Hi! I’m Carolyn Gearig.

I'm a product leader working at the intersection of journalism, civic data, and public impact. I'm currently Director of Product at OpenSecrets, the nation's premier research and government transparency group tracking money in politics.

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→ Contact me or find me on LinkedIn

Currently, I

→ Lead product at OpenSecrets, where I'm making campaign finance and political influence data more accessible and actionable for journalists, compliance professionals, and the public.

→ Photograph NYC’s subway stations. Check out my zine of work from this project, which I’ve been working on since 2018.

In the past, I

→ Managed user research and non-subscriber product at McClatchy Media, building experiences and driving engagement across 29 local newspapers and 9 magazines.

→ Traveled solo across India, Nepal and Thailand during a six-month sabbatical in 2023.

→ Joined Prolegis as first product hire, creating tools for Congressional staffers and policy professionals to navigate complex topics.

→ Managed product development at experimental local media startup WhereBy.Us. I conducted research that grew membership and newsletter engagement and built a system for teams to design and conduct their own user research projects.

→ Helped build Axios' CMS from scratch as an early hire, owning newsroom onboarding and training processes.

→ Interviewed Michigan residents about their relationship to local and national news.