Pierre Morad Omidyar is a French-born Iranian-American billionaire. A technology entrepreneur, software engineer, and philanthropist, he is the founder of eBay, where he served as chairman from 1998 to 2015. Omidyar and his wife Pamela founded Omidyar Network in 2004. As of 2023, Forbes ranked Omidyar as the 245th-richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $8.7 billion.
Omidyar Network is a self-styled "philanthropic investment firm," composed of a foundation and an impact investment firm. Established in 2004 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam, Omidyar Network has committed over US$1.5 billion to nonprofit organizations and for-profit companies across multiple investment areas. According to the OECD, Omidyar Network's financing for 2019 development increased by 10% to US$58.9 million.
Media democracy is a democratic approach to media studies that advocates for the reform of mass media to strengthen public service broadcasting and develop participation in alternative media and citizen journalism in order to create a mass media system that informs and empowers all members of society and enhances democratic values.
The Poynter Institute for Media Studies is a non-profit journalism school and research organization in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. The school is the owner of the Tampa Bay Times newspaper and the International Fact-Checking Network. It also operates PolitiFact.
Steven Craig Clemons is an American journalist and blogger. In March 2022, he became Founding Editor at Large of Semafor, Justin Smith and Ben Smith’s new media startup, to create their global events vertical. He spent three years as Editor at Large of The Hill. Before that, Clemons was Washington editor-at-large of The Atlantic and editor-in-chief of AtlanticLIVE, the magazine's live events series. Clemons also served as editor-at-large of Quartz, a digital financial publication owned by Atlantic Media. He is also the host of The Bottom Line that airs on the global network of Al Jazeera English.
Rosa Brooks is an American law professor, journalist, author and commentator on foreign policy, U.S. politics and criminal justice. She is the Scott K. Ginsburg Professor of Law and Policy at Georgetown University Law Center. Brooks is also an adjunct scholar at West Point's Modern War Institute and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. From April 2009 to July 2011, Brooks was a counselor to Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michèle Flournoy.
The Sunlight Foundation was an American 501(c)(3) nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that advocated for open government. The organization was founded in April 2006 with the goal of increasing transparency and accountability in the United States Congress, the executive branch, and in state and local governments. The foundation's primary focus was the role of money in politics. The organization sought to increase campaign finance regulations and disclosure requirements. The Sunlight Foundation ceased operations in September 2020.
Shane Greenstein is an American economist. He is the Martin Marshall Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He is the author of two books and the co-editor of three. He has published research about Wikipedia.
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) is a U.S. nonprofit public policy think tank based in Washington, D.C., focused on public policy surrounding industry and technology. As of 2019, the University of Pennsylvania ranks ITIF as the most authoritative science and technology policy think tank in the world. In its role in developing industrial and technological policies, ITIF has attracted controversy for its affiliations with various technology companies.
Evan I. Schwartz is an American author who writes about history, innovation, tech, music, and media.
Alec Ross is an American technology policy analyst.
The Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation was an office new to the Obama Administration, created within the White House, to catalyze new and innovative ways of encouraging government to do business differently. Its first director was the economist Sonal Shah. The final director was David Wilkinson.
Kamal S. Quadir is a Bangladeshi American entrepreneur and artist best known for introducing e-commerce in Bangladesh by founding CellBazaar, an electronic marketplace which, after reaching 4 million users, was acquired by Norwegian telecommunications operator Telenor in 2010. CellBazaar later was rebranded as ekhanei.com. He is the brother of Iqbal Quadir.
Mark Lloyd is a former associate general counsel and Chief Diversity Officer at the Federal Communications Commission of the United States from 2009-2012. He was previously the vice president for strategic initiatives at the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. Lloyd was also an affiliate professor at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, and in the years from 2002-2004 Lloyd was a visiting lecturer at MIT where he conducted research and taught about communications policy.
Sue Gardner is a Canadian journalist, not-for-profit executive and business executive. She was the executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation from December 2007 until May 2014, and before that was the director of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's website and online news outlets.
Sascha Meinrath is an American policy activist and educator. He is currently the Palmer Chair in Telecommunications at Penn State University.
Ayeta Anne Wangusa is a Ugandan writer and activist. A founding member (1995) of FEMRITE, the Uganda Women Writers Association, Wangusa first achieved broader recognition in literary circles for her novel Memoirs of a Mother (1998). She was also a founding member (2009) of the African Writers Trust, currently serving on the advisory board. She is a contributor to the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.
Matt Fellowes is an American financial technology entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of United Income, a retirement-focused online investment management and financial planning company based in Washington, D.C. He previously founded financial planning technology company HelloWallet, which was acquired by Morningstar, Inc. in 2014 for $52.5 million.
Oluseun Onigbinde is a Nigerian entrepreneur and open data analyst popularly known as the co-founder and CEO of budgIT, a Nigerian civic startup. Oluseun Onigbinde is a fiscal transparency advocate and firm believer in the power of Open Data. In 2012, he was awarded the Future Awards Prize for Science and Tech Innovation. Oluseun on 13 September 2019 got appointed as Technical Adviser in the Ministry of Budget and National Planning. Some Nigerians reacted badly to his appointment due to his past criticism of the same government that appointed him.
Nanjira Sambuli is a Kenyan researcher, writer, policy analyst and strategist interested in and working on understanding the unfolding, gendered impacts of ICT adoption on governance, media, entrepreneurship and culture.
