USAFacts Campaign Turns America’s Data Challenges Into Action

BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 9, 2026--

Today, USAFacts, the nonpartisan civic organization founded by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, launches The Data We Depend On. Ahead of the 2026 midterms, the national campaign spotlights the critical role public data plays in everyday American life. The campaign will come to life this June through mobile activations in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Miami. The activation will coincide with the release of an open letter to Congress calling for investment in better data infrastructure to strengthen national decision-making and inviting the public to join Steve Ballmer in signing it.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260609071474/en/

“A functioning democracy requires a shared factual foundation. It's as essential as our roads and electricity grids,” said USAFacts President Lauren Woodman. “When that data is outdated or incomplete, we lose civic participation from the Americans who could be shaping their government and communities. This campaign is our call to Congress to act.”

Since 2024, some of the federal government’s public data tools have declined in quality, making it harder for Americans to access the reliable information they need to understand their government and the issues that shape their lives. This campaign aims to drive awareness of the issue among the public and policymakers.

An Open Call for Better Data

Government data shows how taxpayer dollars are spent, evaluates whether programs are achieving their intended outcomes, and provides the public with a shared foundation of facts. Without it, our collective understanding of national challenges begins to weaken. Yet many Americans may not realize how deeply this data shapes daily life — informing everything from where roads and schools are built to how the nation protects its food supply. It is one of the most consistent and essential drivers of sound decision-making across society.

USAFacts’ open letter to Congress touches on two main issues that the American people want addressed:

Mapping a New National Data Ecosystem

With the launch of the campaign, USAFacts also released a vision for a national data ecosystem that America deserves, co-authored with the Center for Open Data Enterprise. This in-depth policy report incorporates input from over 150 of the nation’s leading data experts and presents a roadmap for modernizing government data.

“The U.S. federal data system is meant to serve the American people, and it must be updated for the 21 st century,” said Richard Coffin, Chief Research and Advocacy Officer at USAFacts. “AI is changing the way people seek out information on everything from their taxes to their kids’ schools. It’s critical that our public data resources reflect the way people are using technology today.”

New technology, the changing needs of the American public, and disruption in government have created an opportunity to reshape the national data ecosystem itself. USAFacts wants the public to play an active role in that transformation.

Bringing Data’s Impact to Life with The Fact Fleet

The Data We Depend On campaign will use custom-built mobile out-of-home (OOH) visuals, called The Fact Fleet, to illustrate the importance of data in providing the services and infrastructure people use every day. The visuals depict broken roadways, disappearing schools and hospitals, and other potential impacts of data loss, in public view and on a life-size scale to match the stakes of the issue.

Learn more about the campaign and sign the letter at usafacts.org/data-we-depend-on.

About USAFacts

USAFacts is a nonpartisan civic organization making government data easy for all Americans to access and understand. USAFacts provides an online resource of well-visualized data and trends in US spending, revenue, demographics and more to help ground public debate in facts. It produces topical content each week and produces three annual reports: State of the Union, 10-K and America in Facts: A Data-Driven Report to Congress. Follow @USAFacts on X, TikTok, Instagram and sign up for the data-driven newsletter at usafacts.org/signup.

USAFacts' campaign will come to life this June through mobile activations in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Miami.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 9, 2026--

Distinguished Programs (“Distinguished”), a leading national MGA and insurance program manager, today announced its expansion into the reinsurance market with the addition of Distinguished Reinsurance (“DistinguishedRe”). The new platform debuts with its first group focused on property reinsurance, led by Frank DiPaola, who will take on the role of President, DistinguishedRe Property, and is now open for business.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260609489159/en/

Coverage is backed by Antares Reinsurance Company Limited (“Antares Re”), a Bermuda-licensed reinsurer writing all major property, casualty and specialty lines of business. Antares Re is rated A- by both AM Best and S&P and is the reinsurance arm of the larger Antares Global insurance group, owned by QIC.

The Property Reinsurance group offers a broad appetite for excess of loss facultative, semi-automatic and property treaty placements, with up to $50 million in capacity. Capabilities include U.S. domestic and international property schedules, as well as direct and brokered individual risk, facultative automatic and treaty placements.

This move represents Distinguished’s first step into the reinsurance market and aligns with its broader strategy of building specialized underwriting platforms through experienced teams supported by a “support with autonomy” philosophy.

“Expanding into reinsurance is a natural next step for us, as we see strong potential for the MGA structure in this space,” said Jason Rotman, president of Distinguished. “Ultimately, our strategy is to invest behind experienced and talented teams, and we are thrilled that Frank and his colleagues have joined us. We are equally excited to work with the Antares team as we collectively build this program.”

DiPaola brings more than 25 years of reinsurance experience to the role and will lead a dedicated team of facultative and treaty underwriters, pricing actuaries, catastrophe modeling professionals and legal specialists.

“We see a strong opportunity to bring a more thoughtful, disciplined approach to the property reinsurance market,” said Frank DiPaola, president of DistinguishedRe Property. “I’m excited to lead this expansion as we build a well-balanced portfolio across key markets and partners. Our focus is on delivering responsive underwriting and tailored facultative excess of loss solutions that align with each client’s needs.”

The addition of DistinguishedRe Property Reinsurance follows recent introductions of its Marine Cargo, Crisis Management, and Transactional Risk programs, underscoring the company’s continued investment in expanding its specialized underwriting capabilities across its portfolio.

About Distinguished Programs

Distinguished Programs is a leading national MGA and program manager for specialty property & casualty insurance. The company places insurance in niche sectors such as commercial real estate, hotels & restaurants, community associations, transactional risk, environmental & construction professional, marine cargo, crisis management, cyber, surety, executive lines, inland marine, and fine arts & collectibles. On behalf of its insurance carrier partners, Distinguished typically manages all aspects of the placement process, including product development, marketing, underwriting, policy issuance, and claims. Through thoughtful innovation, stemming back to 1995, Distinguished Programs fosters growth and opportunities for its brokers, carriers, and employees. distinguished.com

About Antares

Antares provides local and international insurance and reinsurance capacity, risk transfer solutions and products through brokers and MGAs using our Lloyd’s and company market platforms operating primarily out of the UK, Bermuda and Singapore. We cover the whole spectrum of risks from complex international business risks to local retail SME and consumer personal lines.

https://antaresglobal.com/

Distinguished Programs today announced the launch of DistinguishedRe, its new reinsurance platform, with Frank DiPaola leading the property reinsurance division as President.