration where he was a digital content specialist, helping to design the catalog’s crowdsourcing features and launch the agency’s first catalog API, as well as being the world’s longest-serving Wikipedian in Residence. Dominic also served as Wikipedian in Residence at the Smithsonian Institution. Dominic currently serves as a cultural partnerships advisor at Wikimedia District of Columbia and has been an active Wikipedia editor since 2004. He has a B.A. from Reed College and has studied library science at Simmons College.

Michael Della Bitta

Director of Technology

Michael (he/him) is DPLA’s director of technology. Michael has worked in data, search, analytics, and multi-tier application development for over 20 years. Most recently, he worked as an engineering manager at Harvard University’s Library Innovation Lab. Previously, he was DPLA’s director of technology for over 7 years.  Before DPLA, Michael worked as a data and analytics developer, architect, and engineering manager at the marketing company ScribbleLive and as a developer and architect on the repository and digital gallery teams at the New York Public Library.  He also built content management, online learning, and semantic metadata applications at Columbia University. Michael holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Bates College.

Suzanne Gilbert Lee

Operations and Culture Manager

Suzanne is DPLA’s operations & culture manager and is responsible for the business operations of the organization. Suzanne oversees financial information and budgets, manages staffing and workflow processes, human resources and benefit management, organizational culture, and internal and external events and meetings. Suzanne has previously worked with several New England not-for-profit organizations, including Rocky Neck Art Colony, Historic New England, and the North Shore Arts Association. She has a B.A. in journalism from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and studied theology at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Micah May

Director of Ebook Services