IGF-USA 2020 Session
Did America’s Tech Industry Deliver for America during the COVID Crisis?
Wednesday, July 22
11:30am – 12:45pm EDT
Moderator
David Redl
CEO, Salt Point Strategies
David Redl is the founder of Salt Point Strategies. David is an attorney and former government executive with experience in both the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. government in the telecommunications, media, and technology fields.
David served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and the Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration from 2017 to 2019. During his tenure, he led U.S. efforts to ensure American leadership in 5G, to bring broadband to more rural Americans, and to promote a free, open, and secure Internet around the world.
David also represented the United States in international forums, including leading U.S. efforts before the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the International Telecommunication Union.
In the legislative branch, David served as Chief Counsel for Communications and Technology on the majority staff of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce. While at Energy and Commerce, David worked extensively on telecommunications, media, and technology laws, including the successful passage of laws authorizing the first-ever spectrum incentive auction, the creation of the First Responder Network Authority, and reauthorization of the satellite television laws.
Prior to his government service, David started his career as Director of Regulatory Affairs at CTIA, an international trade association of the wireless communications industry.
David received his B.A. in Journalism and his B.A. in Political Science from the Pennsylvania State University and his J.D. from the Catholic University of America with a certificate from the Institute for Communications Law Studies. He is a member of the New York and District of Columbia Bars. David is also a Senior Fellow with Silicon Flatirons at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Speakers
Vint Cerf
Chief Internet Evangelist, Google
Vinton G. Cerf is vice president and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google. He contributes to global policy development and continued spread of the Internet. Widely known as one of the "Fathers of the Internet," Cerf is the co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols and the architecture of the Internet. He has served in executive positions at MCI, the Corporation for National Research Initiatives and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and on the faculty of Stanford University.
Vint Cerf served as chairman of the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) from 2000-2007 and has been a Visiting Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory since 1998. Cerf served as founding president of the Internet Society (ISOC) from 1992-1995. Cerf is a Foreign Member of the British Royal Society and Swedish Academy of Engineering, and Fellow of IEEE, ACM, and American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the International Engineering Consortium, the Computer History Museum, the British Computer Society, the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists, the Worshipful Company of Stationers and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He currently serves as Past President of the Association for Computing Machinery, chairman of the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) and completed a term as Chairman of the Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology for the US National Institute of Standards and Technology. President Obama appointed him to the National Science Board in 2012.
Cerf is a recipient of numerous awards and commendations in connection with his work on the Internet, including the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, US National Medal of Technology, the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, the Prince of Asturias Award, the Tunisian National Medal of Science, the Japan Prize, the Charles Stark Draper award, the ACM Turing Award, Officer of the Legion d’Honneur and 29 honorary degrees. In December 1994, People magazine identified Cerf as one of that year's "25 Most Intriguing People."
His personal interests include fine wine, gourmet cooking and science fiction. Cerf and his wife, Sigrid, were married in 1966 and have two sons, David and Bennett.
Suzanne Clark
President, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Suzanne Clark is President of the US Chamber of Commerce, the largest business federation in the world.
Ms. Clark focuses on strategy, government relations and market innovation working in support of its more than 3 million member companies internationally. She leads a wide range of policy and operational initiatives at the quarter billion dollar organization, and was the first Senior Executive Vice President in the institution’s 104-year history.
Prior to re-joining the US Chamber in 2014, where she had previously served as Chief Operating Officer, Clark acquired and led a prominent financial information boutique – Potomac Research Group (PRG) – which was recognized by the Inc500 as the 135th fastest growing private company in 2012. PRG became a brand leader in the field of policy research and analysis for institutional investors – connecting “Washington to Wall Street;” and, the firm was sold to a larger macro research organization where she is a non-executive partner. As a seasoned business owner, Ms. Clark remains passionate about the need to create an environment where companies can innovate, grow and flourish.
In 2007, Clark was named President of the National Journal Group (NJG), a premier provider of information, news and analysis for Washington’s political and policy communities. NJG is an arm of Atlantic Media Company, and for the next three years Clark led NJG’s 6 distinct print, online, and event businesses and guided an evolution from long form journalism to cutting edge digital and mobile media, with the result that her group produced record-level profits and received multiple journalism awards.
Clark sits on the Board of two public companies – AGCO, a Fortune 500 global leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of agricultural equipment, and TransUnion, a provider of global risk and credit information. She is also a member of the Board of So Others Might Eat, serving the poor and homeless in the nation’s capital, and St. Patrick’s Episcopal Day School. She is the former President of the International Women’s Forum (Washington Chapter), a global group of leading women in business, law, government, technology and the arts. Clark was named one of Washingtonian Magazine’s “40 Under 40: Young Washingtonians to Watch,” and later, one of the magazine’s “100 Most Powerful Women in Washington.”
Ms. Clark earned a BA, magna cum laude, and an MBA from Georgetown University, and lives in Virginia with her husband and their daughter.
