The Decade of Digital Inclusion Is a Wrap!
Check out our session replays below.
In our globally connected world, an inclusive and sustainable digital economy is a cornerstone for peace, prosperity, and progress. A global economy in which all are included must be built upon digital equity, trusted technology, and continuous innovation. Mastercard’s Center for Inclusive Growth works to achieve this by empowering small to medium-sized businesses, supporting female entrepreneurs, tackling racial inequities, and using data-driven insights to build connected communities and deliver positive social impact. This discussion will focus on the path we need to take to achieve truly shared prosperity.
Arturo Franco is a development economist and strategy consultant. His career combines high-level positions in Fortune 500 corporations and global organizations, with public policy and international development experience. Before joining Mastercard, Arturo was a senior advisor for McKinsey & Company’s global public and social policy practice and executive director of the Planning Council of the State of Nuevo Leon, where he also served as Undersecretary. Over the past years, Arturo has been Global Leadership Fellow for Latin America at the World Economic Forum, economics research fellow at Harvard University’s Center for International Development, nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Arturo holds economics degrees from Monterrey Tec in Mexico and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, where he was also vice chair of the Alumni Board. His essays and books have been published by the Brookings Institution, the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, the Atlantic Council, and the Policy Network.
Vinton G. Cerf is vice president and chief Internet evangelist for Google, where he is responsible for identifying new enabling technologies to support the development of the company’s advanced, Internet-based products and services.
Widely known as one of the “Fathers of the Internet,” Cerf is the co-designer with Robert Kahn of TCP/IP protocols and the basic architecture of the Internet. For their pioneering work on the Internet, they have achieved national distinction. In 1997, President Clinton presented the U.S. National Medal of Technology to Cerf and Kahn for founding and developing the Internet, and in 2005, they were awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor awarded by the United States to its citizens. In 1998, Cerf was awarded the Marconi Prize, the highest global award for communications technology.
For over 20 years, Shamina Singh has been on the frontlines of developing and implementing solutions to make the global economy work for everyone, everywhere. Since 2014, Shamina has served as the Founder & President of the Center for Inclusive Growth, the philanthropic hub of Mastercard.
Currently, Ms. Singh serves on the Boards of Data & Society and ADL. She serves as a Board Member of the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders and the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation at Georgetown University. Shamina co-chairs the Ad Council’s Advisory Committee on Public Issues and serves on the Advisory Boards of social enterprise Women Reignite and The Aspen Institute Civil Society Fellowship. She is also a Henry Crown Fellow with The Aspen Institute.
In 2015, Shamina was appointed by President Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to a six-year term on the Board of the Corporation for National and Community Service. She is a graduate of the Presidential Leadership Fellows program and an alum of the Young Global Leaders program of the World Economic Forum. She has thrice been named to the Financial Times’ Top 100 LGBT+ Executives and was recently ranked #9 on Fast Company’s Queer 50 list.
Shamina earned a Bachelor of Science from Old Dominion University and a Master of Public Administration from the Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.
As more and more aspects of our lives go online, responsible technologists, policymakers, and digital inclusion advocates must create simple, effective, and user-friendly ways to keep consumers safe on the network. Issues in this area include control over personal content and data, device accessibility, reducing bias in machine learning and AI algorithms, user interface, usability innovations, and ways to combat the rise of disinformation.
Amy VanDeVelde is the Broadband Specialist and Federal Program Officer for the NTIA. Amy VanDeVelde has led the Oasis Connections program since 2012. She is an expert at understanding how to build the confidence and the skills digital newcomers and older adults need to use the internet safely. The Connections program has offered thousands of classes under her leadership. Amy is keenly interested in technology that supports and enhances interpersonal relationships and community health by decreasing social isolation. She obtained a certificate from Harvard University in Cybersecurity Risk Management in 2020 and her team was awarded a 2022 HP Aspen Institute Digital Equity Accelerator grant. Amy has been quoted in Family Circle, St. Louis Magazine, and USA Today.
Sheri Osborn is a 3rd year Ph.D. student at UTSA in the Information Systems and Cybersecurity program. Her concentration is Artificial Intelligence, and she will graduate in August of 2023. Her research interests are AI-based platforms that help organizations build strategic advantages and create value by fusing data sources across the organization to reveal opportunities for innovation and market expansion.
Before starting the Ph.D. program at UTSA, she was an entrepreneur and interim executive. As an entrepreneur, she has been granted a patent for a system to assess and improve a user’s life skills and develop self-efficacy. As an interim executive, she has led teams as the head of marketing, business development, and product management. Before being an interim executive, she was a platform director at BroadVision, Adobe Systems, MicroFocus, Symantec, and other technology companies.
She lives in San Antonio with her husband Kevin who is a pastor and chaplain at Methodist Hospital. In her spare time, she loves to travel the world. She gardens and is constantly trying to master cooking techniques from around the world.
Debora Plunkett is a cybersecurity leader with over 30 years of experience. A former Director of Information Assurance at the National Security Agency, she is Principal of Plunkett Associates LLC, a consulting business. She is also a Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center and a Professor of Cybersecurity at the University of Maryland.
