2016 Speakers

Namema Amendi is a Legal & Policy Fellow in Microsoft’s U.S. Government Affairs Policy team and a member of the company’s Affordable Access Initiatives team. The AAI team works with governments, research institutions, companies, and NGOs around the world to foster new wireless technologies and business models that will reduce the cost of wireless bandwidth and enable billions of people to get online more easily. The team has established wireless broadband projects in places as varied as the rural heart of Kenya and the urban complexity of Singapore. The team also has projects in countries including the U.S., Philippines, South Africa, Tanzania, Ghana, and India. Prior to joining Microsoft Namema completed fellowships with Columbia University’s Center on Sustainable Investment and Ciel Partners LLP, a New York-based venture incubator. He also worked as a consultant with Fanisi Capital, a Private Equity Firm with investments in five African countries. He received his bachelor's degree in Biology from Columbia University and his law degree from Columbia Law School where was an editor of the Columbia Science & Technology Law Review.

Jim Baller is president of Baller Stokes & Lide, PC, a national law firm based in Washington, DC. The only law firm in the United States to be named to Broadband Community Magazine’s FTTH Top 100 for each of the last four years, Baller Stokes & Lide represents clients in a broad range of communications matters nationally and in more than 35 states, including telecommunications, cable television, high-capacity broadband communications, the Internet, wireless communications, right-of-way management, pole and conduit attachments, barriers to community broadband initiatives, bankruptcy, privacy, and antitrust.

Manu is a senior U.S. State Department official with responsibility over international economic and trade policy, including matters relating to Internet, technology and communications policy. As a senior political advisor, Manu reports to the Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth. At the State Department, Manu has reported directly to three U.S. Ambassadors, including as Chief of Staff.

Over the past fifteen years, Manu has worked in all three branches of the federal government and in two private practice law firms. Manu served as a senior political advisor in the U.S. Department of Commerce, where he handled domestic technology policy. Manu was also an attorney at Willkie Farr & Gallagher in Washington, D.C., and at Butler Rubin Saltarelli & Boyd in Chicago, Illinois.

In addition, Manu has served as a staff member at the White House Counsel’s Office to the Honorable William J. Clinton, a legislative assistant at the U.S. Senate’s Judiciary Committee to the Honorable Patrick J. Leahy, staff member to the Honorable Edward M. Kennedy of the United States Senate, and judicial law clerk to a U.S. federal judge.  Manu graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Northwestern University and a Juris Doctor from Michigan Law School.

Jeff Blum serves as Senior Vice-President and Deputy General Counsel of DISH, overseeing litigation and government affairs. He has been with DISH for over 7 1/2 years. Before coming to DISH, Jeff was a partner at the Los Angeles firm of Davis Wright Tremaine, where his practice focused on copyright, First Amendment and anti-piracy litigation. He received his J.D., summa cum laude, from Boston University School of Law in 1995, graduating first in his class and serving as Note Editor of the Boston University Law Review. He received his B.A. from McGill University in 1992. After law school, he clerked for Chief Judge Joseph Tauro of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Jeff currently serves as Chairman of the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association (SBCA). Jeff also serves on the boards of the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), and the Broadband Technical Advisory Group (BITAG).

Jeff Brueggeman is Vice President-Public Policy and Deputy Chief Privacy Officer for AT&T. In this role, he is responsible for developing and coordinating AT&T’s public policy positions on privacy, cybersecurity and Internet issues.

Jeff leads the team that manages AT&T’s privacy policies and provides guidance on data privacy and security issues. He supports AT&T’s business in the operation of its global Internet network and deployment of cloud computing and other emerging services.

Jeff participates in a wide range of legislative, regulatory and policy development proceedings involving privacy, cybersecurity and Internet issues. In addition, he represents AT&T in various international events and organizations related to Internet governance, including the Internet Governance Forum and ICANN.

For the past four years, Jeff has been an active participant in a wide range of Internet governance activities, including the UN Public Consultation on Enhanced Cooperation, the East Africa IGF and the ICANN Security, Stability and Resiliency Review Team.

Prior to joining AT&T, Jeff worked as a telecommunications attorney in private practice. He holds a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law and a B.A. degree in Journalism from the University of Minnesota.

Dan is an internationally recognized expert on privacy and cybersecurity. He has served as the Chief Privacy Officer and Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Commerce Department, a transatlantic subject matter expert for the European Commission’s Internet of Things formal expert group, a Chief of Staff for a Federal Trade Commission Commissioner and a member of the Department of Homeland Security Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee. In 2002, Dan was a representative for the United States delegation revising the OECD Security Guidelines that formed the basis for the first White House Strategy to Secure Cyberspace.

Alan Davidson is the first Director of Digital Economy at the U.S. Department of Commerce and Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Commerce.

Prior to joining the department, Alan was director of the Open Technology Institute at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C. He also was a Research Affiliate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), where he was a co-founder of the new MIT Information Policy Project and a Fellow at the Sloan School’s Center for Digital Business.

