Ross is the author of two books, The Industries of the Future and The Raging 2020s: Companies, Countries, People – and the Fight for Our Future.[8][9][10]
Background
Ross was born and raised in Charleston, West Virginia.[11] His father was a lawyer and his mother was a paralegal.[12] At age 12 he moved to Italy for a year to live with his grandfather, Ray DePaulo, who was the commercial minister at the U.S. embassy in Rome.[12] Ross attended college at Northwestern University.[13]
In 2000, he co-founded One Economy, a nonprofit which aimed to provide technology and information to economically-limited groups; it ceased operations in 2012.[1][16][17]
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Ross played a role in developing then-Sen. Barack Obama's technology and innovation plan serving as the Convener for the Technology & Media Policy Committee.[18][19][20]
In April 2009, Ross joined the State Department as Senior Advisor on Innovation.[21][16] Ross was regarded as a "tech guru" at the State Department,[16] recognized by then-Secretary of StateHillary Clinton as her "right hand" on efforts to promote "internet freedom".[22] Ross focused on ways to improve government use of Web video and social networking sites for diplomacy, as well as ways to engage the modern public.[23][24][25][26] While working as Senior Advisor on Innovation, Ross worked on initiatives such as wiring schools, adding wireless capacity to public works, text-message reminders to HIV patients, and assisting community transitions to mobile banking.[27][28] Ross received a Distinguished Honor Award for his work at the State Department.[29]
In addition to concerns over countries increasing surveillance capabilities, Ross highlighted cases where businesses prioritized profit motives over the potential harms of technologies. In 2011, he publicly "criticised the developers of internet surveillance equipment who were willing to sell their services to repressive regimes and allow governments to censor their citizens.”[30]
In 2023, Ross was appointed to serve on the Maryland Economic Council by Governor Wes Moore.[31]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.