Ms. Plunkett serves on the corporate boards of CACI International, Nationwide Insurance, Mercury Systems, and BlueVoyant. She is a founding member and chairman of the board of Defending Digital Campaigns, a non-profit entity focused on providing free or low-cost cybersecurity services to federal election campaigns.
Karen is a Scottish Computer Scientist who does research at the boundary where humans and security meet. She is particularly interested in understanding how humans feel about cybersecurity, and in finding out the consequences of organizations wielding negative emotions to encourage secure behaviors. She also tries to improve accessibility to ensure that everyone is able to be safe and secure online, not only in a privileged sector of society.
Yvette Renteria is the Chief Program Officer for Common Sense Media. She leads the education, research, family, and community engagement teams that support our kids to thrive in a digital world.
Yvette brings 20 years of experience working in public schools and nonprofit organizations focused on supporting young people to reach their full potential, with an emphasis on low-income communities. Throughout her career, she has worked directly with students and families to ensure kids receive a quality education. Yvette has built programs for young adults to access skills-based training to open opportunities for gainful employment. She’s also developed programs for early child care providers to build sustainable businesses while supporting the families most in need of those services. The focus of her career has always been about access, opportunity, and growth for people.
Yvette holds a Masters of Education from Loyola Marymount University and Bachelors of Development Studies from UC Berkeley.
Dr. Roy Want received his doctorate from Cambridge University, England in 1988 and is currently a Senior Research Scientist at Google. Dr. Want’s previous positions include Sr. Principal Engineer at Intel Corporation and Principal Scientist at Xerox PARC.
He holds the grades of ACM and IEEE Fellow. His research interests include mobile and ubiquitous computing, distributed systems, context-aware applications, and electronic identification. Dr. Want has more than 30 years of experience working in the field of mobile computing. He served as the Editor-in-chief for IEEE Pervasive Computing from 2006-2009 and Chair of the ACM SIGMOBILE executive committee from 2009-2012. More recently, he received the ACM SIGMOBILE Outstanding Contributions Award in 2019. For more information about Dr. Want’s academic and industrial achievements see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Want.
As governments around the world set goals for broadband access, how do we define broadband? Without clear guidelines defining speed, quality, and what “service” means, policymakers cannot effectively oversee Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and ensure communities are being served appropriately.
With billions of dollars in federal funding at stake, we need a comprehensive and clear definition of broadband service—one that accounts for the key role Internet access plays in daily life. This panel will discuss the technical details and policy ramifications of defining broadband.
Vinton G. Cerf is vice president and chief Internet evangelist for Google, where he is responsible for identifying new enabling technologies to support the development of the company’s advanced, Internet-based products and services.
Widely known as one of the “Fathers of the Internet,” Cerf is the co-designer with Robert Kahn of TCP/IP protocols and the basic architecture of the Internet. For their pioneering work on the Internet, they have achieved national distinction. In 1997, President Clinton presented the U.S. National Medal of Technology to Cerf and Kahn for founding and developing the Internet, and in 2005, they were awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor awarded by the United States to its citizens. In 1998, Cerf was awarded the Marconi Prize, the highest global award for communications technology.
Christophe Diot received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from INP Grenoble in 1991. Diot co-pioneered diffserv, single source multicast, epidemic communication, peer-to-peer online games, and most importantly, Internet measurements.
After INRIA, Diot spent his career in industry, building R&D labs at Sprint, INTEL, and Technicolor. He helped launch Safran Analytics as their CTO before joining GOOGLE in June 2018, where he deals with telemetry at scale in cloud infrastructure.
Diot has around 40 patents and 300 publications in major conferences and journals. He is an ACM fellow.
Mei Lin Fung is the Chair of the People-Centered Internet, which she co-founded with Vint Cerf. She was an early pioneer of the CRM at inter and Oracle and was the Socio-Technical lead for the US Department of Defense Health Futures activity between 2009-2013. Member of the Executive Committee of IEEE’s Society for Social Impact of Technology Committee chairs the Assessment subcommittee for the IEEE’s Humanitarian Activities Committee. Ms. Fung was recently appointed a fellow at the Hasso Plattner Institute.
Matthew R. Rantanen is the Director of Technology for the Southern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association (SCTCA). He has served as Director of the Tribal Digital Village Network (TDVNet) Initiative since 2001, designing and deploying networking supporting tribal communities of Southern California.
Mr. Rantanen is Senior Advisor, Tribal Broadband at GoldenStateNet.org, focusing on Tribal opportunities in the Governor’s Middle-Mile efforts.
Matthew is the Partnering and Business Development Advisor at arcadianinfra.com.
Mr. Rantanen is considered an expert on community/Tribal networking. An advocate for net-neutrality, broadband for everyone. Mr. Rantanen helps the 25 member tribes of SCTCA with technology development and strategy, to bring their Nations to the current level of communications.
He is Co-Chair of the Technology/Telecom Subcommittee of the National Congress of American Indians. He serves on the Advisory Board for Arizona State University’s, American Indian Policy Institute.
Mr. Rantanen was named to the FCC Native Nations Broadband Task 2011, reappointed serving 2 full terms. He was also named to the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council’s 4(CSRIC4) at the FCC in June 2013.
Matthew served as the 2 Term Chairman of the Board at Native Public Media(NPM) and has held the Vice-Chair and Treasurer positions.