Until 2012, Alan was the Director of Public Policy for Google in the Americas. He opened Google's Washington, D.C. office in 2005, and led the company’s public policy and government relations efforts in North and South America.

Michelle De Mooy is Deputy Director, Privacy and Data Project at the Center for Democracy & Technology. She advocates for data privacy rights and protections in legislation and regulation, works closely with industry and other stakeholders to investigate good data practices and controls, as well as identifying and researching emerging technology that impacts personal privacy. She leads CDT’s health privacy work, chairing the Health Privacy Working Group and focusing on the intersection between individual privacy, health information and technology. Michelle’s current research is focused on ethical and privacy-aware internal research and development in wearables, the application of data analytics to health information found on non-traditional platforms, like social media, and the growing market for genetic data. She has testified before Congress on health policy, spoken about native advertising at the Federal Trade Commission, and written about employee wellness programs for US News & World Report’s “Policy Dose” blog. Michelle is a frequent media contributor, appearing in the New York Times, the Guardian, the Wall Street Journal, Vice, and the Los Angeles Times, as well as on The Today Show, Voice of America, and Government Matters TV programs.

Before CDT, Michelle worked as a political campaign consultant for M+R Strategic Services, as a development and communications director at a capacity building organization aimed at nonprofits, and in the tech sector in product management and software engineering.

As Executive Director, Steve works with NetChoice members to set and execute the NetChoice agenda.

Steve has become a well-known expert on Internet governance, online consumer protection, and Internet taxation. He’s provided expert testimony in twenty-one Congressional hearings and many more state legislative sessions.

Steve advocates for NetChoice positions at the National Conference of State Legislatures and the American Legislative Exchange Council, where he serves on the Private Enterprise Board. Moreover, Steve regularly enters the lion’s den at the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board, where he’s the lone opponent of new tax burdens on Internet commerce.

Steve is frequently quoted on technology issues in the media, including a segment on 60 Minutes exposing barriers to innovation in residential real estate. Steve debated online taxes on CNN Situation Room, CNBC Larry Kudlow, PBS Nightly Business Report, CBS This Morning, and Marketplace Radio.

Prof. Farber has long been a prominent defender of the Internet and has been involved in both critical policy and technology deliberations, including his role as Chief Technologist for the FCC; mentor to many Internet pioneers and as an adviser to companies and governments.

His students, including Jon Postel, Paul Mockapetris and David Sincoskie, among others, have contributed much towards making the Internet a vital economic and political force. Farber played a key role in many systems that converged into today's Internet, including the National Science Foundation's CSNet, in addition to helping to plan and develop NSFNet and NREN, efforts that led to the development of the current commercial Internet.

Kate Gage is the Advisor to the Executive Director in the U.S. Global Development Lab at the U.S. Agency for International Development. She leads much of the Agency’s engagement with the maker movement and access to early stage manufacturing tools in the developing world. Previously she led work on Open Data and the launch of many of USAID’s initiatives on Science, Technology, and Innovation. Before joining the Obama Administration, she worked on the 2008 Barack Obama Campaign and graduated from Dartmouth College. She is originally from Berkeley, California.

Dean Garfield is the President and CEO of ITI, the global voice of the tech sector.  Under Dean’s leadership, ITI has defined the tech agenda for global policymakers, expanded its membership and influence, and launched a foundation that serves as the preeminent thought leader on innovation. Prior to joining ITI, Dean served in leadership positions for both the MPAA and RIAA. Dean serves on the boards of College for Every Student, the SEED School of Washington, D.C. and serves as the Board President of Aiden Montessori School. He received a joint degree from New York University School of Law and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Administration and International Affairs at Princeton University.

Gordon M. Goldstein joined Silver Lake in 2010. He is a Managing Director with responsibility for global external affairs, including domestic and international government relations, public policy, strategic communications and media relations for Silver Lake as well as key public affairs issues and initiatives for the firm’s portfolio companies. Dr. Goldstein represented Silver Lake as a member of the United States delegation to the World Conference on International Telecommunications convened in 2012 in the United Arab Emirates and also served on the American delegation to the United Nations International Telecommunication Union Plenipotentiary Conference in South Korea in 2014. Dr. Goldstein currently serves on the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of the Private Equity Growth Capital Council, an industry trade group based in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Goldstein is a former Managing Director at Clark & Weinstock, a government relations, corporate communications, and strategy consulting firm and formerly served as a consultant to the Albright Stonebridge Group, a strategy advisory firm in Washington, D.C. He is a former Senior Adviser to the Strategic Planning Unit of the Executive Office of the United Nations Secretary General and previously served as Co-Director of the Council on Foreign Relations Project on the Information Revolution and as Co-Director of the Brookings Institution Project on Sovereign Wealth Funds and Global Public Investors. Dr. Goldstein is a former Wayland Fellow and visiting lecturer at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University and was a visiting lecturer at the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency. He is the author of Lessons In Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam, a study of national security strategy and White House decision-making which was a Foreign Affairs bestseller published by Times Books.

