SXSW Interactive 2012 speakers

Beth Hill is Senior Counsel and Privacy Counsel for Chrysler Group LLC. As Chrysler’s privacy counsel, Beth provides legal advice and counsel on all aspects of privacy, security and data protection. She provides direct support for cross-functional groups responsible for data-centric product development and analysis especially in connection with infotainment, marketing and aspects of the driving experience impacted by the collection, use and disclosure of information. Ms. Hill also provides commercial legal support for operational groups including connected vehicle, sales & marketing, information technology, interactive and procurement as Senior Counsel for Chrysler’s commercial transactions group. In addition to data privacy and security, Beth negotiates business agreements and partnerships in areas including interactive and mobile technology-related services, analytics, advertising, sales, marketing and intellectual property. Ms. Hill’s automotive, internet and technology experience spans more than a decade and increasingly focuses on how data is transforming the automotive experience and industry. Ms. Hill received a Juris Doctor degree from Fordham University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts in History from New York University.

Charles Lee Mudd Jr. has operated his own law firm since 2001. In the last nine years, the firm has grown to become an internationally recognized diversified practice providing representation to a clientele comprised of local, national, and international individuals and business organizations. Prior to starting his own firm, Charles worked for Cummings & Lockwood, a full-service, mid-sized law firm, in its Stamford, Connecticut office practicing in its commercial litigation and emerging technologies groups. His tenure at Cummings & Lockwood followed a one-year clerkship with a United States District Court Judge in Bridgeport, Connecticut and a two-year clerkship with the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals of Indiana. For more than ten years, Charles has been significantly involved in Internet and technology-related transactional matters and litigation throughout the United States at both the trial and appellate levels. Most recently, he filed a writ for certiorari with the United States Supreme Court seeking resolution of the Circuit conflict on the appropriate standard for determining personal jurisdiction in Internet related litigation. Charles currently serves as an adjunct faculty member at John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois where he teaches privacy and technology courses and guest lectures. He also guest lectures at DePaul University College of Law in Chicago, Illinois. Apart from practicing law, Charles has been an active member of the legal community. He currently serves as Secretary for the Intellectual Property Section of the Illinois State Bar Association and as a member of the Utah State Bar’s Cyberlaw Section. He has recently become a member of the Organization Committee for the newly-formed Cyberlaw Bar Association. Charles was admitted to the Indiana State Bar in 1997, the Illinois State Bar in 1998, the Connecticut State Bar in 2000, and the Utah State Bar in 2007. He remains an active member of each of these state bars. Charles is admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States as well as the Sixth and Seventh Circuits of the United States Courts of Appeals. He is admitted to the trial bar of the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois. He is also admitted to the bars of the Northern District of Indiana, Central District of Illinois, Northern District of Florida, the District of Colorado, and the District of Utah.