What does it mean to reduce the digital divide and alleviate the issues associated with digital inequity? How will we know that progress is being made? What measurement infrastructure needs to be in place to successfully measure and map the change in broadband coverage, capacity, quality, and cost over time to evaluate progress? How could a community detect reversions to inequitable situations?
The Marconi Society’s working group on Digital Equity Assessment, Measurement, and Mapping has been working on these questions. Members of the working group will share their insights and current thinking during this panel discussion.
Elizabeth M. Belding is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Prof. Belding’s research focuses on mobile and wireless networking, including network performance analysis, and information and communication technologies for development (ICTD). She is a co-developer of the AODV routing protocol for mobile networks, on which 802.11s and Zigbee technologies are based in part. The original AODV paper published in WMCSA’99 received the 2018 ACM SIGMOBILE Test of Time Award.
Prof. Belding applies her wireless network expertise to a wide range of contexts and is particularly interested in improving Internet and cellular accessibility in developing and resource-challenged communities worldwide. Her past ICTD projects have included work in Zambia, South Africa, Mongolia, and refugee camps. Most recently, she has been working with Native American communities around the US. In addition to this work, she is currently very interested in and engaged with efforts to accurately measure and quantify fixed and mobile broadband deployments in the U.S. She is the founder and director of the Mobility Management and Networking (MOMENT) Laboratory. Prof. Belding is the author of over 150 technical papers on wireless networking and has served on over 80 conference technical program committees. She was Vice Chair of the UCSB Computer Science department from 2009-15 and 2017-19. She is currently an Associate Dean and Faculty Equity Advisor in the UCSB College of Engineering. Prof. Belding is the recipient of an NSF CAREER Award, and a 2002 MIT Technology Review 100 award, awarded to the world’s top young investigators. She is an ACM Fellow, AAAS Fellow, and IEEE Fellow. She is particularly proud of receiving the UCSB Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award in 2012 and the NCWIT Harrold and Notkin Research and Graduate Mentoring Award in 2015 for her mentorship of graduate students.
Mark Buell is the Director of Indigenous Programs at Connect Humanity where he is leading the creation of the Indigenous Connectivity Institute, an organization dedicated to advancing digital equity in Indigenous communities in Canada and the United States. Over his 20+ year career, Mark has held a variety of positions working with Indigenous communities and in Internet policy, including as the Director of Communications and Research at the National Aboriginal Health Organization, as the Regional Vice President for North America at the Internet Society, and as a Senior Advisor at the Canadian Internet Registration Authority.
Nicole Franklin is a transformative and strategic Pro-Equity and Anti-Racism leader. As a technologist, she champions the non-binary realities of technology as a human right. Nicole advocates for integrating technology tools as a critical resource in race and social justice strategic planning as upstream investments, where the needs are greatest. She leverages and innovates technology to advance Equity and Social Justice to design, define and drive sustainable cross-sectional applications respected on local, regional, and national levels.
Roberto Gallardo is the Director of the Purdue Center for Regional Development and an Agricultural Economics associate professor. He holds an electronics engineering undergraduate degree, a master’s in economic development, and a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration. Gallardo has worked with rural communities over the past eighteen years conducting local & regional community economic development, including the use of technology for development.
He has authored more than 100 articles and reports including peer-reviewed and news-related regarding rural trends, socioeconomic analysis, industrial clusters, the digital divide, and leveraging broadband applications for community economic development. He assisted the state of Indiana with implementing its broadband programs, acting as their Next Level Broadband Connections Director for six months. Dr. Gallardo is also working with his team to evaluate the impact of the Economic Development Administration’s $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge program.
He is the author of the book “Responsive Countryside: The Digital Age & Rural Communities”, which highlights a 21st-century community development model that helps rural communities transition to, plan for, and prosper in the digital age. Dr. Gallardo is a TEDx speaker, and his work has been featured in a WIRED magazine article, a MIC.com documentary, and an RFDTV documentary.
Funding to support digital equity has long been inconsistent, undependable, and difficult to obtain, making it hard for organizations to continue providing much needed community services sustainably. We are in a moment in the U.S. with unprecedented funding going to digital equity and inclusion programming. It is highly unlikely this level of investment, or even lower levels of investment from these federal sources, will be available again and these funding levels may never be seen in other countries.
In order for communities to continue supporting residents to connect and use the Internet in all the ways it can benefit them, digital equity must be reframed within a more dependable funding and business framework. Digital inclusion as a social service delivery model, with a focus on how states and counties can mitigate the rising costs of delivering social services through partnerships and coordination with the community, is one way to provide superior service and cost savings that can permanently fund digital inclusion programs and strategies.
Kathryn de Wit directs Pew’s broadband access initiative, which works to accelerate efforts to connect millions of Americans to affordable, reliable high-speed internet. In addition to working with policymakers, researchers, and other stakeholders to improve policy outcomes, de Wit’s work also includes addressing research gaps and bringing together stakeholders for data-driven discussions about how to ensure that every American benefits from universal connectivity. Before joining Pew, de Wit was an associate with Booz Allen Hamilton, where she focused on broadband deployment, organizational management, and public affairs. She was also a senior fellow with the Heinz Endowments, leading projects on youth philanthropy and community engagement. De Wit holds bachelor’s degrees in communications and sociology from Penn State University and a master’s in public administration from the University of Pittsburgh.
