SPN welcomes Gabriel Green as marketing assistant
SPN is excited to announce Gabriel Green joined the team as a marketing assistant. In this role, Gabriel will focus on marketing responsibilities that support communications needs across SPN, including email marketing assistance, portal content updates, Annual Meeting marketing support, and data measurement.
Gabriel was previously a communications intern at SPN through the Koch Internship Program. To help you get to know Gabriel, we asked him a few questions about his background and what drew him to the freedom movement.
Being born on Independence Day (July 4) guaranteed my patriotism—and is likely why I’ve dedicated my whole life to understanding how and why our Republic was founded the way it was. When I was looking for a summer internship after my sophomore year of college, a friend suggested a free-market internship program in DC, and I was fortunate enough to be accepted. Through this program I was paired with State Policy Network, and I was instantly enamored with the Network’s vision and ability to promote freedom and prosperity.
I think the greatest advantage of the free-market Network is that it is truly “American” and universal in appeal. Who doesn’t like being able to guide their own path and have the opportunities to do so? Engaging with new audiences and finding creative ways to communicate the message of liberty is the next great opportunity for the freedom movement. That’s how we show Americans of all backgrounds that Edmund Burke was right—the defining characteristic of Americans is that we’re all “lovers of liberty.”
I’m excited to be back with SPN and contribute to building a freer, more prosperous society by empowering state leaders and solutions that will have national impact.
If you’ve attended an Annual Meeting before, what was one of your favorite moments?
Though I’ve worked on three different Annual Meetings, I only attended one: The 25th Annual Meeting in San Antonio. My favorite moment came from a chance encounter. I was settling in for a session on the importance of art. I dropped a pen, and an older gentleman bent down to recover it for me. We chatted before and after the session, and he asked me to sit with him and his wife during the lunch following the session.
They were very welcoming, and they asked my opinion on many things—a nice experience for a 21-year-old awed by the important people all around him. They also shared with me a great deal about their involvement with the movement for more years than I’d even been alive. Their perspective was extraordinary. During that single meal, they gave me more insight on the evolution of our movement than I had gained in all my previous time working in it. They talked about the changes they had seen and things that had stayed the same. They also shared visions of a future they might not even see. It was a special conversation, and it invigorated my passion for continuing my journey to help our nation.
Is there a SPN resource, training, or other opportunity you think more organizations should take advantage of?
The Member Portal! I remember talking about it while I was an intern in 2016 and 2017, and thinking it sounded like such a perfect tool for the Network. As much as I will praise the internet for its vast expanse of free knowledge, digging through it can be a bind. Having a place where we can connect with the Network community of peers and experts and share knowledge and ideas is great.
And now for life after work! When you’re not improving the world at work, where are you likely to be found?
On a mountain, in a hammock, reading a book. I regularly attend city council meetings to watch local democracy at work. Or, you might find me at a coffee shop spouting pseudo-intellectual nonsense with my friends or watching sports with my little brothers.