Dr. Goldstein has appeared on the ABC, CNN, MSNBC, and BBC television networks and his articles, op-eds and book review essays have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Financial Times, The Atlantic, Newsweek, Politico, Foreign Policy and the Spanish language weekly El Pais, for which he is a contributing commentator on the global technology industry, the Internet and Cybersecurity. Dr. Goldstein is a graduate of Phillips Academy, Andover and Columbia University, where he was an International Fellow and was awarded a B.A. and M.I.A. through the combined degree program of Columbia College and the School of International and Public Affairs as well as the M.Phil and Ph.D degrees in political science and international relations. He continues his affiliation with the university as a non-resident Fellow of the Roger Hertog Program on Law and National Security at the Columbia Law School and as a member of the Advisory Council to the Internet Governance and Cybersecurity Initiative at the School of International and Public Affairs.

Ryan Hagemann is the technology and civil liberties policy analyst at the Niskanen Center. His research specialties include privacy and surveillance, robotics and automation, decentralized networks, Internet policy, and issues at the intersection of sociology, economics, and technology. He has previously authored works on the economic and social ramifications of autonomous vehicles with the Mercatus Center. He maintains an adjunct fellowship with TechFreedom, a libertarian nonprofit dedicated to advancing online freedom. He graduated from Boston University with a B.A. in International Relations, Foreign Policy and Security Studies and holds a Master of Public Policy in Science and Technology Policy from George Mason University.

Professor Justin (Gus) Hurwitz joined the College of Law faculty in 2013. His work builds on his background in law, technology, and economics to consider the interface between law and technology and the role of regulation in high-tech industries. He has a particular expertise in telecommunications law and technology, including data- and cybersecurity, and was recognized as a Cyber Security & Data Privacy Trailblazer by the National Law Journal. His work has appeared in the George Mason University, University of Iowa, Michigan State University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh, and other law review and journals.

Professor Hurwitz previously was the inaugural Research Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Law School’s Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition (CTIC), prior to which he was a Visiting Assistant Professor at George Mason University Law School. From 2007–2010 he was a Trial Attorney with the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division in the Telecommunications and Media Enforcement Section.

Professor Hurwitz has a background in technology having worked at Los Alamos National Lab and interned at the Naval Research Lab prior to law school. During this time his work was recognized by organizations such as the Federal Laboratory Consortium, R&D Magazine, Los Alamos National Lab, IEEE & ACM, and the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California. In addition, he held an Internet2 Land Speed World Record with the Guinness Book of World Records.

Professor Hurwitz received his JD from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was an articles editor on the Chicago Journal of International Law and received Olin and MVP2 law and economics scholarships. He also holds an MA in Economics from George Mason University. He received his BA from St. John’s College.

John Kneuer is the President and Founder of JKC Consulting LLC and a Senior Partner at Fairfax Media Partners, a company organized to source, acquire, and manage transformative businesses in the telecommunications and media industries.

Prior to starting Kneuer LLC, Mr. Kneuer served as the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information. In this capacity Mr. Kneuer was the principal advisor to the President of the United States on telecommunications policy and the Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration ("NTIA").In addition to representing the Executive Branch in domestic and international telecommunications and information policy activities, NTIA also manages the federal use of spectrum; performs cutting edge telecommunications research and engineering, including resolving technical telecommunications issues for the federal government and private sector; and administers infrastructure and public telecommunications facilities grants.

Prior to his service at NTIA, Mr. Kneuer served as a Senior Associate at the law firm of Piper Rudnick in Washington, D.C., providing regulatory and legislative representation to corporate clients in the telecommunications, defense, and transportation industries. Earlier in his career, Mr. Kneuer served as the Executive Director for Government Relations at the Industrial Telecommunications Association, and prior to that served as an Attorney-Advisor in the Commercial Wireless Division of the Federal Communications Commission's Wireless Bureau. Mr. Kneuer received B.A. and J.D. degrees from the Catholic University of America.

Andrew Lachman manages technology issues and serves as Legislative Director for Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D-CA) sponsor of the ENCRYPT Act, SPY Car Act and co-chair of the Cloud Computing Caucus and Virtual Reality Caucus. Andrew is also the founding co-chair of the Congressional Tech Staff Association and an alum of the Wilson Center for International Scholars Cybersecurity Lab. Prior to serving on the Hill, Andrew spent ten years as a technology licensing attorney, working for companies such as Paramount Pictures and Move.com as well as serving on the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee, Chair of the Democratic National Committee Small Business Owners Council and holding a Certified Information Privacy Professional certification. He received his B.A. from American University and J.D. from George Washington University where he served on the International Law Journal. He also participated in the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government Emerging Leaders program.

Nonabah Lane has more than fifteen years working in the field of environment science and sustainability. Her professional work has focused on education, sustainability consulting, green entrepreneurship, land remediation, land restoration and environmental policy.

As an entrepreneur, she has worked with Native American communities in developing strategies to help tribal enterprises and their industry partners. She has also co-authored environmental impact statements, environmental assessments, and land use planning grants that pertain to Indian Trust Land.

Nonabah is a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional (LEED AP). As a member of the Navajo Nation, she has high regard for Native American people, traditions and languages, which provides her with a unique perspective and expertise on technology and environment related issues. She is a lifelong Sequoyah Fellow of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES), and has a strong commitment to science, technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, strategic planning, and leadership in Indian Country. Nonabah has a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Science and Policy from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Blair Levin is a nonresident senior fellow with the Metropolitan Policy Program. He serves as the executive director of Gig.U: The Next Generation Network Innovation Project, an initiative of three dozen leading research university communities seeking to support educational and economic development by accelerating the deployment of next generation networks. He also serves as an advisor to a variety of non-profits with a mission of deploying or using broadband technology to advance social progress, including Case Commons, Volo and the LEAD Commission. Levin also advises both privately held and public companies in the telecom and technology sectors.

Previously, he worked with the Communications & Society Program with the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program, following his departure in 2010 from the Federal Communications Commission where he oversaw the development of a National Broadband Plan. Levin rejoined the Commission in 2009, after eight years as an analyst at Legg Mason and Stifel Nicolaus. As Barron’s magazine noted, Levin “has always been on top of developing trends and policy shifts in media and telecommunications … and has proved visionary in getting out in front of many of today’s headline making events.”

Levin served as chief of staff to FCC Chairman Reed Hundt from December 1993 through October 1997. During that period he oversaw, among other matters, the implementation of the 1996 Telecommunications Reform Act, the first spectrum auctions, the development of digital television standards and the commission's Internet initiative.

J.D. Maddox is the Director of Analytics at the interagency Global Engagement Center (GEC), housed at the U.S. Department of State. He also is an adjunct professor at George Mason University, where he teaches the graduate course National Security Challenges in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology. Prior to GEC, Mr. Maddox served as a branch chief in the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center, as an intelligence advisor to the Secretary of Homeland Security, and in operational roles at the National Nuclear Security Administration and the U.S. Army Special Operations Command. He has testified to the U.S. Congress, deployed to the Iraq war zone twice, and conducted domestic law enforcement operations. He has been a Director of National Intelligence Galileo Award finalist, he was awarded the Lockheed Martin Star Award for his actions during the 11 September 2001 attacks, and earned the title of U.S. Army Special Operations Command Soldier of the Year (Reserve) in 1999.

Mr. Maddox holds an M.A. from Georgetown University’s National Security Studies Program and a B.A. in philosophy and history of science from St. John’s College, Annapolis. He speaks Urdu, Russian and German.

Olga Madruga-Forti has more than 25 years of experience as a senior executive and legal practitioner in the telecommunications and satellite industries, as well as extensive experience in commercial negotiations across numerous emerging markets in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Currently, she is Chief of the Global Strategies and Negotiation Division of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), International Bureau returning to the Commission after 17 years of private sector international telecommunications experience. At the FCC Ms. Madruga- Forti leads the agencies international dialogue on a global basis. Much of her work is dedicated to helping developing countries establish new regulatory approaches that spur ICT development.

Prior to joining the FCC Ms. Madruga-Forti was based in Argentina where she represented regional telecommunications companies such as ARSAT S.A., an international satellite company, before the International Telecommunications Union. Ms. Madruga-Forti was also a Member of the Board for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and an Adjunct Professor of Telecommunications Law and Negotiation at DePaul University Law School. Prior to this Ms. Madruga-Forti was Vice President, Regulatory and Legal, for several U.S. satellite companies heading global regulatory and market access operations.

Earlier in her career Ms. Madruga-Forti served nine years at the FCC as Special Counsel for International Satellite Policy and also Chief of the Domestic Services Branch of the Common Carrier Bureau. She earned her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, in Washington, D.C. concentrating on international business law and graduating as the Belgrano Scholar to the Organization of American States. Prior to that, she graduated summa cum laude from Emory University with a double major in both English and French Literature. She is fluent in English, Spanish and French.

Kevin Martin is the Vice-President for Mobile and Global Access Policy at Facebook where he oversees, among others, Facebook's connectivity programs and communication regulatory issues. Previously, he served as Chairman (2005-2009) and Commissioner (2001-2005) of the Federal Communications Commission. During his tenure, the FCC adopted a non-binding policy statement on net neutrality which led to the 2010 Open Internet Order. After leaving the FCC he joined the Aspen Institute as a Senior Fellow at the think tank's Communications and Society Program, and later the law firm Squire Patton Boggs LLP as a Partner. He holds a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an M.P.P. from Duke University, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Karen McCabe is a Senior Director of Technology Policy and International Affairs at IEEE, where she
leads efforts to build and connect communities working in the technology policy ecosystem and where her focus is on the development and promotion of collaborative strategies that produce impactful outcomes among mulit-stakeholders to help advance technology for society and humanity benefit. Karen has over 20 years experience working at the nexus of mission-driven organizations, industry, NGO and government bodies to raise awareness, to educate and build capacity among stakeholders in the technology sphere. Through her career, Karen has focused on projects and initiatives to expand global footprint, build communities, develop and execute integrated communications and global outreach programs and build and nurture relationships.