Mai-Ling Garcia, Digital Director for the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins, leverages more than 15 years of experience working in cities, digital innovation, and public service to lead the Center’s Digital practice and bring innovative digital solutions to cities across the globe. The former Head of Digital Strategy and Engagement for the City and County of San Francisco and architect of the City of Oakland’s first Digital Service Team, Mai-Ling’s passion for creating innovative and efficient digital solutions that drive social impact has guided her work throughout her career. She has served as the e-Commerce and Marketing Manager for Back to the Roots, America’s leading organic gardening company that increases access to natural foods across the country. Mai-Ling also served as a lead researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, led work to support veterans under the U.S. Department of Labor, and served as a Senior Policy Associate for Swords to Plowshares, a leading veteran services nonprofit, where she designed trainings and fostered crucial dialogue on a local and national level as a community and policy advocate. Mai-Ling holds a Master of Science from the London School of Economics with a focus on cities.
Karen Mossberger is Frank and June Sackton Professor in the School of Public Affairs at Arizona State University, and director of the Center on Technology, Data and Society. She researches digital inequality, digital government, and the impacts of technology use, along with urban policy, local economic development, and local governance.
She is author or co-author of 7 books, including “Choosing the Future: Technology and Opportunity in Communities” (Mossberger, Tolbert and LaCombe, Oxford University Press, 2021), which has been honored with the 2022 Goldsmith Book Prize for the best academic book by the Shorenstein Center, Harvard University. The book provides evidence over nearly two decades that inclusive broadband adoption contributes to the prosperity and economic opportunity in communities; yet wide disparities have persisted in the US, from the neighborhood to the county level. She is also co-editor of “Transforming Everything? Evaluating Broadband’s Impacts across Policy Areas,” (Mossberger, Welch, and Wu, Oxford University Press, 2021).
Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Smith Richardson Foundation, and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, among others. She is an elected fellow in the National Academy of Public Administration.
Solving complex problems in our cross-functional world calls for students and workforces with interdisciplinary skills. This is particularly true in the quest for digital equity, which relies on technologists to create the possible, policymakers to develop innovative solutions to impactful and accessible funding, and digital inclusion advocates to ensure that solutions can be adopted and used by the community. Education between these groups is siloed today, feeding into a fragmented workforce and problem-solving infrastructure. The educational pipeline for the future of digital equity will create passionate, cross-disciplinary experts.
This panel will discuss recommendations to produce a workforce skilled in the different aspects of digital equity and in bridging the conversation between disparate groups.
Michell L. Morton is a Digital Equity Advisor for the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunication and Information Administration (NTIA). Michell joined NTIA in July 2021 and currently works on the Digital Equity Team. Michell has 18 years of digital inclusion and equity experience, and previously worked as a consultant for HUD’s Neighborhood Networks Initiative, as the Chicago Program Director for One Economy Corporation, and most recently as the Program Development Manager for the District of Columbia’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer’s Connect.DC and Tech Together DC Initiatives.
Dr. Traci Morris is the Executive Director of the American Indian Policy (AIPI) Institute at Arizona State University and is a member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma. Dr. Morris has worked with Native American nations, Tribal businesses, and Native American non-profits; written a college-accredited curriculum; and advocated for digital inclusion at the Federal Communications Commission and on Capitol Hill.
Dr. Morris’s research and publications on Native American media and the digital divide are focused on Internet use, digital inclusion, network neutrality, digital and new media curriculums, and the development of broadband networks in Indian Country. Morris spearheaded the groundbreaking Tribal Technology Assessment: The State of Internet Service on Tribal Lands in 2019. Her book, Native American Voices: A Reader, continues to be a primary teaching tool in colleges throughout the country.
Dr. Morris is Affiliated Faculty at ASU’s School for the Future of Innovation in Society, an Affiliate of ASU’s Center for Gender Equity in Science and Technology, President of the Board of the Phoenix Indian Center, and on the Advisory Council of the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums. Formerly, Morris served two appointments to the Federal Communications Commission’s Consumer Advisory Committee and a one-year appointment to the Advisory Board for the Department of Labor’s Native American Employment and Training Council. As an entrepreneur, Morris founded Homahota Consulting LLC, a national Native American woman-owned professional services firm working in policy analysis, telecommunications, education, and research assisting tribes in their nation-building efforts and working with Native Nations, tribal businesses, and those businesses working with tribes.
Morris has an M. A. and Ph.D. from the University of Arizona’s American Indian Studies, in addition to a B.A. in Liberal Arts from Colorado State University.
Dr. Fallon Wilson is a Co-Founder of #BlackTechFutures Research Institute and the former Research Director of Black Tech Mecca. She is a member of the Federal Communications Commission’s Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment. Dr. Wilson is a 2019 TEDx Speaker (e.g. Stop Ignoring Black Women and Hear of Our Tech Prophecies). She is a Board Member of the State of Tennessee’s Future of Work Taskforce and Co-Chairs Nashville’s smart city plan, Connected Nashville. Given her tech activism and organizing Nashville’s first Tech Inclusion Conference, she is a 2017 recipient of the International Society for Technology in Education Digital Equity Award. Recently, Dr. Wilson was appointed to Google’s Education Equity Board and has been named by Venture Beat as the modern-day Fannie Lou Hamer for tech equity. Dr. Wilson’s research on first-generation black college students’ alternative tech pathways and tech ecosystems has garnered notable research grants from Kapor Center for Social Impact & Kauffman Foundation. Dr. Wilson chairs the Tennessee Higher Education Commission’s HBCU Success Board. Dr. Wilson has written opinion pieces for the Tennessean and Venture Beat. Dr. Wilson has a BA from Spelman College and an MA/Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. As a public interest technologist, she discusses race, gender, faith, and civic tech issues. She is on Twitter @SistahWilson.