Christina Gagnier leads the Intellectual Property, Internet & Technology practice at Gagnier Margossian LLP, with a specialization in social media, copyright and information privacy. A member of the State Bar of California, Gagnier has been active in the field of intellectual property since 2002. Gagnier serves as the Chief Executive Officer of REALPOLITECH, a digital public relations and web strategy consultancy. Gagnier consults technology firms on policy issues ranging from patent law reform to communications issues, such as Network Neutrality. Gagnier’s primary research concerns issues of cyber rights and the intersection of on and offline action. Her most recent publication, On Privacy: Liberty in the Digital Revolution, contains analysis of the impacts of our behavior online on society’s legal privacy rights. In 2008, she published, Running Cases Through a Merck Sieve: Biopharmaceutical Research in the Wake of Merck v. Integra, discussing the legal and political impacts of the 2005 Supreme Court decision and the reaction of the circuit courts. Gagnier has customized Gagnier Margossian LLP’s technology practice to broadly serve the needs of “startups.” Working with artists, Web TV writers and producers, Internet companies and mobile application developers, Gagnier provides digital strategy advising to clients who are often times navigating uncharted legal territory. Gagnier researched at Stanford Law School for Professor Lawrence Lessig, working on Code 2.0 and Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy. In 2008, Gagnier coordinated the symposium The Toll Roads? The Legal and Political Debate over Net Neutrality at the University of San Francisco. Gagnier also served as the Chief Information Officer at Mobilize.org, a national civic engagement organization dedicated to Millennial Generation advocacy and public policy. Gagnier manages Gagnier Margossian LLP’s alternative dispute resolution practice, specializing in intellectual property, media, the arts and technology. Her legal and policy expertise provides a unique perspective to what is an emerging field in the area of intellectual property. She holds a minor in Conflict Resolution from the University of California, Irvine, and is a certified mediator in the State of California. Christina blogs in the Technology section of The Huffington Post, is a columnist on legal ethics on the web for California Lawyer and has been a contributor to CBS News’ What’s Trending. She is frequently invited to sit on panels discussing issues like Information Privacy and Data, law in the digital age, Government 2.0 and citizen engagement. She has also been a guest commentator on TV shows like Russia Today’s CrossTalk and NBC’s Press:Here, on radio stations such as KCBS in San Francisco and WCCO in Minnesota, and has also been quoted by MSNBC, The Atlantic, Politico and The New York Times. Gagnier earned a B.A. in Political Science and Sociology from the University of California, Irvine, a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Southern California and a J.D. from the University of San Francisco.

Christopher Mooney is a software engineer that works in the high performance and high availability problem space. He has a B.S. in Computer Science and a minor in Mathematics at the University of Southern Maine, and is currently employed as a software engineer for craigslist.org. He is the acting executive director of Project DoD Inc., a 501(c)(3) charitable technology nonprofit with a focus on censorship resistant services. He has always been interested in computer security, and has focused a good deal of time on cryptology and computer security research. In the past, he has spoken on "Subverting the World of Warcraft API" in 2009 at DEFCON 17, and "The DMCA & ACTA vs. Academic & Professional Research: How Misuse of this Intellectual Property Legislation Chills Research, Disclosure and Innovation" in 2010 at H.O.P.E. and Blackhat. To find out more information about Christopher Mooney you can visit the bio links.

Cindy Cohn is the Legal Director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation as well as its General Counsel. She is responsible for overseeing the EFF's overall legal strategy and supervising EFF's ten staff attorneys and its legal fellow. Ms. Cohn first became involved with the EFF in 1995, when the EFF asked her to serve as the lead attorney in Bernstein v. Dept. of Justice, the successful First Amendment challenge to the U.S. export restrictions on cryptography. Outside the Courts, Ms. Cohn has testified before Congress, been featured in the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle and elsewhere for her work on online issues. The National Law Journal named Ms. Cohn one of 100 most influential lawyers in America in 2006 for "rushing to the barricades wherever freedom and civil liberties are at stake online." In 2007 the Journal named her one of the 50 most influential women lawyers in America. In 2010 Intellectual Property Section of the State Bar of California awarded her its Intellectual Property Vanguard Award.

My non-profit, Without My Consent, is my main reason for coming to SXSW this year. We're super excited to connect with others interested in issues around online privacy, freedom of speech, and accountability on the internet. I also work for Microsoft in Redmond, Washington, as a copyright attorney. Please understand that while the company is highly supportive of nonprofit and pro bono work by its attorneys and staff, my views are my own and should not necessarily be attributed to Microsoft. Thanks for respecting that!

Corynne leads the intellectual property team at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a public interest law firm dedicated to protecting your digital rights. Corynne specializes in copyright, trademark and free speech issues, with representative cases including Lenz v. Universal (copyright misuse), Chamber of Commerce v. Servin, et al. (trademark misuse), and In re Sony BMG CD Technologies Litigation (aka the "rootkit" case), as well as numerous amicus briefs on trademark, copyright, and patent issues. She has appeared on radio and television, including Democracy Now!, NPR, CNBC, CBS, and Fox News' O'Reilly Factor, and has been quoted in various print and online publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, the Boston Globe, CNET News, and Wired News. Prior to joining EFF, Corynne was a litigator at Bingham McCutchen, LLP, and wrote Who Owns Academic Work?: Battling for Control of Intellectual Property (Harvard University Press, 2001). She holds a Ph.D. from U.C. San Diego and J.D. from Stanford Law School.