During the last 20 years, Karen has held various leadership and senior management positions in the technology sector, with a specific focus in the global standards and technology development domain that is rooted in openness, transparency and inclusiveness.

Today, Karen in engaged in efforts in Internet governance, ethics and technology and global standards in trade and policy. She leads the organization’s engagement with the UN (SDGs, WSIS, etc.) and other international bodies with a focus on engagement of technical community and a focus on the intersection of policy and technology in ICTs. Karen is a member of the OECD Internet Technical Advisory, the Internet Society and works with an array of organizations and bodies to connect technologists, industry leaders and policy makers

Burcu Kilic is an expert on legal, economic and political issues surrounding intellectual property law & policy, internet policy, trade, development and innovation. She provides technical and legal assistance to governments and civil society groups around the world and promotes their participation in international rule making. She has performed research and written extensively on these subjects.

She completed her Ph.D. at Queen Mary, University of London as a School of Law Fellow. She holds Masters degrees from University of London and Stockholm University in Intellectual Property Law and Law and Information Technology and a law degree from Ankara University. She is also a SARChI Research Fellow at Institute for Economic Research on Innovation, Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa.

Jonathan serves as NetHope’s GBI Chief of Party, providing strategic leadership, guidance and oversight to all aspects of the joint program with USAID. Prior to joining NetHope, Jonathan served as Vice President of the Information Technology Applications Center at FHI 360 (formerly AED) where his projects included wiring schools in Macedonia, supporting ICTs across sub-Saharan Africa and connecting rural communities in Peru. Jonathan has been responsible for a variety of high-level projects: a regional ICT development program for USAID Asia and Near East Bureau; and USAID’s Africa Bureau’s Leland Initiative which focused on introducing the Internet in twenty-three sub-Saharan countries. Jonathan was also a founding member of the SatelLife HealthNet Program, the world’s first multiple low-earth orbiting satellite email service.

Eli Noam is Professor of Economics and Finance at the Columbia Business School since 1976 and its Garrett Professor of Public Policy and Business Responsibility. Served for three years as a Commissioner for Public Services of New York State. Appointed by the White House to the President's IT Advisory Committee. Director of the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information, a research center focusing on management and policy issues in communications, internet, and media. He has also taught at Columbia Law School, Princeton University's Economics Department and Woodrow Wilson School, the University of St. Gallen, and the University of Fribourg. He is active in the development of electronic distance education. Noam has published 30 books and over 400 articles in economics journals, law reviews, and interdisciplinary journals, and is a regular columnist for the Financial Times online edition. His recent books and projects include: Who Own's the World's Media? (Oxford, forthcoming 2015), Media Ownership and Concentration in America (Oxford); Peer-to-Peer Video (Springer); Media Management (3-volumes, forthcoming); and the projects: A National Initiative for Next Generation Video; and Ultrabroadband.

Catherine A. Novelli was sworn in as Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment on February 18, 2014. In this capacity, she leads the State Department’s efforts to develop and implement economic growth, energy, oceans, environmental, and science and technology policies to promote economic prosperity and address global challenges in a transparent, rules-based, and sustainable system. She is also the State Department’s Senior Coordinator for International Information Technology Diplomacy.

Prior to assuming her current duties, she was Vice President, Worldwide Government Affairs at Apple, Inc. In that role, Ms. Novelli headed a multinational international team responsible for Apple’s federal, international, and state and local government relations and public policy.

Formerly Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Europe & the Mediterranean, Ms. Novelli coordinated U.S. trade and investment policy for the over 65 countries of Western Europe, Central Europe, Russia, the NIS, the Middle East and Northern Africa. She has taken a leading role in many of the most important U.S. trade negotiations in Europe, Russia, the Middle East, and North Africa. As the point person for the $1 trillion economic relationship between the United States and Europe, Ms. Novelli led efforts to ensure access to the European market for U.S. manufactured and agricultural products.

Ms. Novelli was the lead strategist in creating the United States’ free trade agenda with the Middle East. She led free trade agreement negotiations with Jordan, Morocco and Bahrain, Oman and United Arab Emirates. She chaired the Trade and Investment Framework Councils with a number of countries in the region, including Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Algeria. As the Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia, she negotiated most of the bilateral trade and investment agreements that underpin our economic relationship in that region.

Ms. Novelli is a graduate of Tufts University, holds a law degree from the University of Michigan and a Master of Laws from University of London (with concentrations in international and comparative law at the London School of Economics and School of Oriental and Asian Studies).