As the first-ever digital equity director at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Angela Thi Bennett will be charged to direct the allocation of $2.75 billion from the Digital Equity Act and help develop guidelines for states to equitably use these funds. Ms. Thi Bennett will share her insights about ensuring digital equity for the largest influx of government funding ever dedicated to broadband infrastructure.
Angela Thi Bennett, a new addition to NTIA’s growing team, will direct the allocation of the $2.75 billion Digital Equity Program and help develop guidelines for states to strategically utilize these funds to have a transformative impact in their communities. Angela said of her new role, “As my ability to serve scales to the national level, I remain steadfastly committed to amplifying marginalized voices, empowering local communities to drive solutions, and creating shared standards of metrics to inform interventions and create accountability.”
Throughout her career, Angela has focused on community work and improving the quality of life in her Cleveland and greater Ohio communities. Her vast community and public sector experience include leading East Cleveland’s department of community and economic development, serving as Superintendent of a community school in Cleveland, and the Ohio State Board of Education. In her previous work at a community-based internet service provider, she was instrumental in growing the customer base and helping over 1,500 individuals benefit from affordable digital access during the height of the pandemic. Angela is an advocate and ambassador for equity and inclusion, using her network and voice to elicit social change.
Marconi Fellow Sir David Payne will open day two of our conference with a keynote panel with Marconi Fellows and Young Scholars.
From 6G networks to quantum security to blockchain and AI, the technical breakthroughs in information and communications technology that are in labs today must be built with digital equity in mind. Our Marconi Fellows and Young Scholars, luminaries in their fields, will discuss the potential reach and impact of some of our newest innovations and the considerations that technologists should keep top of mind. From their vantage point as the people who played critical roles in creating the Internet, the wireless industry, the security that underpins billions of online transactions and so much more, the panelists will share their unique perspectives on technology for digital equity.
Sir David Payne is a leading Professor at the University of Southampton and Director of the Optoelectronics Research Centre. A world-class pioneer of technology, his work has had a great impact on telecommunications and laser technology over the last forty years. The vast transmission capacity of today’s internet results directly from the erbium-doped fibre amplifier (EDFA) invented by David and his team in the 1980s.
Currently, his main research interest is high-power fibre lasers; he now holds many other fibre laser performance records. An original member of the Highly Cited Researchers (USA) he is honored as one of the most referenced, influential researchers in the world, having published over 650 Conference and Journal papers. In 2008, he was awarded the Marconi Prize.
Siavash Alamouti’s foundational contribution to wireless technology is the Alamouti Code, which has inspired tens of thousands of researchers to expand on his findings. This breakthrough solution was adopted in 3GPP standards only two years after its invention and is included in all the wireless standards since 3G (LTE, LTE-Advanced, and 5G), and all WiFi standards since 802.11n (802.11ad, 802.11ay, etc.).
Billions of devices in use today rely on the Alamouti code to ensure better quality of communication at lower cost and reduced energy usage. His innovation has improved communications for billions of people and millions of companies and enterprises without any detrimental effect on the carbon footprint.
In 2022, Alamouti was awarded the Marconi Prize.
Dr. Aakanksha Chowdhery has led the large language model effort PaLM and has been a core contributor to Pathways system at Google Research. Her research interests span multiple areas of machine learning, distributed systems, and networking.
She completed her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. She worked at Microsoft Research and Princeton University before joining Google. She received the 2012 Paul Baran Marconi Young Scholar Award.
Dr. Elgamal has served as the Chief Technology Officer of Security at Salesforce since 2013. He joined the technical staff at Hewlett Packard Labs in 1984 before leaving to co-found a data compression start-up company. In 1985, he wrote a paper entitled “A Public Key Cryptosystem and A Signature Scheme used on Discrete Logarithms” where he proposed the design of the EIGamal signature scheme which would later become the basis for the Digital Signature Algorithm adopted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology as the Digital Signature Standard. From 1995 to 1998 he was the chief scientist at Netscape Communications. He is recognized as the “Father of SSL” for his work in computer security which helped in establishing private and secure communications on the internet. He received his Masters and Doctorate degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1981 and 1984, respectively. Dr. Elgamal is a recipient of the RSA Conference 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2019 Marconi Prize. In 2022 he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for contributions to cryptography, e-commerce, and protocols for secure Internet transactions.
