At the tender age of 13, receiving the class vote of “Most Likely to become President” should have sent a viable signal to the world that Steve Pontoni was destined for a life of political superstardom. Now, some 16 years later, the Ann Arbor native is one of the most recognizable and sought after voices in Michigan’s progressive community, using his advanced technological know-how to rock the America Votes table – a collaboration of progressive groups, working to bring change through progressive policy to the country – and Information Staff Services Incorporated, where he currently works as the corporation’s Political Technologist.

Growing up in Ann Arbor’s hotbed of liberal ideas and philanthropic activism, Pontoni always had an abiding interest in politics – an interest, he says, that was nurtured early on by his family and academic father.

“Well, my parents are very liberal: my dad is a classic Ann Arbor academic, liberal, and my mom kind of followed suit. It was a constant conversation at dinner – talking about, you know, what the important issues of the day [were],” he says. “The focus was on everybody having equal rights and being open-minded and having a pro-choice, pro-environment [stance]; all these things were just part of the common discussion in our family, so I never even had to think twice about it. This was always just ingrained. Being in Ann Arbor, it’s hard to avoid it: this is a city that prides itself on having liberal values.”

After attending Albion College and the University of Michigan, Dearborn (he’ll be finishing up with his Bachelors in Political Science momentarily), Pontoni embarked upon a career in the corporate sector, though his longstanding interest in political theory and practice never strayed far from his immediate consciousness. Evening gigs as a volunteer for the Democratic Party soon turned into real working positions, and before long, he knew that he had discovered the perfect marriage between a political habit that just wouldn’t quit and the world of business.

“I always wanted a part in politics; I always had an interest – I always studied presidents, and John F. Kennedy was my hero growing up. So it was always something; I just never knew how to really get into it. It was a real challenge for me to find a way to break in the way I wanted to.”

As a major player within Michigan’s Democratic Party, Pontoni has taken the lead in galvanizing young people – particularly college students – to take a more active role when it comes to who decides what makes a community tick. Heading up the Youth Caucus for the Democratic Party, he knows how important youth can be in picking America’s leaders and overthrowing old policy standards from the establishment.

“It’s the only way that we really make change, is when young people get engaged, because old people protect power – if you have power, you have to protect it. Young people don’t get caught up in that; they’re delightfully naïve, in that they don’t know what they’re not supposed to know and they don’t know what they’re not supposed to do, so young people can make change in a way that older folks can’t,” Pontoni says. “We saw it this year – we had a young movement of people behind Obama early, and it changed the whole political climate. We saw that with Kennedy; we saw that with Clinton. In this day and age, it’s going to take a young insurgence that will push the old people the change and [ensure] that we have it; still, change has to happen with the people who have the power, whether they see that it’s coming or whether they see that they have to keep their power, that’s where young people can step in and help.”

Despite being self-described as “impatient,” it’s arguable that the progressive community in Michigan would be significantly less action-driven without the considerable influence of Steve Pontoni. And as a role model for Michigan’s up and coming progressive youth, let’s hope that he will continue inspiring future generations of activist forces to be reckoned with.