The tag-based CRM that revolutionizes how you manage contacts, donors, clients, and customers.

Meet the Team Behind Nova

Nova CRM is built by the proven team at CampaignSidekick, the exclusive field technology platform for Donald J. Trump for President and Elon Musk’s America PAC in 2024. We bring decades of experience in data management, campaign technology, and customer relationship software to deliver the most intuitive tag-based CRM on the market.

Drew Ryun

Founder & CEO

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Darian Rafie

Partner & Chief Technology

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Steve Buckingham

Chief Operating Officer

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Rob Lagergren

Senior Vice President

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Caleb Walker

President of Business Operations, Mercury P2P

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Joel Small

Director of Client Success

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Leland Graves

Data Director

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Taylor Foland

Sales & Accounts Management

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Why We Built Nova

After years of building industry-leading tools like Pulsar, Mercury, and Campaign Sidekick, we saw a clear need for a CRM platform that puts people first and makes contact management effortless. Traditional CRM software is bloated, complicated, and requires extensive training. We built Nova to be different: powerful enough for enterprise teams, simple enough for anyone to use on day one.

Our experience powering presidential campaigns, managing millions of contacts, and building tools trusted by organizations nationwide went into every feature of Nova. We know what teams need because we’ve been in the field ourselves.

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Drew Ryun

Founder & CEO

Drew Ryun is the founder and CEO of CampaignSidekick. A former deputy for the Republican National Committee’s Political team, Drew helped pioneer the RNC’s Get Out the Vote program in 2002, leading the turnout team that won the 2002 special election for United States Senate in Missouri. In 2004, he played a key role again in turnout efforts in nineteen battleground states, spearheading coalition work with Evangelicals.

From 2005 to 2009, Drew was Director of Government Affairs for the American Center for Law and Justice, spearheading First Amendment and religious liberties issues in the United States House of Representatives, the United States Senate and the United Nations.

In 2012, he launched what became CampaignSidekick, seeing both a need and an opportunity to synthesize data and volunteers in a seamless effort to win elections.

In 2024, CampaignSidekick was the exclusive field technology platform for both Donald J. Trump for President and Elon Musk’s America PAC.

A graduate of the University of Kansas, Drew and his wife Becca reside outside Fort Worth, TX with their four children.

Darian Rafie

Partner & Chief Technology Officer

Darian Rafie is Partner & Chief Technology Officer at CampaignSidekick. A builder at the intersection of data, product, and field operations, he drives Sidekick’s innovation agenda: from scalable voter contact infrastructure to real-time analytics that help campaigns decide faster and execute better. Under his technology leadership, CampaignSidekick has been the RNC-preferred voter contact platform, powering programs for state parties and candidates at every level, including voter contact for the 2024 Trump campaign.

Previously, he founded award-winning digital agencies earning 100+ industry honors and delivering enterprise projects for clients including Motorola, Google, PayPal, and the U.S. Army.

His hallmark is applied innovation: pioneering geofencing and mobile-based persuasion and deploying AI/ML to accelerate modeling, targeting, and field execution across Sidekick’s toolset.

Steve Buckingham

Chief Operating Officer

Steve Buckingham, Campaign Sidekick’s Chief Operating Officer, first started in politics in 2011 as veteran liaison to now Governor Ron DeSantis in his first campaign for Congress.

Since then he has led political teams in Louisiana, South Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

In 2018 he served as the RNC State Director of North Dakota. Most recently Steve served as Trump Victory State Director of Ohio.

Steve is a medically retired combat veteran of the U.S. Army, Infantry. He now calls St. Augustine, Florida home where he spends his free time with his wife Kimberly and daughter London.

Rob Lagergren

Senior Vice President

Rob Lagergren is the Senior Vice President at Campaign Sidekick, a position he has held since 2019. Rob got his start as a volunteer in college on the Bush/Cheney campaign in Ohio in 2004. Residing in Columbus, Ohio, Rob brings extensive experience in political campaign management and party leadership. Prior to his role at Campaign Sidekick, he served as the RNC State Director in Ohio in 2018 and played a key role during the 2016 election as the RNC State Director for President Trump’s historic Michigan Victory. Rob has also held positions with the Ohio and Michigan Republican Parties, demonstrating his deep commitment to conservative politics.

Outside of his professional endeavors, Rob is an avid fan of the Cincinnati Reds, Cincinnati Bengals, and The Ohio State Buckeyes. He also enjoys spending his free time chasing double bogeys on the golf course.

Caleb Walker

President of Business Operations, Mercury P2P

Caleb Walker is a data analytics and client relations professional with more than a decade of experience in analytics, polling, business development and client relations. As President of Business Operations at Mercury P2P, he oversees company-wide strategy and execution across client services, product development, project management, and business development. Previously, Caleb served as Senior Director of Client Relations at Deep Root Analytics, where he helped Fortune 500 companies, agencies, and political organizations leverage predictive modeling and media insights to target and reach their audiences effectively.

Earlier in his career, he directed the Republican National Committee’s Analytics Division, managing a multi-million-dollar research program and leading a team of data scientists and analysts. Caleb holds a Graduate Certificate in Survey Design and Data Analysis from The George Washington University and a B.A. in Politics from Washington and Lee University.

Joel Small

Director of Client Success

Joel Small is the Director of Client Success at Campaign Sidekick, where he leads client onboarding, ensures ongoing support, and manages the company’s extensive library of training resources. With a background in campaign field operations, he has served in both state and federal government roles, including Field Director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee on the Susan Collins for Senate campaign, Regional Field Director for the Maine Republican Party supporting Maine Senate Republicans, and as a presidential appointee at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

He brings extensive experience in grassroots organization, team leadership, and customer success. Originally from Brewer, Maine, Joel holds a degree in Political Science from the University of Maine.

Leland Graves

Data Director

Leland Graves is the Data Director for CampaignSidekick, where he has served since May 2021 after initially joining the team as Director of Client Success. He brings extensive experience in political data strategy, having served as the 2020 RNC Data Director for the State of Florida, where he played a key role in delivering the state for Donald Trump’s reelection effort. Before his work in Florida, Leland held positions with the Maine State Senate and served as Deputy Director for Donald J. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign in Maine.

A proud Maine native, Leland earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and an MBA from the University of Maine.

Taylor Foland

Sales & Accounts Management

Taylor has been a volunteer, a Turf Coordinator, a Field Organizer, a Regional Field Director, a Congressional campaign’s Political Director for ground game operations, and Project Manager/Coordinator for absentee ballot voting.

Since 2019, Taylor has used all of CampaignSidekick’s tools to do doors, phones and texting to win campaigns.

With the numerous accolades Taylor has received, Taylor ran for a delegate slot in 2024, and was appointed by the state party Chairman to be an Alternate Delegate for Milwaukee’s convention.

Taylor looks forward every day to assisting the Sidekick team by helping win more campaigns with the best software and team out there in Sales & Accounts Management for the company.