Soren Dayton is the Director of Governance at the Niskanen Center. He focuses on developing and implementing institutional reforms and practices to deliver more effective government.
Soren previously led institutional reform efforts at Protect Democracy. Soren has testified to Congress on multiple occasions regarding how Congress can strengthen institutions, and his work has been covered in multiple media outlets including the Washington Post, New York Times, National Review, and others.
In addition, Soren spent nearly a decade working in public affairs and issue advocacy for a variety of non-profits, corporations, and campaigns. Soren and his wife took a sabbatical to work for a year and a half with International Justice Mission in India fighting labor trafficking.
On the political side, Soren worked on John McCain’s campaign for President and has worked on multiple Republican leadership campaigns in Congress and in party organizations. Soren served as Executive Director of the Young Republican National Federation. He was also a legislative assistant for Rep. Nick Smith (R-MI).
Soren also co-founded a software company in 1999 out of college that created a highly specialized database that has been used in enterprise storage solutions.
Soren graduated with an A.B. in Anthropology and Mathematics from the University of Chicago. He was a 2016-2017 Penn-Kemble Fellow with the National Endowment for Democracy. And he is currently a 2023-2024 Democracy Fellow with the Center for Effective Government at the University of Chicago.