Rick Blum

Rick Blum is the director of the Sunshine in Government Initiative, a coalition of media groups promoting open government policies and practices. Rick helps the coalition’s efforts to strengthen the federal FOIA and defend it from unnecessary and overbroad exemptions, and increase understanding of the vital role of responsible reporting based on unauthorized disclosures in our democracy. Founded in 2005, the coalition actively supported passage of the 2007 amendments to the Freedom of Information Act that created the Office of Government Information Services.

Blum has testified several times before Congress on FOIA matters, helped numerous media witnesses prepare their testimony and given numerous interviews to national press outlets. He is a member of the Sunlight Foundation’s Advisory Committee on Transparency and serves on the steering committee of OpenTheGovernment.org.

Prior to joining SGI, Blum served as the founding director of OpenTheGovernment.org from 2004 to 2006. Prior to that, he worked at OMB Watch and led efforts to maintain public access to information about possible risks from chemical plants to surrounding communities.

Blum holds a master’s degree from Indiana University, where his studies focused on democratization efforts in Russia, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He lives in Silver Spring, Md., with his wife, two kids and one dog. Many of his favorite movies were developed by Pixar.