Dr. Henry Samueli is the Co-Founder, Chief Technology Officer, and Chairman of the Board of Broadcom. Samueli, whose work led to the explosive growth of the consumer broadband industry, won the 2012 Marconi Prize for his pioneering advances in the development and commercialization of analog and mixed signal circuits for modern communication systems. Those innovations also built the foundation of Irvine, CA-based Broadcom Corporation and enabled the company’s subsequent expansion into other markets such as Ethernet networking and wireless communications. Since its founding in 1991, Broadcom has grown to become one of the world’s leading innovators in communications semiconductors. Samueli and his wife Susan launched The Samueli Foundation in 1999, which thus far has donated more than $250 million to support numerous science, technology, and mathematics (STEM) education programs. Among his other honors, Samueli is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and winner of The Global Semiconductor Alliance Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award.
The digital economy has led to the proliferation of new technologies, data sources, and ideas that are driving a fintech revolution. Fintech products are rapidly revolutionizing the global financial ecosystem, with the potential to reach and benefit vulnerable and traditionally excluded populations. A mix of blockchain, machine learning, mobile banking, satellite imagery, and more are being used to deliver aid, facilitate trade, or enable faster, cheaper remittances. The reach and impact of fintech solutions is escalating quickly as the pandemic, natural disasters, and geopolitical crises make getting money to vulnerable communities – including displaced and refugee populations – more critical than ever.
Siavash Alamouti’s foundational contribution to wireless technology is the Alamouti Code, which has inspired tens of thousands of researchers to expand on his findings. This breakthrough solution was adopted in 3GPP standards only two years after its invention and is included in all the wireless standards since 3G (LTE, LTE-Advanced, and 5G), and all WiFi standards since 802.11n (802.11ad, 802.11ay, etc.).
Billions of devices in use today rely on the Alamouti code to ensure better quality of communication at lower cost and reduced energy usage. His innovation has improved communications for billions of people and millions of companies and enterprises without any detrimental effect on the carbon footprint.
In 2022, Alamouti was awarded the Marconi Prize.
Emily is a fourth-year Ph.D. student at the UC Berkeley School of Information. Her research interests are at the intersection of machine learning, global health, and development economics, with a focus on leveraging large-scale digital traces for evidence-based policymaking. Before Berkeley, she received her BA in computer science from Harvard University where she conducted research on digital epidemiology. Emily is the recipient of a Microsoft Research Ph.D. Fellowship.
Kami is an impact-focused leader and expert on systems, automation, data analytics, and talent management in the global development and impact sector. He is Co-founder and Chief Executive of Uniti Networks, a startup seeking to accelerate digital service adoption among the bottom billion with a focus on equitable access and impact. Previously, Kami served as Co-founder and innovator-in-chief at the media platform for global development, Devex, where he spent nearly two decades leading a team of analysts, researchers, engineers, and designers to deliver the world-class technologies that made Devex the definitive hub for the global development sector. He has worked closely with development partners, including Oxfam and the World Bank, and tackled complex integrations and strategic alignment with diverse technology partners and platforms ranging from ERP and analytics to agile management and algorithmically-driven solutions. Kami advises organizations engaged in disruptive technology and large-scale system change in pursuit of the Global Goals. He serves on the Board of Trustees of Candid and the European Board of WorldReader — a leader in digital reading in under-served communities worldwide. He is also a member of the board of AfricaWorks, a non-profit working to support expertise and talent on the African continent.
Laura Fontana is a solutions lead for Digital Assets at the Bank of New York Mellon. Her focus is on digital cash solutions for wholesale commercial banking and capital markets. She previously led Blockchain Innovation at Wells Fargo Bank.
At Wells Fargo, Laura was early to see the promise of blockchain as a fundamentally transformative transactional technology. She drove the blockchain adoption advocacy and strategy across the technology and business teams and led extensive concept development to identify proof of business value and technical feasibility. Through a large portfolio of blockchain and digital assets experimentation across a broad range of financial services, she applied her strong market context in banking and deep technical understanding to identify compelling new business opportunities and operational efficiencies. She successfully delivered practical business solutions and was adept at articulating the economic value of these solutions to senior business and technology stakeholders. The two new solutions she delivered at Wells Fargo were: a token-based settlement service called Wells Fargo Digital Cash for cross-border multi-currency book transfers, and a bilateral settlement service called FX Harmony for coordinated settlement between HSBC and Wells Fargo’s FX Marco Markets.
Before Innovation R&D at Wells Fargo, she was part of Digital Payments where she supported retail online and mobile transfers & payments services, delivering many digital transformational enhancements. It was here that she saw the potential for major disruption to financial services with blockchain technology. Before joining Wells Fargo, Laura led the marketing and product development of alternative merchant payment solutions at Blackhawk Network, and online public sector procurement services at Epylon. She also has extensive product development and marketing experience with software development tools, methodologies, and best practices.
Laura earned a bachelor’s degree in English Literature with a secondary focus in Economics from Stanford University. She resides in San Francisco and New York City.
Digital transformation, automation, and globalization have sparked radical shifts in societies, giving rise to a “new economy” driven by big data analytics and the Internet of Things (IoT). The expansion of the digital economy has placed big data, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and data science at the center of the debate about the future of digital inclusion. In particular, internet access is poised to reach hundreds of millions of new individuals over the next decade, bringing services and opportunities to historically excluded populations.