Senior Congressional Counsel with a lifelong record of exceptional achievement and a commitment to team success; Former NCAA Head Coach and U.S. National Rowing Champion with a decade of professional leadership and teambuilding experience, and an instinctive commitment to excellence; Diligent, dependable Hill Staffer, dedicated to supporting lawmakers and colleagues in finding creative solutions to problems and achieving their goals; Successful negotiator with an appreciation for diverse viewpoints and demonstrated success in finding common ground, building consensus, and getting things done.

Doug Palmer is one of the most experienced trade reporters in Washington after nearly 15 years on the beat. He was on the scene when efforts to launch world trade talks failed in Seattle in 1999 to the delight of thousands of protesters who clashed with police throughout the week. Since then, Palmer has covered trade negotiations with more than a dozen countries as well as the long-running Doha round of world trade negotiations, which was launched in 2001 and still has not successfully concluded. Palmer's job currently includes keeping tabs on trade frictions with China and negotiations on two huge regional free regional trade agreements, the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

Robert Pepper leads Cisco’s Global Technology Policy team working with governments and business leaders across the world in areas such as broadband, IP enabled services, wireless and spectrum policy, security, privacy, Internet governance and ICT development.

He joined Cisco in July 2005 from the FCC where he served as Chief of the Office of Plans and Policy and Chief of Policy Development beginning in 1989 where he led teams developing policies promoting the development of the Internet, implementing telecommunications legislation, planning for the transition to digital television, and designing and implementing the first U.S. spectrum auctions.

He serves on the board of the U.S. Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI) and advisory boards for Columbia University and Michigan State University, and is a Communications Program Fellow at the Aspen Institute. He is a member of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Spectrum Management Advisory Committee, the UK’s Ofcom Spectrum Advisory Board and the U.S. Department of State’s Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy.

Courtney works at the nexus of media, technology, and rights as the advocacy director at the Committee to Protect Journalists and is the author of a forthcoming report on the impact of countering violent extremism on media development for the Center for International Media Assistance at the National Endowment for Democracy

Lee Rainie is the director of internet, science and technology research at Pew Research Center. Under his leadership, the Center has issued more than 500 reports based on its surveys that examine people’s online activities and the internet’s role in their lives. He also directs the Center’s new initiative on the intersection of science and society. The American Sociological Association gave Rainie its award for “excellence in the reporting on social issues” in 2014 and described his work as the “most authoritative source of reliable data on the use and impact of the internet and mobile connectivity.”
Prior to launching Pew Research Center’s technology research, Rainie was managing editor of U.S. News & World Report. He is a graduate of Harvard University and has a master’s degree in political science from Long Island University.

Nitin Rao leads the strategic infrastructure team at CloudFlare, one of the world’s largest networks that powers more than 10 trillion requests per month, which is nearly 10 percent of all Internet requests for more than 2.5 billion people worldwide. Nitin is a TED Fellow. He previously founded Sunglass, a cloud-based design technology company and received an MBA degree from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Marina Ruggieri is the Vice President Elect of IEEE Technical Activities. She is also a Full Professor of Telecommunications Engineering at the University of Roma “Tor Vergata” and therein member of the Board of Directors.

Marina is co-founder and Chair of the Steering Board of the interdisciplinary Center for Teleinfrastructures (CTIF) at the University of Roma “Tor Vergata”. The Center, that belongs to the CTIF global network, with nodes in USA, Europe and Asia, focuses on the use of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for vertical applications (health, energy, cultural heritage, economics, law) by integrating terrestrial, air and space communications, computing, positioning and sensing. She is Principal Investigator of the 40/50 GHz TPD#5 Communications Experiment on board the European Alphasat satellite (launched on July 2013). Marina She also serves a Vice President of the Roma Chapter of AFCEA; proboviro of the Italian Industries Federation for Aerospace, Defense and Security (AIAD); member of the Technical-Scientific Committee of the Center for Aeronautical Military Studies.

Carolina Rossini is the Vice President for International Rights and Strategy at Public Knowledge and a 2016 World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. Alongside her work at Public Knowledge, she is a Global Partners Digital International Associate and an X-Lab fellow. She sits on several advisory boards, including at Open Knowledge Foundation, CodingRights, Instituto Educadigital, and InternetLab.

Previously, Carolina was a Project Director at New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute, the International Intellectual Property Director at Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and a Fellow at the Berkman Center at Harvard University. Back in Brazil, she was a in-house council for Terra Networks S/A, part of Telefonica Economic Group, and a law lecturer and project coordinator at the Center for Technology and Society and Fundação Getulio Vargas.
Carolina has an LLM in Intellectual Property from Boston University, a MBA from Instituto de Empresas, a MA in International Economic Negotiations from UNICAMP/UNESP, and a JD from University of Sao Paulo – USP.

Nilmini Gunaratne Rubin advises the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee on global public policy issues ranging from trade and international finance to energy and technology. On behalf of Chairman Royce, she wrote the Digital GAP Act to promote internet access in developing countries.

