On June 12, 2012, the Institute forEducation hosted the Media and Technology Roundtable at the Residence of the Bulgarian Ambassador to the U.S., Her Excellency Ms. Elena Poptodorova. After an intimate cocktail gathering, Ambassador Poptodorova welcomed the guests. Coach thanked Her Excellency for graciously hosting this historical event and recognized the following long-time IFE supporters for their leadership: Shane Green, Chris Caine, Scott Ferber, John Farmer and Aneesh Chopra. Josh Galper then introduced the honored guest, Marne Levine, Vice President of Global Public Policy for Facebook.
Ms. Levine initiated the discussion with how Facebook is a mission-driven company and strives to make the world more open by giving people the power to connect and share. She discussed how in her role she and her team look at the implications of public policy on internet services like Facebook and spoke of some of the challenges in different countries around the world. Ms. Levine also addressed how when it comes to their platform, Facebook is committed to transparency, accountability and control and explained how it can be used to help provide solutions to what was previously accomplished solely through regulation. The group discussed public and private partnerships and the promotion of innovation and self-regulation, and how critical is it to have the right legal and regulatory environment to foster entrepreneurship and economic growth. Ms. Levine also shed light on the importance of having a free and open internet and provided examples of how Facebook can be used to affect and mobilize people when it comes to energy conservation, organ donation, and disaster relief. Other topics covered by the group included digital culture, the ACTA and its consequences as well as the European data protection laws.
Guests remarked on the exquisite setting and excellent menu Ambassador Poptodorova graciously provided. Guests in attendance included Jenny Abramson, Senior Vice President of Monetization & Partnerships at Personal; Chris Caine, President and CEO of Mercator XXI; Aneesh Chopra, Former U.S. Chief Technology Officer; David Duckenfield, Partner at Balsera Communications; Pascale Dumit, Spectrum Engineer at ITT Exelis and IFE MTR Program Director; R. David Edelman, Director of International CyberSecurity at the National Security Council and IFE Fellow; John Farmer, Senior Advisor at the White House and IFE EMR Founder; Scott Ferber, Founder and CEO of Videology Group; Josh Galper, Chief Policy Officer and General Counsel at Personal; Jeremy Grant, Head of the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC); Shane Greene, MTR Founder and President and CEO of Personal,, Inc.; Jennifer Liberto, Senior Writer at CNN Money; Paul Selker, President at Spark Street Digital and IFE Fellow; and Matt Waxman, Columbia University Law School as well as IFE Interns: James Adams, Quenton Horton, Georgi Poptodorova, Christina Kemper Valentine, Kelsey Kemper Valentine and Albert Wang.
Click here to review event photos.