Big Data offers great potential for data-driven decision making to inform individual, business, and government decisions, but science will be crucial to ensure transparency, equity, and trust. However, as algorithmic decision making increasingly affects everyday life, the benefits must be weighed against the potential to codify and amplify existing biases. The collection and usage of vast amounts of personal data to improve decision making must be weighed against the potential for fraud or the invasion of privacy. This raises the question: how can we properly harness data and their value “to maximize” individuals’ and societies’ welfare?
Danielle Davis is the Policy Counsel for the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC). She supports MMTC’s policy work in three areas: tech, media, and telecommunications (TMT) sectors. The sectors include: Technology, Data Privacy, Artificial Intelligence, and Civil Rights in the Digital Age.
Prior to her role at MMTC, Davis worked with the National Urban League, providing counsel on technology and telecommunications issues with a racial justice lens. While there, she conducted research on the digital divide, Section 230 and content moderation, and privacy issues.
Jordana Barton-García is a Senior Fellow with Connect Humanity. She is also Principal of the social enterprise, Barton-García Advisors. Her work helps organizations and communities achieve full participation in the digital economy and promotes economic development, health equity, telehealth, workforce development, educational equity, access to financial services, and entrepreneurship. Her publications have contributed to the fields of community development and digital inclusion. Jordana most recently served as Vice President of Community Investments at Methodist Healthcare Ministries. Her leadership was critical in ensuring the organization’s commitment to health equity—reducing the inequities inherent across South Texas so the least served have greater opportunities to reach their full potential. She previously served as Senior Advisor for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, where she supported the Federal Reserve System’s economic growth objectives and the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). Her work included economic research, community development finance, and philanthropy, as well as training financial institutions and federal banking regulators. Her focus areas included digital inclusion, telehealth, workforce development, financial education, affordable housing, and microenterprise and small business development. Her background includes a distinguished career in community development banking and finance at Capital One Bank, and as a nonprofit leader in the expansion of microfinance in the U.S. Jordana serves on the Steering Committees for Digital Texas, the Digital Inclusion Alliance San Antonio, and on the Advisory Board of the Texas Health Improvement Network of the University of Texas System. In 2018, she received the “Federal Policy Champion Award” from the Coalition for Local Internet Choice and the “Community Broadband Hero Award” from the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors. In 2020, she was named, “Salud Hero” (health hero) by Salud America, a program of UT Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and was inducted into the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame. She holds an MPA from Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Sarah E. Chasins is an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS) at UC Berkeley. Her lab invents usable programming tools to democratize computation, especially to empower social scientists, journalists, and other non-traditional programmers. Her research focuses on programming languages (PL) and program synthesis, with an emphasis on (i) work at the intersection of PL and human-computer interaction, and (ii) work at the intersection of PL and social good.
She holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences from UC Berkeley and a B.A. in Computer Science and Psychology from Swarthmore College. She is an awardee of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator Competition.
Laura Chioda is the Director of Research at the Institute for Business and Social Impact (IBSI), at the University of California, Berkeley. She collaborates with UCB faculty to formulate and develop research agendas for IBSI’s strategic priorities, which include fintech and banking, sustainability, mental health, and diversity and inclusion. She teaches graduate-level courses in applied impact evaluation. Her research interests range from theoretical econometric issues of identification and machine learning to behavioral economics, youth and skill development, intra-household decisions, crime and violence, and financial inclusion. Laura holds a Ph.D. in economics from UCB and was an assistant professor of economics at Princeton. Prior to joining IBSI, Laura was a Senior Research Economist in the Office of the Chief Economist at the World Bank, where she led large research programs and authored several academic articles and two peer-reviewed books. She also serves as principal investigator on an array of impact evaluations including on the roles of social networks, the labor market, and soft skills in shaping antisocial behavior and economic outcomes; on fintech and women’s financial inclusion, and on blockchain and transborder payments. Her work has been featured in the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, and other international press.
Tiffany Deng currently serves as Chief of Staff and Program Management Lead for Google’s Research Center for Responsible AI and Human-Centered Technology where she works to ensure Google’s products work for everyone.
Prior to Google, Tiffany was a Privacy Program Manager at Meta focused on Meta’s AI/ML products. Before Meta, she worked as a Consultant in Washington, D.C. where she worked for the Department of Defense, the Department of State, and other government agencies. She also served in the United States Army as an Intelligence Officer.
Tiffany holds a B.S. from the United States Military Academy at West Point in Systems Engineering and Geopolitics. She also earned a Masters of Public Policy from George Mason University and a M.S. in National Security & Resource Strategy from the Dwight D. Eisenhower School in Washington D.C.
Today’s “free” Internet applications are built on a model of monetizing individuals’ data to drive engagement. The technique of driving engagement by creating anger or fear is well-documented and leads to disinformation and online behaviors that can threaten individuals and groups. Making data access and applications much more affordable by changing the current paradigm around user data and information calls for community engagement and involvement to create win/win scenarios that drive desired outcomes in exchange for equity and control over data. This session will discuss the different strategies for creating consumer-oriented business models in emerging and developed countries, as well as corporate motivations for changing the paradigm.
Lili Gangas is the Chief Technology Community Officer at the Kapor Center, an operating foundation at the intersection of technology and racial justice. The Kapor Center provides research and thought leadership, operating programs, supporting strategic partnerships and investments to increase diversity across the tech ecosystem–from K-12 education through entrepreneurship and venture capital – aiming to level the playing field in tech.
