M. Dane Waters is the founder, President and Co-Chairman of the Initiative & Referendum Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the people on the initiative and referendum process. Dane is considered a leading authority on the initiative and referendum process and has been personally involved in over forty initiative and referendum campaigns. He has provided commentary on initiative and referendum to newspapers, radio and television stations around the world including CNN, CBS Radio, ABC News, U.S. News and World Report, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and USA Today, among many others. Dane has also worked in various political campaigns including four presidential campaigns.

Prior to founding the Initiative & Referendum Institute, Dane worked for U.S. Term Limits, a national nonprofit non-partisan advocacy group, as National Field Director. At U.S. Term Limits, Dane worked extensively with the initiative and referendum process at both the city and state level and was responsible for coordinating U.S. Term Limits assistance to state term limits groups around the country. Dane also serves on the Advisory Board of BallotDirect.com, an Internet based company that promotes the use of technology to increase citizen participation in government. He also currently serves on the Board of the Appleseed Foundation’s Electoral Reform Project – a joint effort between American University and Harvard Law School whose purpose is to improve American democracy through reform of its electoral processes.