She also drafted the Electrify Africa Act to catalyze investment in power in Africa - a bill lauded in the Washington Post as "market-oriented development policy." Previously, Nilmini advocated on technology policy for the Information Technology Industry Council where she successfully influenced cybersecurity legislation.

Nilmini served as a senior aide for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee where she built bipartisan coalitions in the Senate and House of Representatives as well as with investors, businesses and civil society to secure passage of groundbreaking transparency law that will allow citizens to track trillions of dollars paid by oil companies to governments, a law providing much needed debt relief for Haiti, and law requiring reform by the development banks. She secured governance reforms and contributions for the poorest countries as part of a $100 billion loan from the United States to the International Monetary Fund.

Earlier, Nilmini worked at the White House’s National Security Council as the Director for International Finance and the G-8. She helped lead international negotiations on trade, economic development, debt relief, HIV/AIDS, counter-terrorism, non-proliferation, and Africa for the 2003 G-8 Summit in Evian, France. She also served at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Nilmini was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2006 and a “40 under 40” in international development by Devex in 2010. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Yolanda Rondon is a Staff Attorney for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), where she works on legal cases and policy issues related to surveillance, racial and religious profiling, hate crimes, employment discrimination and immigration.

Marc Rotenberg is President of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) in Washington, DC and a faculty member at Georgetown Law School where teaches privacy law and open government. He has worked with a wide range of national and international organizations, including the AAAS, ABA, ICANN, IGF, NAS, OECD, UNESCO, on Internet policy issues. He was a founding board member and former chair of the Public Interest Registry, which established and maintains the .ORG domain.

Ambassador Daniel A. Sepulveda serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy. In this capacity, Sepulveda has served as a Vice Chair to the 2016 OECD Ministerial Meeting on the Digital Economy, and as the lead U.S. negotiator for the 2015 World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) +10 Review, a United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting. Sepulveda led the U.S. delegation to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Busan Plenipotentiary Conference in 2014 and the ITU World Telecommunication Policy Forum in 2013, and has served as the lead coordinator for multiple bilateral dialogues with international counterparts.

Prior to joining the State Department in 2012, Sepulveda served as a Senior Advisor and member of Senator John Kerry’s senior management team. In that role, his portfolio included managing issues related to commerce, trade, and business, including Senator Kerry’s work as Chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet.

Neema Singh Guliani is a legislative counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union Washington Legislative Office, focusing on surveillance, privacy, and national security issues. Prior to joining the ACLU, she worked in the Chief of Staff’s Office at DHS, concentrating on national security and civil rights issues. She has also worked as an adjudicator in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights in the Department of Agriculture and was an investigative counsel with House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, where she conducted investigations related to the BP oil spill, contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Recovery Act. Neema is a graduate of Brown University where she earned a BA in International Relations with a focus on global security and received her JD from Harvard Law School in 2008.

David Snead is the General Counsel for cPanel – the largest web hosting automation company. He is responsible for cPanel’s global legal operations and is a member of the company’s management team. David has provided advice and counsel to technology companies since 1995 beginning with a practice based on technology exports. Since 1999, his practice has focused exclusively on the Internet infrastructure industry. In 2011 he co-founded the Internet Infrastructure Coalition (I2Coalition), an advocacy organization for the Internet infrastructure industry. He manages the group’s global public policy portfolio and is Chairman of the Board. David received his J.D. in 1991 from Georgetown University Law Center, and his B.A. in 1987 in International Affairs from Trinity University in San Antonio.

Lawrence E. Strickling was sworn in as Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information at the Department of Commerce in June 2009. In this role, Strickling serves as Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the Executive Branch agency that is principally responsible for advising the President on telecommunications and information policy. A technology policy expert with more than two decades of experience in the public and private sectors, Strickling’s focus at NTIA includes leading initiatives to expand broadband Internet access and adoption in America and to ensure that the Internet remains an engine for continued innovation and economic growth.

After joining NTIA, Strickling oversaw the development of an approximately $4 billion Recovery Act broadband grants program and now manages the rigorous oversight of these nationwide broadband projects to ensure they deliver timely and lasting benefits to the American public. Additionally, under Strickling's leadership, NTIA launched America's first public, searchable nationwide map of consumer broadband Internet availability and crafted a ten-year plan that the agency is now implementing to nearly double the amount of commercial spectrum available for wireless broadband, as directed by President Obama. Strickling also oversees NTIA’s efforts on a host of domestic and global Internet policy and administrative issues, including playing a key role in the Commerce Department's Internet Policy Task Force; advocating the U.S. Government’s policy positions abroad; and promoting the stability and security of the Internet’s domain name system through its participation on behalf of the U.S. government in Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) activities.

