Jason Townsend is an experienced web professional who brings with him over nine years of freelance and professional experience on web technologies and design trends. He has designed and maintained numerous web sites for universities, government agencies, non-profits, and small businesses. Currently, Mr. Townsend is the Webmaster for the U.S. Institute of Peace, a Congressionally-funded, independent, and nonpartisan government organization dealing with foreign policy and international relations in Washington, D.C. At the Institute, he oversees the daily operations of the USIP.org homepage, the PeaceNet intranet, and a network of content contributors.

Prior to his current job, he was the lead Technology Coordinator for the Federal Resource Center for Special Education, a federal grant project of the U.S. Department of Education, where he focused on implementing and managing community-building social web technology and creating community standards for overall web accessibility. Mr. Townsend has also been a web editor on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Portal for over four years, where he focused on producing good online presentations of content that was easy to read, understand, and noteworthy. At NASA, he was part of a team of web content experts who worked on implementing the latest technologies related to Section 508 accessibility standards, usability designs, information architecture, and web design standards.

Mr. Townsend has also been a freelance web designer for small local businesses and student organizations at local universities since 1999. He is a member of AIGA, the professional association for design and he holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder.