Themis / Themis Trust

Background

Themis was a 501(c)(4) nonprofit group and conservative voter database project launched by David and Charles Koch, and spearheaded by Koch operative Karl Crow.¹ OpenSecrets reported in 2012 that Themis began operating early in the 2010 midterm election cycle with the goal of reaching GOP and libertarian voters more effectively.²

The Themis effort was funded via a range of obscure disregarded entities, with the now-defunct “shadow money mailbox” TC4 Trust acting as a central node and funding conduit. According to OpenSecrets, “Under its own name, Themis received $2.5 million from TC4. But the donor group also gave $5.6 million to a Themis unit called STN LLC, and sent $1.8 million to yet another Themis LLC, DAS MGR. The grants from TC4 to Themis total $9.9 million.”³

According to publicly-available IRS Form 990 filings, Themis Trust filed for termination in the 2014/2015 fiscal year. It has been suggested that Themis Trust may have either been replaced by or operated in tandem with the Kochs’ for-profit data products firm, i360.⁴ Virtually all board members associated with Themis have a history of working with Koch-tied groups or foundations, many with direct ties to i360. For example, Themis trustee Michael Palmer went on to start i360.⁵ Themis’ former director of operations,⁶ Chris Cardiff, was i360’s chief operating officer.⁷

The database was reportedly named for Themis, the Greek goddess who imposes divine order on human affairs.⁸

Stance on Climate Change

Themis did not make public statements on climate change.

Funding

Themis received millions of dollars in donations from the Koch-controlled group TC4 Trust and Freedom Partners (defunct as of May 2013), with donations sometimes funneled through “disregarded entities” to obscure their source and destination. According to IRS Form 990 filings, Themis Trust had 100 percent ownership of these entities, “DAS MGR, LLC” and “STN, LLC.”⁹

The following data is based on data collected by the Conservative Transparency project combined with DeSmog’s review of original IRS Form 990 filings.

	Intermediary (Disregarded Entity)
Recipient & Year	DAS MGR, LLC	None (Direct)	STN, LLC	Grand Total
Freedom Partners			$14,906,000	$14,906,000
2012			$5,781,000	$5,781,000
2013			$9,125,000	$9,125,000
TC4 Trust	$1,800,000	$2,500,000	$5,625,000	$9,925,000
2010		$2,500,000		$2,500,000
2011	$1,800,000		$2,500,000	$4,300,000
2012			$3,125,000	$3,125,000
Grand Total	$1,800,000	$2,500,000	$20,531,000	$24,831,000

IRS Form 990 Filings

Key People

Themis Trust Board of Directors

The following people were named on Themis Trust’s IRS Form 990 filings:

Name	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	Description
Christopher Cardiff			Y	Y		Director of Operations
Christopher Taylor			Y			Product Manager
Jeffrey Noble		Y				End User Relations
John Rogers			Y			Database Administrator
Justin Kimbler			Y	Y		Director of Modeling
Karl Crow		Y	Y			Director of Strategy
Michael Palmer			Y	Y	Y	Trustee
Paul Brooks	Y	Y		Y		Trustee
Xiaowan Chen			Y			Senior Modeler

Christopher Cardiff

Christopher F. Cardiff was program officer for market-based management at the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation from February 2007 to February 2011, and was was chief operating officer of i360, the Kochs’ for-profit data products company, from February 2011 to March 2023. Cardiff received a M.A. in economics from San Jose State University in 2005, and worked there as an adjunct professor of economics in 2006. Prior to this, he was a Netscape engineer, subsequently promoted to vice president of software engineering, from January 1996 to February 2004.¹⁰

Jeffrey Noble

Jeff Noble was a senior development associate Koch Companies Public Sector, the lobbying division of Koch Industries. In 2014, Mother Jones reported that Noble had transitioned to Freedom Partners from his position at Koch Companies Public Sector, and was scheduled to meet with donors alongside Americans for Prosperity staff at the Koch Palm Springs Seminar.¹¹ ¹²

Noble’s other roles have included program manager for higher education at the Charles Koch Foundation, and manager of state and federal policy outreach at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University for five years. Jeffrey Noble has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Clemson University, with a minor in speech and communications, and studied international commerce and policy at George Mason University.¹³

Justin Kimbler

Justin Kimbler has been the vice president of data science at the Koch’s data products company, i360, since 2013. On his LinkedIn profile, he lists a role of “Data Services and Data Science Manager” at an unidentified non-profit from April 2010 to January 2014, and a position as a policy associate at the Charles Koch Foundation from June 2009 to April 2010. From September 2006 to June 2009, Justin Kimbler was an intern and legislative assistant at the U.S. House of Representatives. He received an M.S. in statistics from Texas A&M University in 2017, and a B.S. in business management from the University of Louisville in 2005.¹⁴

Karl Crow

Karl Crow was a former lead strategist for Aegis Strategic,¹⁵ a group founded by the Kochs to handpick state and federal Republican candidates. According to his Aegis profile, Crow went on to co-found Koch’s for-profit data products company i360, where he headed up “strategy development and implementation efforts in concert with the End-User, Data and Modeling teams.” Prior to i360, Crow worked as a project coordinator at the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, where he focused “on how political advocates for economic freedom are identified, trained and promoted.”¹⁶

Michael Palmer

Michael Palmer was the chief technology officer for Senator John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, and went on to found and lead i360, the Koch’s data products company.¹⁷

Paul Brooks

In 1994, The New York Times reported that an individual named Paul Brooks was a senior vice president at Koch Industries.¹⁸

Other People

Ben Pratt

Ben Pratt, a Koch Industries executive, was identified as Themis’ chief operating officer by Reuters in 2012.¹⁹

According to his LinkedIn profile, Pratt became senior vice president of market-based management at Koch Industries in 2009, and previously worked as chief information officer at Koch Supply & Trading, the commodity trading arm of Koch Industries, from 1995 to 2004.²⁰