Sharon McBride
- Areas of Expertise
- Women’s Democracy Network
Sharon McBride is a seasoned public affairs executive with extensive global experience influencing laws regarding technology and ecommerce policy. Serving as an advocate for workers and small businesses, Ms. McBride leverages her passion for giving people a voice in their governments with her strategic campaign experience and strong acumen for disciplined execution. Ms. McBride is considered a grassroots pioneer for her programs which were some of the first that leveraged customer impact storytelling for public policy debates. She currently serves as Global Head of Policy Mobilization at DoorDash where she amplifies the policy viewpoints of Dashers, merchants and consumers through DashRoots, the DoorDash advocacy network she launched earlier this summer.
For nearly 20 years, Ms. McBride led eBay’s public affairs operations which included the digital advocacy, seller advocacy and public policy research teams. Having created a first-of-its-kind customer digital grassroots network of over 1M sellers representing over 100 countries, Ms. McBride also built the Small Business Ambassador Network – over 1K small businesses who are willing to engage personally with government officials on policy issues around the world. She also imagined and headed the eBay Public Policy Lab which conducts research measuring eBay’s international economic impact in empowering small enterprises to engage in global commerce. Ms. McBride also spearheaded dozens of eBay Seller Advocacy Days, coordinating events in Washington, DC, Canberra, Rome, Tokyo and U.S. state capitals. Ms. McBride originated the concept of fly-ins in the European capital of Brussels.
Ms. McBride’s career began with the presidential campaigns of George H. W. Bush and work for the Republican National Committee. She then managed a Supreme Court campaign in her native Texas and was Deputy Political Director for George W. Bush’s gubernatorial campaign. Returning to Washington, she was appointed to Capitol Hill roles with Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Congressman Anne Northup (R-KY). From there she was recruited to work in the legislative practice of international law firm Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells) where she worked for clients in the mortgage, automotive and tech industries.
As one of eBay Government Relations’ earliest employees, Ms. McBride was at the forefront of tech policy and saw immediately how campaign tactics could benefit the company and its community of users. By demonstrating the impact of burdensome legislative proposals on real people, she set a new strategic direction for the organization, establishing best practices for advocacy and public policy programs for the company. Ms. McBride built the first tech company government relations website (www.ebaymainstreet.com), grew the Political Action Committee by 400% and originated the digital and seller advocacy programs from scratch.
Ms. McBride has been the recipient of several awards, including the Luminary Award from eBay in 2019 and the Veteran Practitioner of the Year from the Professional Women in Advocacy in 2017. Her team’s innovative work has been recognized by the Public Affairs Council (2014), National Journal (2015), and Campaigns & Elections magazine (2019). She has an undergraduate degree in Communications with a double major in Political Science & Theater Arts from Northwestern University and a Master’s in Arts Management from the H. John Heinz School of Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. Ms. McBride serves as the Chairman of the BIPAC Board of Directors.
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