Aram Zucker-Scharff

I lead the new Privacy Engineering team at The Washington Post where we collaborate closely with teams across the organization to represent privacy and compliance and, by approaching privacy as an opportunity, build privacy as a product.

I am focused on developing and launching new ad products that will be offered to clients on and off the Washington Post. I also partner with technology teams across the organization, in particular the development of all RED tools in our Arc suite of products for licensing. I do detailed technical work to make our podcasts advertising systems work. I also have led privacy regulation compliance on the business engineering side of the organization, including working with vendors on CCPA. Additionally, I contribute on behalf of The Washington Post to the W3C.

Lead development of the PressForward plugin as the primary author of code for the project. Coordinates open source contributors.

- Launched significant upgrade to backend Content Management System (WordPress). - Rebuilt front end theme to be fully responsive. - Built custom platform-agnostic video viewer tool - Rebuilt metadata and on-page tools to fully comply with social media platforms - Worked closely with editorial and product to find and build out tools and workflow optimizations. - Worked on editorial-driven projects, including a live election map. - Built Gulp-based and Webkit workflows for using SASS and JSX across the entire organization. - Worked with PHP, WordPress, MySQL, Javascript, Node, YUI, React, Reflux, Redux, and Foundation. - Worked closely with sales and built significant ad tech and performance improvements. - Built Facebook Instant Articles plugin and worked with Facebook Live API. - Built out significant custom analytics for A/B testing, video and general KPIs. - Built React/Reflux API-driven WordPress theme. - Worked as primary contact between engineering and editorial teams. - Led engineering team.

Leadership on business and marketing strategy. Investigates and brings in talent. Training. Working to form company vision and mission.

Works with all divisions to leverage new technology, user experience data, and narrative design to improve overall web presence. Project managed multiple digital journalism projects. Developed and open-sourced plugins and developer tools. Trained journalists, marketing and sales staff in digital tools and strategies. Working with executive staff and sales to optimize digital sales channel. Designed, tested and deployed tools to increase engagement and create a better user experience.

Leads development on knowledge management product.

Administrative Faculty Engage students through social and traditional media. Oversee social media, including 18 Twitter accounts and eight Facebook accounts, to manage and build upon the online community that interacts with the university's brand and the office's content. Manage the onMason blogging and site-building platform to provide much-needed tools to the Mason community, build a greater audience for office content and increase traffic to student media properties. Engage high school students who are considering George Mason University, both online and in person. Build search engine and social media optimization into various student media web presences. Manage marketing and public relations for the office. Work to develop and strengthen outlet brands. Hire and supervise students specializing in these fields to expand reach and effectiveness. Increase ad sales and leverage non-traditional methods and platforms in order to boost revenue. Manage student ad sales staff. Represent Student Media in off-campus events and organizations that intersect our interests in order to create opportunities for collaboration, including Social Media Club DC, Online News Association, and DC Twestival. Also to represent Student Media at national and regional conferences and BarCamps, including the College Media Advisors NYC convention, WordCampNYC, BarCamp News Innovation Philly and various THATCamps. Represent Student Media at on-campus events including orientation, housing, admissions, fairs and conferences. Responsible for the highest number of freshmen signed up to participate to date. Develop, design, modify, and improve student media outlet websites. Guide students interested in learning and building their own websites.

Pitch, write and publish articles covering video games, game design and narrative design. Maintain, create modifications and new options for the website's WordPress theme. Worked with current Editor in Chief to redesign website. Optimized website for search engines and provided tools for authors and editors to continually maximize that optimization. Optimized website for social media and built a custom Open Graph solution to combine SEO and SMO efforts both automatic and by website staff. Designed website.

Manage marketing and ad sales staff to increase student participation and revenue. Work with students, staff and faculty specializing in these fields to create best practices and expand efforts. Help converge content to increase visibility. Oversee social media, including 18 Twitter accounts and eight Facebook accounts, to manage and build upon the online community that interacts with the university's brand and the office's content. This includes managing the onMason blogging and site-building platform to provide much-needed tools to the Mason community, build a greater audience for office content and increase traffic to student media properties. Manage a student advertising staff who, for the 2011 Broadside Orientation Guide, achieved the highest revenue total to date. Work with student staff on initiatives to build new sources of revenue, such as Connect2Mason's The Hunt or Twitter advertising. Additionally, build search engine and social media optimization into online properties to increase marketability. Represent Student Media at on-campus events including orientation, housing, admissions, fairs and conferences. Responsible for the highest number of freshmen signed up to participate to date. Represent Student Media in local off-campus events and organizations that intersect our interests, in order to create opportunities for collaboration, including Social Media Club DC, Online News Association, DC Twestival and the DC Media Makers. Represent Student Media at national and regional conferences and BarCamps, including College Media Advisors NYC convention, Social Learning Summit, WordCampNYC, BarCamp News Innovation Philly and THATCamp. Collaborate with other university departments on projects, like the online onCUE directory, that enhance the university's communication and brand.

