CONFERENCE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Director & Senior Counsel, Regulatory Affairs, DISH Network
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- Partner, Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
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- Security Engineer and Researcher
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- Member of the Advisory Board
- Partner, Hogan Lovells US LLP
Ariel Diamond West advises technology and communications industry members on regulatory policy, compliance, and transactional matters. Ariel has extensive experience representing clients in complex regulatory matters and investigations before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). She also has significant experience with assisting global software and communications companies in cross-border transactions, multi-jurisdictional expansion efforts, and transaction-related restructuring. She has particular expertise regarding the global regulation of over-the-top (OTT) services. Ariel has robust experience with representing clients before federal and state regulatory authorities. She was a key member of the team that helped secure the federal and state approvals for T-Mobile's merger with Sprint and was deeply involved in drafting and finalizing federal and state filings related to the transaction. Ariel has also developed experience in public safety, resiliency, and disaster response policy and compliance issues, including by serving as an alternate member of the FCC's Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC) Disaster Response and Recovery Working Group. In that role, she served as the lead editor of the Working Group's Report and Recommendations, which were unanimously adopted by the full committee. Her work on public safety and resiliency issues has expanded through representation of clients on Kari's Law and RAY BAUM'S Act compliance, Wireless Emergency Alerts, and state regulatory investigations. Most recently, Ariel has actively assisted with a CPUC regulatory investigation related to overhead electric line and communications facilities. In addition, Ariel has expertise in assisting global software and communications companies in multi-jurisdictional expansion efforts, including global product deployment and market entry, cross-border transactions, and global corporate re-organizations. In coordination with DLA Piper attorneys across the globe, Ariel has assisted multiple companies with commercial and regulatory matters associated with the global deployment of OTT services, including voice, messaging, and audio and video streaming services. Ariel joined DLA Piper from the FCC Attorney Honors Program, where she worked as an Attorney Advisor in the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. Ariel was the Editor-in-Chief of the Colorado Technology Law Journal and graduated from the University of Colorado Law School in 2017.
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- Member of the Advisory Board
- Entrepreneur, Goodr
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- Member of the Advisory Board
- Partner, WilmerHale
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- Associate Professor of Law at the University
Blake Reid is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Colorado Law School and the Director of the Telecom and Platforms Initiative at Silicon Flatirons. He directs Colorado Law's Samuelson-Glushko Technology Law and Policy Clinic (TLPC), where he and his students advocate for policy change in the public interest on issues of telecommunications, intellectual property, privacy, accessibility, and more.
Prior to joining Colorado Law, Professor Reid worked as a staff attorney and clinical teaching fellow in First Amendment and media law at the Institute for Public Representation at Georgetown Law. He also served as a law clerk to Justice Nancy E. Rice on the Colorado Supreme Court. Professor Reid earned an LLM in Advocacy from Georgetown Law and a JD from Colorado Law, where he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal on Telecommunications and High Technology Law. He also earned a BS in Computer Science from the University of Colorado's College of Engineering.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Law School
Brad Bernthal is an Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Law School, the Executive Director of Silicon Flatirons, and Director of the Entrepreneurship Initiative at Silicon Flatirons. Professor Bernthal specializes in startups, entrepreneurial law, and early stage finance (such as angel investment and venture capital). His current research studies finance instruments used in startup investment. Prior to that, Brad studied investment accelerators, providing legal scholarship's first work on the topic. Professor Bernthal leads the Entrepreneurial Law Clinic at Colorado Law, which provides legal help to about 20 startups each year.