Lili leads the Kapor Center’s Mobilizing Communities work with a focus on inclusive technology policy with special interests in closing digital divide, scaling new tech workforce models, advocating for responsible technology as well as providing foundational support across civic engagement issues and tech enablement of civic organizations.
Siavash Alamouti’s foundational contribution to wireless technology is the Alamouti Code, which has inspired tens of thousands of researchers to expand on his findings. This breakthrough solution was adopted in 3GPP standards only two years after its invention and is included in all the wireless standards since 3G (LTE, LTE-Advanced, and 5G), and all WiFi standards since 802.11n (802.11ad, 802.11ay, etc.).
Billions of devices in use today rely on the Alamouti code to ensure better quality of communication at lower cost and reduced energy usage. His innovation has improved communications for billions of people and millions of companies and enterprises without any detrimental effect on the carbon footprint.
In 2022, Alamouti was awarded the Marconi Prize.
Dr. Francine Berman is the Director of Public Interest Technology and Stuart Rice Honorary Research Professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is the former Director of the San Diego Supercomputer Center and co-founder of the international Research Data Alliance.
Berman is the inaugural recipient of the ACM/IEEE-CS Ken Kennedy Award for “influential leadership in the design, development, and deployment of national-scale cyberinfrastructure” (2009), recipient of the 2020 Paul Evan Peters award (given by Educause, CNI, and the Association of Research Libraries), an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to become a member of the National Council on the Humanities in 2015.
Berman’s research and leadership on Public Interest Technology, social impacts of the Internet of Things, data policy, cyber infrastructure, stewardship, and preservation. She is a member of the Board of the Marconi Society and a Trustee of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. She previously served as Chair of the Anita Borg Institute Board of Trustees, promoting the recruitment, advancement, and retention of women in technology.
Madisen Obiedo is Head of Partnerships & Strategic Initiatives at Welcome Tech. Obiedo leads the Company’s engagements with partners in the private, public, and non-profit sectors to power the potential of the U.S. immigrant community through technology.
She joined Welcome Tech from Bain & Company where she worked in the firm’s utilities practice and served as a leader of the firm’s Latinx affinity group. Throughout her career, Obiedo has cultivated expertise in diversity, equity, & inclusion programs, working with a range of stakeholders to ensure impact.
Obiedo also has extensive experience in crisis communications, advising Fortune 500 companies and other entities on complex reputational matters. She started her career as a Fulbright scholar in Chiapas, Mexico.
Obiedo has been featured in Bloomberg, Business Insider, The New York Observer, and other publications.
Dawn Song is a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UC Berkeley. Her research interest lies in AI and deep learning, security and privacy, and blockchain. She is the recipient of various awards including the MacArthur Fellowship, the Guggenheim Fellowship, the NSF CAREER Award, the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, the MIT Technology Review TR-35 Award, ACM SIGSAC Outstanding Innovation Award, and numerous Test-of-Time Awards and Best Paper Awards from top conferences in Computer Security and Deep Learning.
She is an ACM Fellow and an IEEE Fellow. She is ranked the most cited scholar in computer security (AMiner Award). She obtained her Ph.D. degree from UC Berkeley. She is also a serial entrepreneur and has been named on the Female Founder 100 List by Inc. and Wired25 List of Innovators.
Ian Veidenheimer is a Senior Associate at Schmidt Futures supporting the digital connectivity team.
Prior, Ian oversaw a National Design Award-winning architecture firm, with projects ranging from urban masterplans in China to a new branch for the Brooklyn Public Library. He has received innovation fellowships at the NYC Mayor’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer, where he focused on 5G infrastructure and technology-driven approaches to financial inclusion, and 500 Startups, a global investor and startup accelerator. To Schmidt Futures, he brings experience launching pilots in cities complemented by graduate research in the digital divide and competition policy.
Ian holds a B.A. from Brown University and an M.B.A. from the Yale School of Management.
We are in a unique moment – a moment in which we have the technology to create a connected world that benefits everyone and the collective understanding that progress can only happen if we consciously allow all voices to contribute. Our digital revolution will be only as successful as our ability to democratize storytelling and information creation. This is our opportunity to inject consciousness into our digital environment and to incent good behavior that lifts all of us up. Mehcad Brooks will share his insights and perspectives about the world we are poised to create and the new way of thinking that will get us there.
Mehcad Brooks is an entertainer, futurist, humanitarian, and entrepreneur who is deeply committed to social justice. Brooks uses his voice and platforms to draw awareness to critical social issues including gender equity, civil society, and racial justice. He advocates for the freedom and opportunity that comes with true digital equity.
In addition to joining the cast for the upcoming season of Law and Order, Brooks is known for roles in Desperate Housewives, Supergirl, The Game, and many other TV series and films. From bringing dynamic characters to life on screen to producing and writing films, award-winning actor Mehcad Brooks has become known in the entertainment industry for his raw and refined talent, charisma, and moving presence.
An accomplished storyteller, Brooks brings his message of advocacy to his music, poetry, and writings. Born and raised in Austin, Texas, Brooks is the son of a newspaper reporter, Alberta Philips, and NFL player, Billy Brooks. He chose arts over sports for college and continually innovates for self-improvement and to create a better world.