Managed all writing- and text-focused projects within the AFFU, a group of independent game developers working on a multi-platform, multi-game project. Managed content for associated projects from an international team located all over the world, ranging in age from 15 to 32. Oversaw and maintained all textual content for the project. Managed a community of interested consumers and participants, insuring all contributions met the standards for the project. Collaborated with the Art Lead, Project Leads and Lead Developer.

Optimized the UPIU brand's social media presence. Grew UPIU visibility in the college media space. Increased traffic significantly, resulting in the launch of advertising products on the main website. Proposed, launched and managed a blog as part of an effort to increase brand transparency, promote content and join the discourse in the college media space.

Proposed and launched the onMason platform to build cutting-edge content management tools for the Mason community and for Student Media outlets. Researched, developed and deployed technology solutions for journalism tasks. Educated users on best practices for new and existing tools. Aided in the convergence of content. Developed, deployed and maintained MasonVotes.gmu.edu, a social media-based website built to inform students and residents of Northern Virginia about politics. The project received national media coverage and student contributions were syndicated internationally. Deployed a full redesign of Drupal-based convergence website Connect2Mason.

I led George Mason University's Israel Club. In my role as president I was responsible for organizing events, collaborating with other organizations and writing budget and grant requests.

The Community Outreach Director is responsible for reaching out to post-graduate members of the community, coordinating with associated and affiliated organizations, working with other student organizations, and helping student leaders find contacts.

Maintained and repaired student computer systems on-site. Worked with student clients. Managed a number of other resident technicians in my area. Worked with the MAGIC ticket system. Monitored an advanced phone-system and instant message for help requests.

Wrote three times a week on the topic of the economy in the 2008 presidential transition. Worked with others writing on the same topic for the UPI feature site The Voice of Young Voters. Sparked a lively debate, building an audience, expressing opinions and ensuring that all sides of the youth vote were represented. Wrote a document, at the request of UPI, instructing future journalists on how to promote their work online.

Reviewed all prose submissions and selected submissions for publication. Coordinated with other editors and the editor-in-chief. Helped manage Mason's undergraduate literary and art magazine.

Sought out and covered my own leads. Wrote articles for online news and convergence site Connect2Mason. Wrote a multimedia events blog.

Maintained and repaired student computer systems on-site. Worked with student clients. Worked with the MAGIC ticket system. Monitored an advanced phone-system and instant message for help requests.

Oversaw the proper formatting and insertion of national and local advertisements Coordinated coverage of multiple campuses. Organized a team of editors and staff members. Oversaw organization and design of a weekly newspaper, checking news budgets and enforcing deadlines. Edited copy on 8 to 22 pages a week. Coordinated various internal sections. Provided support as a peer mentor to students. Hired and trained staff.

Created an advertising plan to promote the organization through outreach programs and a branding campaign. Applied for and received grants for both the George Mason University Hillel and Israel Club from interest organizations. Coordinated with other student leaders and organizations while expanding involvement to post-graduate leaders. Managed and expanded the organization's overall budget by expanding the scope of the organization and increasing advocacy activities. Worked with representatives of external organizations to increase Hillel's budget, resources and activities, including the Israel on Campus Coalition of Greater Washington, national-level Hillel, Religious Action Center, Taglit-Birthright and other campus Hillels. Created a detailed action plan to enhance the entire organization and bring it in line with the recommendations made by Hillel's national accreditation committee. Increased attendance significantly. Filled long empty leadership positions and trained new student leaders. I led the creation of an advertising plan, branding campaign, and a number of outreach programs. I also worked with representatives from other organizations, including the Israel on Campus Coalition of Greater Washington, national-level Hillel, the Religious Action Center, Taglit-Birthright, other campus Hillels and numerous Mason organizations. I dramatically expanded the overall scope of the organization and expanded GMU Hillel's overall advocacy activities. I created a detailed action plan for the entire organization. I was also responsible for helping to bring the George Mason Hillel in line with recommendations made by a national accreditation committee.

Coordinated a team of four copy editors. Contacted and managed copy editors and writers to insure quality and accuracy. Formulated a style guide to determine the overall style for writers of the magazine.

Hired and coordinated a team of four copy editors. Worked with section editors and writers. Trained copy editors. Helped to form a production schedule. Formulated overall style rules for the publication.

Worked with a team of copy editors to read, fact check and ensure the quality of the student newspaper.