Prior to joining the Colorado Law faculty, Professor Bernthal served as the Silicon Flatirons Fellow for 2005-2007. He started his legal career in San Francisco with Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP, then moved to Hogan & Hartson, LLP's Denver office, and finally worked for the Boulder law firm of Berg, Hill, Greenleaf and Ruscitti LLP. Prior to law school, Professor Bernthal taught English to elementary age students in Korea and conducted legislative research as a staff assistant to United States Senator Robert Kerrey. Professor Bernthal is a TechStars mentor, tennis enthusiast, and laughably serious youth sports volunteer coach.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Special Counsel, Cooley LLP
Casey Fiesler is an associate professor in the Department of Information Science (and Computer Science, by courtesy) at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she researches technology ethics and law. She holds a PhD in Human-Centered Computing from Georgia Tech and a JD from Vanderbilt Law School, and is on the legal committee of the Organization for Transformative Works.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- - Program Coordinator
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- Member of the Advisory Board
- Senior Editor, Global Publishing, McKinsey & Company
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- Deputy Director of Privacy Initiatives at BBB National Programs
Cobun Zweifel-Keegan, Deputy Director of Privacy Initiatives at BBB National Programs, is a data privacy lawyer advising independent programs that help businesses embrace privacy practices to earn the trust of their customers. As adviser to the BBB EU Privacy Shield program, Cobun has focused on maintaining this free and independent dispute resolution mechanism for individuals in Europe, bringing accountability to the privacy promises of U.S. businesses that have chosen to align their practices with European standards. In collaboration with the entire Privacy Initiatives team, Cobun also facilitates the development of new programs related to emerging privacy risks, cross-border data transfers, and data subject rights. Prior to joining BBB National Programs, Cobun served as a Westin Research Fellow at the International Association of Privacy Professionals, focusing his research on the global spread of uniform data privacy norms with the advent of the privacy profession. Cobun is a graduate of the University of Colorado School of Law (Class of 2016) and holds certifications as a CIPP/US and CIPM.
Job Titles:
- - Spectrum Policy Initiative Co - Director and Distinguished Advisor / University of Colorado - Adjunct Professor
- Distinguished Advisor
Dale N. Hatfield is currently an Distinguished Advisor at Silicon Flatirons and an Adjunct Professor in the Technology, Cybersecurity and Policy program - both at the University of Colorado Boulder. Prior to joining the University of Colorado, Hatfield was the Chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and, immediately before that, he was Chief Technologist at the Agency. He retired from the FCC and government service in December 2000.
Before joining the FCC in December 1997, he was Chief Executive Officer of Hatfield Associates, Inc., a Boulder, Colorado based multidisciplinary telecommunications consulting firm. Before founding the consulting firm in 1982, Hatfield was Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and Acting Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Before moving to NTIA, Hatfield was Chief of the Office of Plans and Policy at the FCC.
Hatfield has over fifty years of experience in telecommunications policy and regulation, spectrum management and related areas. He holds a BS in electrical engineering from Case Institute of Technology and an MS in Industrial Management from Purdue University. In May 2008, Hatfield was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science degree by the University of Colorado for, inter alia, his commitment to the development of interdisciplinary telecommunications studies.
Hatfield was the founding Executive Director of the Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group (BITAG). He is currently serving on the FCC's Technology Advisory Council (TAC) and on the Commerce Department's Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC) and served as an independent Director of Crown Castle International Corp. from July 2001 until his retirement in May 2017.
Job Titles:
- Founder of Salt Point Strategies
- Salt Point Strategies - Founder and CEO
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.
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- Partner, Perkins Coie LLP
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- Executive Director, Digital Trust & Safety Partnership
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- Shareholder and Co - Chair U.S. Data Privacy and Security Practice, Greenberg Traurig, LLP
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- - Senior Fellow, Spectrum Policy Initiative / University of Colorado Boulder - Senior Research Associate, Computer Science Department
- Senior Research Associate in the Computer Science Department at the University of Colorado Boulder
Dr. David Reed is currently a Senior Research Associate in the Computer Science Department at the University of Colorado Boulder and a Senior Fellow in the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship at the CU Law School. Dr. Reed also serves as the Frontier Compliance Monitor for the California Public Utilities Commission, and is a Senior Advisor for the C-Band Relocation Payment Clearinghouse authorized by the Federal Communications Commission. From 2014 - 2018, he was the Director of the Interdisciplinary Telecom Program at CU Boulder. Between 1994 - 2012, Dr. Reed was a senior executive at Cable Television Laboratories. As Chief Strategy Officer, he led strategic planning activities as well as large R&D projects covering a wide range of technologies relevant to the cable industry such as broadband delivery systems (DOCSIS), application platforms, business services, and voice-over-IP. Dr. Reed also has been a Telecommunications Policy Analyst in the Office of Plans and Policy at the Federal Communications Commission where he worked on cable-telco competition, personal communications services, and spectrum auction policies. Dr. Reed has authored a book on residential fiber optic networks, and is a widely published author in telecommunications journals, books, and magazines. He has been a contributor of interdisciplinary analyses that played key roles in defining U.S. policy debates on PCS spectrum allocation and local access competition. His current research focuses on competitive prospects for Gigabit broadband, spectrum management issues, and the cost of broadband network deployment using fiber, fixed wireless, and other broadband technologies.