Dave Haynes is VP Business Development for SoundCloud, the leading audio platform that allows anyone to capture, record and share their sounds over the web. With over a decade’s experience in the music industry, Dave currently works at the forefront of the latest trends in digital music. As well as his work for SoundCloud, he is the organiser of the OpenMusicMedia and Music Hack Day events that take place across the world. He was listed as one of UK’s Young Music Entrepreneurs in 2010 and is a frequent speaker at various events from TEDxCardiff to SXSW.

Ethan is the founder and CEO of SpiderOak - providing cloud-based backup, synchronization, and sharing services. Through the creation of a fully secure environment ('zero-knowledge' privacy), SpiderOak focuses on delivering a more flexible and technically advanced solution to the consumer, small business, and enterprise. Ethan graduated from Harvard University in 1999. Upon graduation, he matriculated to New York to produce a short film about an elderly Jewish brassiere maker. When complete he moved back to his hometown of Chicago - producing commercials and designing/constructing furniture. He started an email marketing company which he grew from 2001 - 2004. In 2005 he traveled and took involvement in several real estate projects. In 2006 the ideas for SpiderOak started to take hold and by the middle of 2007 the company was formed. SpiderOak officially launched its service in December of that year. His blogging contributions can be mainly found on the SpiderOak blog (https://spideroak.com/blog) and range in subject matter from the importance of user privacy to sandwich making to current events to influential and 'must-read' books.

Farai Chideya is a broadcast journalist; author of four books; blogger at Farai.com; and advisor to Etsy.

Gerard M. Stegmaier is an attorney practicing with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Washington, D.C. He also serves as an adjunct professor at George Mason University School of Law where he created and has taught one of the first courses on information privacy law for over ten years. He has represented many of the Internet's pioneers on important questions of first impression. His practice includes litigation, transactional and regulatory matters for enterprises of all sizes especially where information and privacy issues represent a strategic element of the transaction or matter. He currently serves as Vice Chair of the Social Media Committee of the Northern Virginia Technology Counsel. For nearly a decade he served as a member of the Virginia Legislature’s Joint Commission on Technology & Science Privacy Advisory Committee and successor committees. Mr. Stegmaier is a magna cum laude graduate of George Mason University School of Law where he was as an editor of the law review. Following law school he clerked for the Hon. Pauline Newman at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Mr. Stegmaier may be reached at gstegmaier@wsgr.com or 202.973.8800.

Jonathan Bailey is a copyright and plagiarism consultant and owner of Copybyte (http://www.copybyte.com) who spends his time tracking content on the Web, dealing with plagiarism/infringement and helping clients devise productive strategies regarding their work. He is also the blogger at Plagiarism Today (http://www.plagiarismtoday.com) and blogs there about copyright and plagiarism matters.

Jonathan Godfrey leads ACT media outreach efforts often speaking about innovation in the mobile space as an engine of economic growth and job creation. Before joining ACT, Jonathan was communications director for the House Judiciary Committee and led Congress to the adoption of its earliest interactive communications strategies.

June Casalmir is Counsel for Consumer & Marketing Practices at Sprint Nextel, where she advises on a wide variety of marketing, advertising, and consumer-related issues. In her role, June supports the company’s social media and traditional marketing and PR efforts and also advises on NASCAR and NBA sponsorship efforts, emerging solutions, and a variety of promotional matters. Prior to joining Nextel in 2004, June was an antitrust & consumer protection associate with Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, LLP and Powell Goldstein Frazer & Murphy, LLP. She began her legal career as an enforcement attorney in the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition. June received her J.D. from the School of Law at Washington University in St. Louis and her undergraduate degree from Duke University.

