Alec Ross is a Visiting Professor at King’s College London and the author of The Industries of the Future which has been translated into 24 languages and been a best-seller on 4 continents.

He is a Board Partner at Amplo, a global venture capital firm and sits on the board of directors or advisors for companies in the fields of technology, finance, education, human capital and cybersecurity.

He has served as a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Johns Hopkins University and as a Senior Fellow at the Columbia University School of International & Public Affairs.

During the Obama Administration, he served as Senior Advisor for Innovation to the Secretary of State, a role created for him to help modernize the practice of diplomacy and bring innovative solutions to advance America’s foreign policy interests.

Alec served as the Convener for the Technology & Media Policy Committee on Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and served on the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team.

He founded and helped lead a technology-focused social enterprise and grew it from modest origins in a basement into a global organization serving millions of low-income people, with programs on four continents.

Among recent recognitions:

•Top 100 Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy Magazine
•U.S. Department of State Distinguished Honor Award
•Oxford University Internet & Society Award
•TriBeCa Film Festival Book of the Year Award

Alec started his career as a sixth grade teacher through Teach for America in inner-city Baltimore