Role in the network: Son of Formation Bio’s longest-serving board director, president of a $150 million foundation that holds Formation Bio stock, and the hardware lead at VotingWorks — the YC-accelerated nonprofit building America’s only open-source voting machines — where he was connected through Square, the same Jack Dorsey company whose philanthropic arm donated $15 million to Sam Altman’s OpenResearch.
Bio
Jake Moritz is a designer, researcher, and hardware engineer based in San Francisco. He currently serves as Lead of Hardware and Industrial Design at VotingWorks, the nonprofit election technology company, where he designs and builds the physical voting machines deployed in American elections. He also serves as President of the Kelson Foundation (EIN: 81-3588323), a private grantmaking foundation with approximately $150 million in assets. [1] [2]
Jake holds a Master’s in Industrial Design from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) (2016-2018) and a bachelor’s degree (institution to be confirmed, possibly Middlebury College based on public records associations). His professional background spans payment technology, election infrastructure, e-bike design, and furniture making. [1] [3]
Before VotingWorks, Jake worked at Square (now Block, Inc.) in Sales Enablement and Partnerships from February 2012 to June 2015. This is the same company where VotingWorks founder Ben Adida also worked before founding the election technology nonprofit. Square was founded by Jack Dorsey, whose philanthropic foundation Start Small donated $15 million to OpenResearch (Sam Altman’s nonprofit). Jake and Adida’s shared Square background predates their VotingWorks collaboration and traces through Dorsey to the Altman network. [1] [3]
Jake’s personal website (jakemoritz.com) showcases his design work across voting machines, electric bicycles for NYC delivery workers, and residential/commercial furniture. His e-bike advocacy project — “Legalizing E-bikes in NYC” — involved interviews, research, and partnerships to benefit food delivery workers, reflecting a design-justice orientation that aligns with his foundation’s grantmaking in community development and economic mobility. [4] [5]
His father is Michael Moritz — the Welsh-born venture capitalist who served as a partner at Sequoia Capital for 37 years, currently runs Sequoia Heritage ($15-16 billion AUM), and sits on Formation Bio’s board of directors. Michael serves as Secretary/Treasurer of Jake’s Kelson Foundation, controlling its financial operations. [2]
The Square Connection
The Square thread connects Jake Moritz, Ben Adida, Jack Dorsey, and Sam Altman through a single company:
| Person | Square Role | Post-Square Connection |
|---|---|---|
| Jake Moritz | Sales Enablement & Partnerships (2012-2015) | VotingWorks hardware lead |
| Ben Adida | Engineering (pre-VotingWorks) | VotingWorks founder/Executive Director |
| Jack Dorsey | Founder/CEO | Start Small Foundation donated $15M to OpenResearch (Altman’s nonprofit) |
| Michael Moritz | Sequoia Capital invested in Square | Formation Bio board director, Sequoia Heritage president |
Jake and Adida overlapped at Square before VotingWorks existed. They likely knew each other from Dorsey’s company. When Adida founded VotingWorks in December 2018 and took it through YC (Winter 2019), Jake joined as hardware lead. The hiring pipeline ran through a company whose founder’s philanthropy funds Altman’s nonprofit. [1] [3]
VotingWorks: What Jake Builds
Jake’s portfolio page describes his VotingWorks work: “Between 2018 and 2020, Jake led the hardware team at non-profit start up VotingWorks, taking a working voting system from initial prototype to Y Combinator-demo, to working system deployed in national elections in Mississippi in November 2020.” [4]
He is responsible for the physical design of the voting machines — the hardware that voters touch, that scans ballots, and that produces audit trails. This is not a back-office role. Jake designs the object that sits between a voter and their vote.