Lovisa Williams is the Senior Policy Advisor and Social Media Strategist for the U.S. Department of State. She manages the Department’s Internet Steering Committee which is the policy and governance structure for all Internet based technologies. Lovisa is a member of the Federal Web Managers Council and is the co-chair for the Sub Council for Social Media. Both, are focused on the management and governance of all Internet technologies used for public engagement. Most recently she was the Deputy Director for the Department of State’s International Information Programs (IIP) Bureau’s Office of Innovative Engagement (OIE). She is the co-author for the Department of State’s first social media use policy. She also managed the Department’s Community Managers Group. She developed the first Community Managers Boot Camp and continues to educate employees on Community Management issues. Lovisa has over fourteen years of experience working for the Federal Government on technology and social media projects. She specializes in how disruptive technologies require organizational transformation. Lovisa lives at the intersection of people, government, and technology. She is an innovator who actively explores new ways to solve problems leveraging technology. Lovisa is an active participant in the community advocating for Government’s use of social media. She is a regular speaker in the Government 2.0 community. Lovisa, and her work at the Department of State, are included in Charlene Li’s book Open Leadership as a business case. She has served for the past two years as one of the organizers for the Government 2.0 Camp in Los Angeles, CA. And she is currently serving on the Board of Advisors for Silberberg Innovations. Lovisa works on a number of community projects such as being the co-founder of the Mobile Citizen Summit and the founder of the Global Citizenship Project. Lovisa is also a contributing blogger for The Community Manager.

Michelle Avary has worked at Toyota for 12 years and is a subject matter expert in automotive telematics. Michelle is currently the lead strategist for all of Toyota’s telematics products – embedded and mobile - including Toyota Safety Connect, Lexus Enform, and the newest mobile-based product, Toyota Entune. Michelle is responsible for application development strategies, business and product development, creating systematic innovation processes, leading organizational development, and overseeing state and federal regulatory issues. Mrs. Avary is a patent holder and a registered lobbyist. Michelle Avary received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Pennsylvania State University, a Masters of Art in Economics from the University of San Francisco, and studied international law and economics at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

My name is Mike Sax. I enjoy helping to build apps, companies, and communities. I’ll be speaking on Monday about apps and privacy. My latest endeavor is Asigo, a new company that will change how small businesses make decisions. Building a truly revolutionary product is a ton of work and often feels like riding a roller coaster, but it’s also tons of fun and building something that nobody ever thought was possible makes it all worth it. I’m also founder and Chairman of ACT, a trade association of app developers. We bring the world of politics and software makers together to engage in a dialog about policy. Helping them better understand each other, hoping better laws will come out of this process. We also help app developers become more successful. In the past, I’ve been involved in a number of iPhone apps. My first app actually reached the #3 spot in the global iTunes Top 100 for a while. I love building apps because everyone understands what they are, the development cycle is quick, and it deliciously combines creativity and engineering. I would love it if you could come to my talk on Monday. I promise you that it’ll be engaging and you’re learn a few things. Please send me a message if you’d like to meet up to exchange ideas. That’s why we’re all here, isn’t it? @mikesax on twitter, mikesax on Facebook, sax.net on the web.

Senior Counsel - Privacy
Cox Communications Randy has served as Privacy Counsel for Cox Communications since 2003. He is responsible for privacy and data security issues relating to the cable, internet and telecommunications services of Cox throughout the United States. Before joining Cox, Randy served in a wide range of legal roles with BellSouth, including responsibility for its print and internet publishing entities, regulatory, venture capital and real estate development operations. Before that time, he practiced law representing corporate and construction clients.

As the Sr. Manager of Social Media and Digital Communications for Capital One, Rich Pesce is responsible for leading and developing Capital One’s external social media communications strategy and campaign implementation. As a member of the corporate communications team, he helps develop innovative social communication campaigns that support the advancement of Capital One’s corporate reputation as well as communications supporting Capital One’s products and services and customer engagement.

Rob Reid is an author and a serial entrepreneur. He founded the company that created the Rhapsody music service, and his latest book, "Year Zero," will be published by Random House in July. In it, aliens seek to erase the ruinous fines on their vast collections of piarte dAmerican music by destroying the Earth. Parts of it are made up.

