Alec Schierenbeck, the son of a labor union reporter and a nurse, is from Brooklyn, New York.

A rising senior at Grinnell College, Alec is the president of the College and Young Democrats of Iowa. Alec first jumped into College Democratic politics when he helped defeat a Grinnell school board member who opposed teaching evolution in science class. As a Grinnell College Democrat, he worked to triple campus turnout over the 2006 midterm elections. After his work as a chapter leader, Alec was unanimously elected president of the College and Young Democrats of Iowa in 2007.

As the head of Iowa's state federation during the 2008 caucus season, Alec drew national attention for his efforts to increase youth turnout and his vocal defense of student voting rights. In December of 2007, he worked to launch the "You Can Caucus" effort to educate college voters in Iowa on their right to caucus.

Since the date of the Iowa caucuses fell in early January while colleges were out of session, Alec's chapter organized carpools from around the country to help students originally from out of the state return to caucus. Despite the date of the caucuses, Iowa's youth voter turnout tripled over 2004's caucuses and for the first time matched the number of seniors that caucused on January 3.

After success with both his chapter and the Iowa state federation, Alec was appointed Heartland Regional Director on the CDA National Council. Now, as Vice President of the College Democrats of America, Alec is committed to strengthening the relationship between the national federation and its local chapters by putting national resources directly into the hands of local activists.

A political science major at Grinnell, Alec has been featured in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Des Moines Register, The Atlantic Monthly and other media outlets.