Job Titles:
- - Spectrum Policy Initiative Co - Director / University of Colorado Boulder - Research
- Research Professor
Dr. Keith Gremban is a Research Professor in the Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences Department and Co-director of the Silicon Flatirons Spectrum Policy Initiative with Dale Hatfield. Keith joined CU in November 2019 as research faculty in the Technology, CyberSecurity, and Policy (TCP) program, which was dissolved in June 2020. Keith spent over 30 years in the defense industry as a software architect and systems engineer, where he led research and engineering efforts in robotics, command-and-control systems, and tactical communications. In 2011, Keith joined the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as a Program Manager in the Strategic Technologies Office, where he was responsible for a portfolio of programs in wireless communications and electronic warfare. In 2015, Keith became the Director of the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS) in Boulder, which is the research and engineering laboratory of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). At ITS, Keith managed a staff of research engineers working in areas such as radio frequency (RF) modeling and measurement, electromagnetic compatibility analysis, and communications systems test and evaluation. Keith's current research interests are in RF modeling and measurement, and dynamic spectrum sharing. Keith received his Ph.D. and M.S. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University, and his M.S. in Applied Mathematics and B.S. in Mathematics from Michigan State University.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Shareholder, Polsinelli
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- Associate, Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP
Gabor Molnar is a Senior Fellow at Silicon Flatirons and a Research Associate in the Department of Economics, University of Colorado Boulder. His research interests include technology innovations, applied Internet econometrics, and (big) data-driven policy making. Dr. Molnar has extensive experience in technology start-ups from seed-stage to post-IPO and acquisition, and he came to the University after spending over 15 years in the international high-tech business. Prior to joining the University of Colorado, he was a Regional Director for Sales & Business Development at GoBackTV, a cable headend and edge solutions start-up (acquired by Aurora Networks, now part of the ARRIS Group). Dr. Molnar holds a BS in Economics from the Corvinus University of Budapest, an MS in Electrical Engineering from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, and an MS and a PhD in Telecommunications from the University of Colorado Boulder.
Job Titles:
- Director of Experiential Learning and Public Service Programs at the University of Colorado Law School
Gabrielle Daley (she/her) is the Director of Experiential Learning and Public Service Programs at the University of Colorado Law School. She received her JD from the University of Colorado Law School in 2018, where she was a member of the Colorado Technology Law Journal and a student attorney in the Samuelson-Glushko Technology Law & Policy Clinic. After graduation, Gabrielle worked as an associate at the Denver firm of Kissinger & Fellman, P.C. where her practice focused on municipal telecommunications. She spent the last two years as a Clinical Teaching Fellow at the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic at Berkeley Law working on a broad array of issues at the intersection of law and technology, and nerding out about experiential learning.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Law at the University of Colorado Law School
Harry Surden is a Professor of Law at the University of Colorado Law School. He joined the faculty in 2008. His scholarship focuses upon legal informatics, artificial intelligence and law (including machine learning and law), legal automation, and issues concerning self-driving/autonomous vehicles. He also studies intellectual property law with a substantive focus on patents and copyright, and information privacy law.