Jon Husted
Lt. Governor of Ohio
Jon Husted is the 66th and current Lt. Governor of Ohio, a position he has held since January 14, 2019. As Lt. Governor, Husted oversees the state’s economic development efforts through a series of initiatives designed to strengthen Ohio’s workforce, promote innovation and entrepreneurship, and reduce regulatory burdens on job creators.
During the COVID-19 global pandemic, Lt. Governor Husted’s primary role has been to manage Responsible Reopen Ohio, the plan to safely open the state’s economy as society learns to live with the coronavirus.
Lt. Governor Husted is the founding Director of InnovateOhio, which is an initiative to promote Ohio as the most innovative, creative, and entrepreneurial state in the Midwest. Using technology, InnovateOhio also works across state agencies in order to implement modern solutions that improve the efficiency and cost effectiveness of state services.
As Director of the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation, Lt. Governor Husted strives to connect Ohioans with the education and training they need to open new career opportunities. The offi ce does this while also promoting efforts to ensure our workforce is prepared to power the needs Ohio’s current and prospective businesses and industries. Under his direction, the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation has launched programs aimed at ensuring every high school student has the chance to graduate either college or career ready, while giving businesses and current workers the ability to upskill for changing industries through TechCred. The Lt. Governor is also helping to support industry-sector partnerships across the state in order to support successful local efforts to solve regionally-specific workforce issues.
Upon taking office, Lt. Governor Husted overhauled the Common Sense Initiative (CSI-Ohio), whose mission is to look at all new and renewing state regulations through the eyes of Ohio’s businesses and job creators. Husted improved processes at the regulation-cutting initiative in order to clear a major backlog of rules, and is now working to make it more proactive in supporting job creation and regulatory reform in the state.
Prior to being elected Lt. Governor, Husted served as Ohio’s Secretary of State where he presided over elections in the critical swing state as well as oversaw Ohio’s business fi ling center. During his eight-year tenure in the offi ce, then-Secretary Husted used technology to revolutionize the way businesses and entrepreneurs interact with the state government. The efficiencies improved customer service and reduced the average time to register a new business from days or even weeks to just a few hours.
As a result of Husted’s work cutting costs in the Secretary of State’s Office, he was able to pass that savings along to Ohio’s businesses and job creators by cutting the fee for starting and maintaining a business by 21%, a move that made Ohio the least costly state in the Midwest for entrepreneurs. For the remaining two years of his term, Secretary Husted ran the office entirely without tax dollars and requested to return his remaining $10 million surplus to the treasury before leaving office.
Husted began his public service in the state legislature, serving in both the House and Senate, where his colleagues twice unanimously elected him to serve as Speaker of the House. As Speaker, Husted shepherded what was hailed as the most conservative state budget in decades, which included what was at the time, the largest income tax cut in Ohio’s history.
Lt. Governor Husted earned both a bachelor’s degree in education and master’s degree in communications from the University of Dayton where he was a member of the 1989 Division III National Championship Football Team and named an All-American Defensive Back. Of all his responsibilities, Lt. Governor Husted considers his most important role as that of husband to his wife, Tina, and father to Alex, Katie, and Kylie.
Francella Ochillo
Executive Director, Next Century Cities
Francella is an attorney and digital rights advocate who has worked on a variety of technology and telecommunications issues. Her work often examines how public policy impacts disenfranchised populations. As Executive Director of Next Century Cities, Francella leads efforts to help policymakers and lawmakers at every level of government recognize the importance of ubiquitous broadband and community-based partnerships. Her organization's work focuses on supporting local officials who are connecting their residents to digital opportunities. A member of the District of Columbia Bar and Federal Communications Bar Association, Francella also represents Next Century Cities on the FCC’s Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee’s Disaster Response & Recovery Working Group.
Chris Wilson
Senior Manager, Public Policy, Amazon
Chris possesses over 20 years of public policy experience covering a wide-range of subject matters, including the last seven years focusing on Internet governance policy.
Chris currently serves as Senior Manager, Public Policy, for Amazon where he coordinates the company’s policy engagement at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the United Nations, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Prior to joining Amazon, Chris represented the interests of the media company 21st Century Fox before various Internet governance bodies, including ICANN. While at 21st Century Fox, Chris served as Chair of ICANN’s Business Constituency.
Additionally, Chris worked for Time Warner Inc. where he advocated for the company before Capitol Hill on general telecommunications and media policy matters.
Chris’s early career began on Capitol Hill in the office of the late U.S. Senator Arlen Specter and subsequently at two law firms, Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP and Wiley Rein LLP, where he worked on a variety of telecommunications legal matters, and the Technology Association of America (TechAmerica).
Chris earned his Bachelor’s degree in Public Policy Studies from Vanderbilt University and his J.D., cum laude, from American University’s Washington College of Law. Chris resides in Arlington, VA with his wife (Carla), daughter (Cecelia), and son (Charles).