The tech sector generally remains homogeneous – male, white, upper-middle class backgrounds. With a diverse set of global threats ranging from critical infrastructure and fair elections to financial markets and disinformation, technologists will be on the front line of safety and security for decades to come. Sometimes, however, the impact is all too real.
As Bishop Garrison wrote when introducing this initiative, our hope is that this list will ensure the best and brightest with a variety of views and backgrounds will always have voice. Protego Press aims to be a platform for gifted people of color to identify critical issues at the nexus of technology, policy, and politics that face both their communities and our world in their entirety and what we can do to address them. We hope to be a platform for gifted people of color to identify critical issues at the nexus of technology, policy, and politics that face both their communities and our world in their entirety and what we can do to address them. We desire to be a platform that helps make it easier to find people of color to include on your panels, feature as experts in your media article and keynote your conference. We aspire to be a platform where issues involving tech and race are highlighted and discussed. We intend to be a platform that embraces our greatest asset: diversity.
Below is an incomplete list that has been compiled of people of color working on technology and policy. If you’re name is missing, or if you know others that should be on this list, please email us at info at [name of our site].
- Bishop Garrison: Director, National Security Outreach at Human Rights First
- Mutale Nkonde: Expert on Tech & Race, CEO of AI Policy Advisor and Fellow, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society
- Fox Harrell: Professor, Digital Media & Artificial Intelligence, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
- Clara Tsao: Non-resident Fellow, Alliance for Securing Democracy, The German Marshall Fund
- Dipayan Ghosh, PhD: Pozen Fellow, Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, Harvard University
- Yvette Bourcicot: Policy Manager, AirBnB
- Meghan Bishop: Associate Fellow for Innovation & Technology, Rainey Center
- Desmond U. Patton: Founding Director of Safe Lab, Columbia University
- Camille Stewart Esq.: Fellow, New America’s Cybersecurity Initiative
- Jiyoun Suk: PhD candidate, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, The University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Nahema Marchal: PhD candidate, Oxford Internet Institute
- Josephine (“Jo”) Lukito PhD: Assistant Professor, School of Journalism and Media, The University of Texas at Austin
- Dondi West, CISSP: Cybersecurity Attorney, Microsoft
- Meredith D. Clark, PhD: Assistant Professor, Department of Media Studies, The University of Virginia
- Padmashree Gehl Sampath, PhD: Senior Advisor, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society
- Chinmayi Arun: Resident Fellow, The Information Society Project at Yale Law School
- Charlton McIlwain: Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication, New York University
- Ranjan Roy: Founder, The Edge Group
- Tim Hwang: Director of the Ethics and Governance of AI Initiative, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society
- Suresh Venkatasubramanian: Professor at the School of Computing, The University of Utah
- Nicole Wong: Senior Advisor, Albright Stonebridge Group
- Sut Jhally, PhD: Professor of Communication, University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Yunkang Yang, PhD: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Mershon Center for International Security Studies, Ohio State University
- Nur Ahmed: PhD candidate, Western University
- Sayamindu Dasgupta, PhD: Assistant Professor, School of Information and Library Science, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Dhavan Shah, PhD: Maier-Bascom Professor, The University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Sun-ha Hong, PhD: Assistant Professor of Communication, Simon Fraser University
- Arvind Narayanan, PhD: Associate Professor of Computer Science, Princeton University
- Tim Wu: Julius Silver Professor of Law, Science and Technology, Columbia University Law School
- DJ Patil: Head of Technology, Devoted Health
- Maurice Turner: Deputy Director, Internet Architecture Project, The Center for Democracy & Technology
- Tiffany C. Li: Fellow, Information Society Project at Yale Law School
- Siva Vaidhyanathan, PhD: Robertson Professor of Media Studies and Director of the Center for Media and Citizenship, The University of Virginia
- Trooper Sanders: CEO, Benefits Data Corporation
- Laura Kupe: Counsel on the Committee on Homeland Security
- Neil Potts: Public Policy Director, Facebook
- Marcus Carey: Enterprise Architect in the Office of the CTO, ReliaQuest
- Reginald McKnight: Head of Public Policy, Google
- Welton Chang, PhD: Chief Technology Officer, Human Rights First
- Gerardo Interiano: Head of Government Relations, Aurora
- Nidhi Hebbar: Fellow, Aspen Tech Policy Hub at The Aspen Institute
- Rachel Gillum Jackson: Salesforce, Director of Ethical and the Humane Use of Technology
- Mariah Lichtenstern: Founding Partner, DiverseCity Ventures
- Amar Ashar: Assistant Director of Research, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society
- Safiya Umoja Noble, PhD: Professor, Research, and Expert on Racism, Sexism & Tech, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)
- Rashad Robinson: President, Color Of Change
- Kimberly Bryant: Founder & CEO, Black Girls Code
- Joy Buolamwini: Founder, Algorithmic Justice League
- Deen Freelon: Associate Professor at the Hussman School of Journalism and Media, Principal Researcher at the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Courtney D. Cogburn, PhD: Associate Professor, Expert on Racism, Health, and Emerging Tech, Columbia University
- Rediet Abebe: Junior Fellow, Harvard Society of Fellows
- Ruha Benjamin: Author of New Jim Code and People’s Science, Associate Professor, Princeton University
- André Brock: Associate Professor of Black Digital Studies, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Joseph Shepherd Miller: Founder & CEO, The Washington Center for Technology Policy Inclusion (WashingTECH)
- Ora D. Tanner: Co-Founder & Lead Instructional Scientist, American AI Forum
- Victoria Parsons: Founding Partner, Palm Global Consulting
- Alka Roy: Founder, Responsible Innovation Project
- Koustubh “K.J.” Bagchi: Senior Policy Counsel, New America’s Open Technology Institute