Sarah Granger has 20 years of experience in the intersection of technology, media and government, including ICT policy, online politics, cyber security, new media and open democracy projects. An award-winning writer and new media strategist, she advises public sector organizations on new media and technology through her company, PublicEdge, while working on the policy side through partner nonprofit organizations. She also recently founded the Center for Technology, Media & Society. Sarah is a blogger at the San Francisco Chronicle at SFGate.com, The Huffington Post, and BlogHer. Other publishing credits include Security Focus, WSJ.com, IEEE Spectrum, Forbes Russia and MSNBC.com. She was a credentialed blogger at the Democratic National Convention in 2008, and she has visited the White House while covering government tech issues. She was a contributing author of Ethical Hacking, and she has edited four books on government 2.0, mobile security, cryptography and biometrics. This is Sarah's third time speaking at South by Southwest Interactive. She first facilitated "Whitehouse.gov 2.0: Upgrading to Open Source Government" in 2009 and in 2011, she spoke on "Startup.gov: Reworking Government Through Technical Innovation." She has been a speaker or organizer for Gov 2.0 Expo, Gov 2.0 Camp LA, Netroots Nation, 140 Twitter, ACM Policy, CampaignTech, U.S. Policies for the Information Society, CA Data Camp, and the Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference. She served as a delegate to the World Summit on the Information Society at the U.N. in Geneva in 2003 and she is an elected Council member of the U.S. Association for Computing Machinery (USACM) public policy committee and chair of the USACM Digital Government Committee. She is also a Fellow at the Truman National Security Project, co-chairing their cybersecurity working group. Sarah is the former Project Director for the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, and she served as a senior strategist for Project One Page, a smart crowd sourcing platform. Previously, Sarah directed the first blog launched by a national politician, and she worked in cybersecurity for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and California Maritime Academy. Born and raised in the Midwest, Sarah earned an interdisciplinary degree from the University of Michigan after designing a major called "Technology & Society" and studying creative writing. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and can be found online at SarahGranger.com and on Twitter as @sarahgranger.

Stephanie A. Margossian is a founding partner of Gagnier Margossian LLP, a boutique law firm specializing in advising startup companies of all varieties. Margossian has experience working with individual, corporate, organizational and government clients regarding fiscal policy. Margossian has worked with local governments to establish employee benefit plans for city employees, she has provided tax solutions for top executives, and advised corporate officers in transitioning their businesses in corporate takeover situations. Margossian was admitted to the state bar of California in December of 2008. From 2008-2010, Margossian managed the public interface and outreach efforts for the California Child Development Administrators Association (CCDAA). Margossian worked closely with the executive director in implementing strategy for broadening the organization’s membership base. With CCDAA, she specialized in recruitment and retention of the association’s statewide membership. Margossian also managed CCDAA’s many public policy initiatives. She developed strategy and implemented campaigns to broaden CCDAA’s advocacy network. In this capacity, Margossian worked closely with the organization’s executive board to mobilize membership to engage in advocacy work on behalf of the organization. In September 2009, Margossian was named Advocate of the Year by TeenNOW California for her work advocating for educational programs benefiting pregnant and parenting teens and their children. Stephanie is a partner at Gagnier Margossian. @samargossian

Suzanne Stefanac has been a chemist, music critic, technology journalist, website pioneer (launched Macworld Online in 1995 and Quincy Jones' We Are the Future website in 7 language in 2004), TV show-runner (executive producer of MSNBC's hour-long, nightly THE SITE), interactive TV entrepreneur (co-founder, RespondTV), innovation lab director (AFI Digital Content Lab), festival producer (AFI DigiFest), industry leader (chair, Interactive Media Emmy Awards Working Group, 2006-2011), writer (Dispatches from Blogistan, Act Like Nothing's Wrong, Bringing Design to Software, dozens of magazines), speaker (Digital Hollywood, SXSW, Sundance, MIPTV, Picnic, TVOT, X|Media Lab, CES, NAB keynote), and emerging media strategist (your company name here). Suzanne believes that storytelling is at the heart of all human endeavor.