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- Member of the Advisory Board
- Director of Software Engineering and Innovation Lab, Holland & Hart LLP
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- Member of the Advisory Board
- Global Chief Privacy Officer, ADP
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- Member of the Advisory Board
- Partner, Bryan Cave LLP
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- - Senior Fellow, Telecommunications and Platforms Initiative / Legal Policy Solutions, PLLC - President and Attorney
- President of Legal Policy Solutions
Jeff Blattner is President of Legal Policy Solutions, PLLC, a consulting law firm providing legal advice and strategic consulting services to technology companies and other businesses, government agencies, educational institutions and other nonprofit organizations. Jeff is also member of the adjunct faculties of the Washington College of Law at American University and the University of Colorado Law School, and serves on the boards of directors of HIAS and of The Opportunity Agenda. From 2006-08, he was Senior Vice President, Public Policy and Special Counsel of XM Satellite Radio Inc., where he oversaw the successful effort to obtain regulatory approval of the merger with Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. From 2001 through 2005, Jeff was a partner at Hogan & Hartson, LLP. From 1998 through January 2001, Jeff was deputy assistant attorney general and special counsel for information technology in the Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice, where he supervised the United States v. Microsoft Corp. litigation for Assistant Attorney General Joel I. Klein. From 1987 through 1995, he was on the Senate Judiciary Committee staff of Senator Edward Kennedy, serving as Senator Kennedy's chief counsel from 1992-95. Jeff worked on the Presidential Transitions of Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard Law School, Jeff was a law clerk for Judge Robert E. Keeton of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and for Associate Justice Potter Stewart (retired) of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Job Titles:
- Associate Director of the University of Colorado Boulder 's ATLAS Institute
Jill Van Matre Dupré is the Associate Director of the University of Colorado Boulder's ATLAS Institute, and co-directs the ATLAS graduate programs. Jill teaches, studies, and advises graduate students on a range of topics, including interdisciplinary education, technology policy, spectrum management, and privacy. Jill is a Senior Fellow of the Spectrum Policy Initiative at the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship. She is a member of the Dean's Advisory Council for the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design at Indiana University. Jill is a member of the Colorado Bar Association and received a JD from the University of Colorado School of Law.
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- Senior Director, Government & Regulatory Affairs, Comcast Cable Corporation
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- Partner, Hutchinson Black and Cook, LLC
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- Fellow
- Partner in the Denver
Ken Fellman is a partner in the Denver law firm of Kissinger & Fellman, P.C. He has worked with local governments and non-profit entities nationwide in connection with technology, telecommunications, broadband and public safety communications issues for over 30 years.
In addition to his representation of individual local governments, Ken has provided communications and broadband consulting services to state chapters of the NATOA in Colorado, Washington and New Jersey; the Colorado Municipal League; the Association of Washington Cities; the Association of Idaho Cities and the National League of Cities. He currently serves on the FCC's Intergovernmental Advisory Committee, and previously served as chair of the FCC's Local and State Government Advisory Committee. A former local elected official, Ken served as Mayor of Arvada, Colorado from 1999 - 2007 and on the Arvada City Council from 1993 - 1999. He has testified on communications matters before the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, and the Colorado General Assembly. For the past 7 years, Ken was named as one of Law & Politics' Colorado Super Lawyers, a list that represents the top 5 percent of Colorado attorneys.
Ken's involvement with the University of Colorado includes periodically teaching Telecommunications Law and Policy, past service as a member of the board for the Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program, guest lecturing in classes and serving as a volunteer coach for CU Law's team in the National Telecommunications Moot Court Competition.
In his spare time, Ken enjoys playing the guitar, and while he has occasionally joined friends and colleagues in public performances, he is often advised to keep his day job.
Ken received his BA from Johns Hopkins University, and his law degree from the University Of Denver. He can be contacted at (303) 320-6100.
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- Member of the Advisory Board
- Senior Associate, Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP
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- Member of the Advisory Board
- Senior Vice President of Global Public Policy, at & T
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- VP, Policy, Charter Communications
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- Professor at the University of Colorado Law School
Margot Kaminski is a Professor at the University of Colorado Law School and the Director of the Privacy Initiative at Silicon Flatirons. Margot specializes in the law of new technologies, focusing on information governance, privacy, and freedom of expression. Recently, her work has examined autonomous systems, including AI, robots, and drones (UAS). In 2018, she researched comparative and transatlantic approaches to sensor privacy in the Netherlands and Italy as a recipient of the Fulbright-Schuman Innovation Grant.
Prior to joining Colorado Law, Margot was an Assistant Professor at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law (2014-2017) and served for three years as the Executive Director of the Information Society Project at Yale Law School, where she remains an affiliated fellow. She served as a law clerk to the Honorable Andrew J. Kleinfeld of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Fairbanks, Alaska.