Amie Stepanovich works to ensure that laws and policies on surveillance and cybersecurity recognize and respect human rights. At Access Now, Amie leads projects on digital due process and responds to threats at the intersection of human rights and communications surveillance. Previously, Amie was the Director of the Domestic Surveillance Project at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, where she testified in hearings in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, as well as in State legislatures. Amie is a board member of the Internet Education Foundation and is the Committee on Individual Rights and Responsibilities' Liaison to the American Bar Association's Cybersecurity Working Group. She was co-chair for the 2014 Computers, Freedom, and Privacy Conference. Amie was named as a Privacy Ambassador by the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, Canada and was recognized in 2014 as one of Forbes magazine’s 30 under 30 leaders in Law and Policy. She has a J.D. from New York Law School, and a B.S. from the Florida State University.

Kristian Stout, Associate Director for Innovation Policy at the International Center for Law and Economics (ICLE), has expertise in technology and innovation policy. As a technology professional and entrepreneur for over ten years, Kristian’s scholarship is influenced by a practical understanding of the challenges facing innovators in the modern economy. Kristian has previously been a lecturer in the computer science department of Rutgers University, is frequently invited to speak on law and technology topics, and has been published in law journals and legal treatises. Kristian is an attorney licensed to practice law in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, is counsel at A&S Technologies, a software services firm, and sits on the board of CodedByKids, a nonprofit organization that provides STEM education to underprivileged children.

Kristian graduated magna cum laude from the Rutgers University School of law, served on the editorial board of the Rutgers Journal of Law and Public Policy, and was additionally awarded a Governor’s Executive Fellowship from the Eagleton Institute of Politics. You may follow him on twitter at @kristianstout

Berin Szoka is the President of TechFreedom. Previously, he was a Senior Fellow and the Director of the Center for Internet Freedom at The Progress & Freedom Foundation. Before joining PFF, he was an Associate in the Communications Practice Group at Latham & Watkins LLP, where he advised clients on regulations affecting the Internet and telecommunications industries. Before joining Latham's Communications Practice Group, Szoka practiced at Lawler Metzger Milkman & Keeney, LLC, a boutique telecommunications law firm in Washington, and clerked for the Hon. H. Dale Cook, Senior U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Oklahoma.
Szoka received his Bachelor's degree in economics from Duke University and his juris doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served as Submissions Editor of the Virginia Journal of Law and Technology. He is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and California (inactive).

He has served on the Steering Committee for the D.C. Bar's Computer & Telecommunications Law Section, and currently serves on the FAA's Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC). Szoka has chaired, and currently serves on, the Board of Directors of the Space Frontier Foundation, a non-profit citizens' advocacy group founded in 1988 and dedicated to advancing commercial opportunity and expansion of human civilization in space.

He blogs for the Technology Liberation Front.

Shane Tews is a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute’s (AEI’s) Center for Internet, Communications, and Technology Policy, where she works primarily on cybersecurity and Internet governance issues. She is also the chief policy officer at 463 Communications, a firm that advises high-tech organizations on Internet policies.

Tews dealt with Internet security and domain issues as vice president of global policy for Verisign Inc. She is currently vice-chair of the board of directors of the Internet Education Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote a decentralized global Internet. She began her career on Capitol Hill as a legislative director for a member of Congress and worked in the George H. W. Bush White House, in the Office of Cabinet Affairs and at the US Department of Transportation.

Tews studied communications at Arizona State University and at American University, where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in general studies with an emphasis on communications and political science.

Madura Wijewardena is the Executive Director, Global Public Policy at Comcast Corporation.

At Comcast, Madura focuses on industry structure and competition in broadband access and pay-TV sectors. He supports the company’s Internet Essentials program by collaborating on survey research on customer behavior.

Prior to joining Comcast in March 2013, Madura was the Director of Research at the National Urban League (NUL) in Washington, D.C. where he undertook macroeconomic research. He also served in advisory roles to the U.S. Census Bureau on survey design.

Prior to NUL, Madura worked for a consulting firm in Chicago where he used demographic data analysis to assist service providers to target services. He also assisted advocacy campaigns to use data analysis and community organizing methods to build affinity groups and affect public opinion.

For the first eight years of his career, Madura was a transactions attorney in telecoms, media and technology. He was based in Australia with clients in Australia, Asia and the Middle East. He focused on joint ventures, acquisitions and alliances. Madura holds a master’s degree from the University of Chicago concentrating in economics/statistics, and a law degree and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Sydney, Australia. He holds a certificate in executive leadership from the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia.

Jonathan Zuck is a widely known and respected leader in the technology industry. As a former application developer and IT executive, he brings more than fifteen years of experience running small business technology companies to his leadership of ACT | The App Association.

Since becoming President of ACT | The App Association, Mr. Zuck has steered its growth into one of the most influential organizations at the intersection of technology and politics. ACT |The App Association is widely recognized as industry leader representing small business software and technology companies that drive innovation and job creation.

Mr. Zuck is in high demand as a speaker, traveling across the globe to address trade conferences about the potential impact of government regulation on innovation and small businesses. In the U.S., he has testified numerous times before Congress and his guidance is regularly sought by government leaders throughout Washington.