Nate comes to WRI from the Center for Public Integrity in Washington, D.C., where he was the communications and outreach associate. Prior to that, he was the compliance manager for Gore/Lieberman 2000 and a research assistant for the Pew Internet & American Life Project. He received his master's degree in 2001 from the Communications, Culture, and Technology program at Georgetown University.

Nate has been a teaching assistant at both Georgetown and Montana State University and a research assistant at Georgetown, Montana State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with a range of foci, varying from Cold War history to social psychology to network economic theory to media relations. He also conducted media research in the DC office of Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana).