Our Team
Karen Brinson Bell
Karen Brinson Bell, CERA, PMP, is the co-founder and principal of Advance Elections, LLC, a partnership with former Virginia chief election official, Chris Piper, to continue supporting election officials across the country. Since 2006, she has served in various roles at the county, state, and national levels within the elections profession.
From June 2019 to May 2025, Bell served as North Carolina’s chief elections official and executive director of the State Board of Elections, overseeing voting processes for over 7.5 million registered voters. During her tenure, she supervised 20 elections, including the 2024 Presidential election, which took place during Hurricane Helene, and the 2020 Presidential election, conducted amid the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting in record-setting turnout and ballots cast for the state.
Under Brinson Bell’s direction, North Carolina gained national and state recognition earning four U.S. Elections Assistance Commission Clearinghouse awards, two national Election Center awards, and the first Partnership Award from the North Carolina Local Government Information Systems Association (NCLGISA).
Brinson Bell has spent most of her career in elections administration. Prior to serving as state elections director, she helped establish the Ranked Choice Voting Resource Center and spent nearly 4 years assisting election administrators nationally by providing expert testimony and educational tools for conducting ranked choice voting elections. During this period, she also served as a polling place chief judge in Buncombe County, N.C., and helped Easy Vote Solutions expand nationally. From March 2011 to March 2015, she was the director for the Transylvania County (N.C.) Board of Elections. Brinson Bell began her elections career in 2006 as a district elections technician for the State Board of Elections, supporting 12 county boards in western N.C. in almost all facets of elections.
Throughout her career, Brinson Bell has participated in various boards and councils. She currently serves on the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Task Force on Elections Advisory Board, the Conference on Election Science, Reform, & Administration Steering Committee and Advisory Board, and the Institute for Election Administration Research and Practice Symposium Panel.
Chris Piper
Chris Piper is the Principal and Co-Founder of Advance Elections, an election administration consulting firm with particular emphasis on election security. Through Advance Elections, he works with state and local officials to strengthen election systems, improve communications, and build organizational capacity to meet the demands of today’s election environment. Chris also teaches classes in strategic leadership, drawing on his extensive experience in public service and executive management.
Prior to launching Advance Elections, Chris served as the Executive Director of the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to elevating public understanding of politics and government. From 2018 to 2022, he was Virginia’s chief election official and Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Elections, where he focused on election security, uniform application of state laws and regulations, and defending the integrity of elections during a period of heightened national scrutiny. While Commissioner, Chris served on multiple national boards, including the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED), the Electronic Registration and Information Center (ERIC), and as Chair of the Election Assistance Commission’s Standards Board.
Chris began his career after earning a bachelor’s degree in political science from Virginia Commonwealth University. His professional path has included roles as manager of a federal PAC, leader of the Virginia State Board of Elections’ Campaign Finance Division, political compliance consultant at a multinational law firm, and head of the Election Services Division at the State Board of Elections. In 2014, he was appointed as Virginia’s first executive director of the Virginia Conflict of Interests and Ethics Advisory Council.
He currently serves on the Board of Directors and is chair of the Governance Committee for the Blue Sky Fund, a youth development nonprofit providing transformational outdoor experiences for Richmond-area youth. Chris is also a member of the Election Community Network, the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Task Force on Elections, and an advisory board member for the Election Official Legal Defense Network.