The machines are built from off-the-shelf electronics with open-source software, posted on GitHub. They are currently deployed in New Hampshire (30% of the state) and Mississippi, with audit software (Arlo) in 10 states including Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Nevada. [6]
The Kelson Foundation: $150M Directed by Design
Jake serves as President of the Kelson Foundation, which reported approximately $150 million in assets and distributed $8.2 million in 65 grants in 2024. His father Michael controls the foundation’s finances as Secretary/Treasurer. [2]
The foundation’s revenue mirrors the Loud Hound Foundation (his brother William’s) to within $486 on $38.6 million (2021) and $33K on $8 million (2024), confirming coordinated distributions from the father. Both foundations were created the same month (July 2017), with the same two-person board structure. [2]
Kelson holds Formation Bio stock — listed as “TRIALSPARK” (2021-22) then “FORMATION BIO” (2023-24) — creating a direct financial link between Jake’s foundation and his father’s board seat at the clinical trial company. [2]
Grant areas that intersect with the network:
- Election/civic organizations: State Voices, NEO Philanthropy, Movement Strategy Center — organizations involved in voter registration and election advocacy, funded by the president of a foundation whose father’s network includes a company (VotingWorks) building voting machines and another (OpenResearch) proving AI should be used in polling
- Design/maker organizations: IDEO.org, Girls Garage, Center for Furniture Craftsmanship — reflecting Jake’s industrial design background
- Education: 826 Valencia, Reading Partners, UCSF — Bay Area education pipeline
The Dual Role
Jake Moritz simultaneously:
- Designs voting machines used in American elections (VotingWorks)
- Directs a $150M foundation funded by his father’s venture capital wealth (Kelson)
- Holds Formation Bio stock through that foundation
- Has his finances controlled by a father who sits on the board of a company partnered with OpenAI
There is no allegation that Jake’s VotingWorks work is compromised by his family connections. VotingWorks’ open-source model is specifically designed to prevent the kind of opacity that proprietary vendors maintain. The machines’ code is public. The donor list is public. The design is auditable.
The concern is structural, not operational. One family has a board seat at a clinical trial company (Formation Bio) partnered with an AI company (OpenAI) whose CEO’s nonprofit (OpenResearch) published research proving AI should be used in democratic processes — and the same family’s son builds the physical infrastructure of American elections. The question is whether the structural proximity creates risks that the operational transparency doesn’t fully address.
Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Feb 2012 | Jake joins Square (Sales Enablement & Partnerships) |
| Jun 2015 | Jake leaves Square |
| Sep 2016 | Begins RISD Master’s in Industrial Design |
| Jun 2018 | Completes RISD MID |
| Jul 2017 | Kelson Foundation established (same month as Loud Hound). Michael as Secretary/Treasurer. |
| Dec 2018 | VotingWorks founded by Ben Adida (also ex-Square) |
| Winter 2019 | VotingWorks graduates from Y Combinator |
| 2019 | VotingWorks deploys in Choctaw County, Mississippi |
| Nov 2020 | VotingWorks machines used in Mississippi national elections; Arlo used in Georgia hand count audit |
| 2021 | Kelson revenue: $38,630,708 (mirrors Loud Hound’s $38,630,222). Formation Bio stock listed as “TRIALSPARK” ($249,999) |
| 2023 | Kelson distributes $8.7M in 96 grants. Formation Bio stock updated to “FORMATION BIO” |
| 2024 | Kelson distributes $8.2M in 65 grants. Assets: ~$150M |
Nodes and Open Questions
- Square overlap timing: Did Jake and Ben Adida overlap at Square? Jake was there Feb 2012 – Jun 2015. Adida’s Square tenure needs exact dates. If they overlapped, VotingWorks’ founding team came through Dorsey’s company together.
- Does Kelson Foundation fund VotingWorks? Jake is president of a $150M foundation AND works at VotingWorks. Has his foundation ever granted to his employer? This would be a direct self-dealing question.
- Middlebury College: Public records associate Jake with Middlebury. If confirmed, this is a small liberal arts college in Vermont — same state where his foundation funds the Old Stone Mill (Middlebury connection?). The educational pipeline from Middlebury to RISD to Square to VotingWorks tells a specific class story.
- E-bike advocacy and delivery workers: Jake’s design project for NYC delivery workers (primarily immigrant, low-income) parallels the network’s pattern of engaging vulnerable populations through service provision. The project appears genuinely motivated, but the structural pattern recurs.
- Formation Bio stock in a voting machine designer’s foundation: Jake holds Formation Bio stock (through Kelson) while designing election infrastructure. The stock is a passive holding controlled by his father, not an active investment. But it means the person building voting machines has a financial interest (however small) in a company partnered with OpenAI, whose CEO’s nonprofit publishes research on AI in democratic processes.
- What is Jake’s current role? His personal website describes VotingWorks work as “between 2018 and 2020.” Inside Philanthropy (2025) says he “works for VotingWorks.” Is he still in the hardware lead role, or has his position changed?
Sources
[1] [Archive] (https://radaris.com/p/Jake/Moritz/)
[2] Prior investigation sessions — Kelson Foundation 990-PF analysis, mirror amounts, Formation Bio holdings
[3] Prior investigation sessions — Square/Dorsey/Start Small/OpenResearch connection
[4] [Archive] (http://www.jakemoritz.com/voting-machines)
[5] [Archive] (http://www.jakemoritz.com/about-1)
[6] [Archive] (https://www.voting.works/about)