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- Vice President of Technology Policy, CableLabs
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- Member of the Advisory Board
- Entrepreneur, Cairn Engineering, LLC
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- Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Zayo Group, LLC
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- Member of the Board
- - Managing Director
Nate oversees day-to-day policies, procedures, and operations to execute Silicon Flatirons' vision and mission. He directs the center's overall administrative and operational functions, designing and implementing changes necessary to accomplish short and long-term objectives and goals while adhering to best practices.
His primary foci include striving to maintain a stable business infrastructure and creating efficiencies across all operating activities so manageable and sustainable growth translate into positive experiences and relationships for the Silicon Flatirons community at large. He also carries authority and responsibility for fiscal transactions and monitors and manages the center's gift funds, auxiliary funds, and endowments.
Before joining Silicon Flatirons, Nate spent two years leveraging business intelligence solutions to design and develop robust solutions for small businesses. Prior to that he spent nearly a decade running day-to-day operations for an international continuing education organization for mental health professionals. He is a proud fourth generation Boulder County native; graduate of The University of Colorado Denver; husband; and father to his two sons.
Nate is invigorated by the drive and dedication exhibited by the students at University of Colorado Law School and CU at large, and the diverse Silicon Flatirons community that supports them in kind. He is honored to serve at the nexus of these groups and carry on the principles that the center was founded on.
Personal pronouns: He, him, his.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Senior Principal Solutions Architect, SAIC
Job Titles:
- - Senior Fellow, Spectrum Policy Initiative
Peter Tenhula retired from federal government service in 2021, having worked for nearly 25 years at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). From 2014 to April 2021, Peter served as Deputy Associate Administrator in NTIA's Office of Spectrum Management (OSM). He also served as the Chair of the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC). Prior to joining OSM, Peter was a Senior Advisor in NTIA's Office of the Assistant Secretary. Before joining NTIA in 2012, Mr. Tenhula worked at Shared Spectrum Company (SSC), serving as the company's vice president and general counsel. While at SSC, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Wireless Innovation Forum and chaired its Regulatory Committee. From 1990 to 2006, Peter held several positions at the FCC, including Acting Deputy Chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, director and co-director of the Spectrum Policy Task Force, Senior Legal Advisor to FCC Chairman Michael Powell, Special Counsel to General Counsel William Kennard, and staff attorney in the Office of General Counsel and the Mass Media Bureau. He received his undergraduate degree in telecommunications from Indiana University, Bloomington, and earned a law degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
Phil Weiser State of Colorado - Attorney General Silicon Flatirons - Founder and Distinguished Advisor Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser was sworn in as the State's 39th Attorney General on January 8, 2019. As the state's chief legal officer, Attorney General Weiser is committed to protecting the people of Colorado and building an innovative and collaborative organization that will address a range of statewide challenges, from addressing the opioid epidemic to reforming our criminal justice system to protecting our land, air, and water. Attorney General Weiser has dedicated his life to the law, justice, and public service. Before running for office, Weiser served as the Hatfield Professor of Law and Dean of the University of Colorado Law School, where he founded the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship and co-chaired the Colorado Innovation Council. Weiser served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice and as Senior Advisor for Technology and Innovation in the Obama Administration's National Economic Council. He served on President Obama's Transition Team, overseeing the Federal Trade Commission and previously served in President Bill Clinton's Department of Justice as senior counsel to the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division, advising on telecommunications matters. Before his appointment at the Justice Department, Weiser served as a law clerk to Justices Byron R. White and Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the United States Supreme Court and to Judge David Ebel at the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, Colorado. The son and grandson of Holocaust survivors, Weiser is deeply committed to the American Dream and ensuring opportunity for all Coloradans. Weiser lives in Denver with his wife, Dr. Heidi Wald, and their two children.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Denver Managing Partner, Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP
- Partner at Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP
Raymond Gifford is a partner at Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP where he counsels communications, electric and gas utilities, and information technology companies on state and federal aspects of regulation, administrative law, and competition policy. He is an expert in public utilities law, and the law and economics of regulation of network industries. He represents clients in state and federal courts and agencies, and serves as an expert witness on utility regulation and its history. Mr. Gifford's law and policy work focuses on the convergence of broadband communications and energy, as well as competition and environmental policy as it applies to communications and electricity markets. Mr. Gifford served as President of The Progress & Freedom Foundation, a non-profit think-tank that studies the digital revolution as it relates to regulation of network industries. Before that, he served as Chairman of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. Mr. Gifford began his regulatory career as First Assistant Attorney General for Regulatory Law in the Colorado Attorney General's office. He clerked for the Honorable Richard P. Matsch of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. Mr. Gifford has authored a number of articles on communications law, public utility regulation and competition policy in network industries.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Attorney, KO Firm
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- Scientist
- - Senior Fellow, Artificial Intelligence Initiative / Lux Capital - Scientist in Residence
Samuel Arbesman is a complexity scientist, whose work focuses on the nature of scientific and technological change, and is currently a Scientist in Residence at Lux Capital. He is also a Research Fellow at the Long Now Foundation. In addition to his scientific research, his essays about science, mathematics, and technology have appeared in such places as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and The Atlantic. Arbesman is the author of the award-winning The Half-Life of Facts (Current/Penguin, 2012), which explores how knowledge changes over time. Previously, Arbesman was a Senior Scholar at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and a Research Fellow in the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School. He completed a PhD in computational biology at Cornell University in 2008, and earned a BA in computer science and biology at Brandeis University in 2004.
Job Titles:
- - Student Programs Director
Sara connects with students and alumni to educate them on the breadth of educational, extracurricular, and professional opportunities available with Silicon Flatirons and University of Colorado Law School. She engages students to encourage and support them in pursuit of opportunities that align with their interests and goals, and supports their strategic career development through managing a variety of internship, fellowship, or employment opportunities as well as outside-the-classroom events, programs, and competitions.
Sara is a graduate of CU Boulder and earned her Master of International Management Degree from the University of Denver. She has been working at Colorado Law since 2011 and loves building personal connections with the students, alumni, and community there and within the University of Colorado at large.
Sara is a fifth generation Colorado native and lives in Boulder, and when she isn't working, she enjoys spending her free time hiking the nearby mountain trails with her husband and three grown children.
Personal pronouns: She, her, hers.
Job Titles:
- Public Policy Manager, Google
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- Associate Professor at University of Colorado Law School
Scott Skinner-Thompson is an Associate Professor at University of Colorado Law School, where his research and teaching focuses on constitutional law, civil rights, and privacy law, with particular emphasis on LGBTQ and HIV issues. Bringing together these topics, his new book, Privacy at the Margins, examines how privacy can function as an expressive, anti-subordination tool of resistance to surveillance regimes. His scholarship has been published in the Georgetown Law Journal, Michigan Law Review, Northwestern University Law Review, UC Davis Law Review, and Columbia Law Review Online, and he served as editor of and contributing author to "AIDS and the Law" (Wolters Kluwer, 5th ed., 2016; 6th ed., 2020). His shorter work has appeared in Slate, Salon, The New Republic, Muftah, and elsewhere.
Job Titles:
- - Event Coordinator / Shannon
Shannon manages the planning and execution of all Silicon Flatirons events to ensure a high-quality experience for all participants, and represents the center in discussions, negotiations, and decisions with various government and professional groups, external and internal vendors, and university groups to that end.
As a Certified Meeting Professional (CMP), Shannon loves the fast-paced, demanding environment of event management, including the need to think on her feet and utilize quick problem-solving skills, while simultaneously exercising discretion and providing unparalleled customer service. Shannon is passionate about the attendee experience and enjoys working in conjunction with Silicon Flatirons Initiative Directors, staff, students, and other stakeholders to create events with meaningful, lasting impact.
Shannon is a University of Colorado graduate, and proud to work for her alma mater. She joined the Silicon Flatirons team after nearly six years as an Event Planner in the University Memorial Center at the Boulder Campus, and prior to returning to CU she worked in television production and for event planning firms in Denver.
Personal pronouns: She, her, hers.
Job Titles:
- Director of International Government Affairs, Lumen Technologies