RADIO INTERVIEW: OpenTheBooks and the Transparency Revolution
A national leader in bringing transparency to government spending, Adam Andrzejewski, (say Angie-eff-ski) the eldest of seven children, was born in rural Herscher, IL-- a hardworking small town, and family farm community.
After working his way through Northern Illinois University, Adam and his brother successfully built a $20 million dollar business which employed 160. Today, HomePages® is the nation’s largest publisher of community telephone directories. Selling his share of the business to his brother in 2007, Adam began to focus on a life of public service.
In 2010, Adam ran for Governor of Illinois in the Republican primary. Adam was proud to be endorsed by Nobel Peace Prize winner and Solidarity founder Lech Walesa, among others. Adam promised he would post "every dime online in real time." Despite a close loss on Election Day, Adam founded OpenTheBooks.com to fulfill his campaign pledge.
Today, OpenTheBooks.com contains over 300 million lines of government spending with the goal of acquiring 1 billion lines within the year. Currently posted is nearly all disclosed federal checkbook vendor spending since 2000; 2.5 million federal employee salaries with five year salary histories; 40/50 states checkbook vendor spending; 31/50 states with public salaries and/or pensions; and all federal campaign donations since 1979.
On May 29, 2013, Andrzejewski’s editorial was published in The Wall Street Journal, "Track Government Spending on Your Phone." The editorial showcased our first-to-market technology enabling taxpayers to search federal spending by ZIP code. Thereafter, the Open The Books app ranked as high as 3rd in Apple’s The App Store.
In September 2013, John Stossel’s Special- Innovation Nation on the FOX News Channel featured a segment on OpenTheBooks.com. In the week following the show, 80,000 people rendered 750,000 page views on the website & mobile app. Adam is happily married to his wife Kerry and the proud father of three beautiful little girls. He is an avid runner, having run the Chicago Marathon on four occasions. Adam is a lector at St. Isaac Jogues Catholic Church in Hinsdale, IL.
Listen to the entire segment, click here.