United States President
United States President Joe Biden has appointed Dr. Eileen C. Donahoe, Executive Director of the Global Digital Policy Incubator (GDPi) at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies in the United States and a member of the Freedom Online Coalition (FOC) Advisory Network, as Special Envoy and Coordinator for Digital Freedom in the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy.
Announcing the appointment in a statement on September 11, 2023, U.S. Secretary of State, Mr. Antony Blinken, said President Biden’s appointment of Dr. Donahoe reinforces the importance of digital freedom and values-based technology governance work as priorities for the Biden Administration and the State Department priorities.
According to Secretary Blinken, “As Special Envoy and Coordinator, Dr. Donahoe will leverage her deep technical knowledge and foreign policy experience to advance U.S. priorities around online freedoms, digital inclusion, and information integrity.”
He noted that Dr. Donahoe has built a distinguished career promoting human rights and digital freedom both within and outside of government and was uniquely qualified to lead in her new role.
Dr. Donahoe previously served as the first U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva and as Director of Global Affairs at Human Rights Watch where she represented the organization worldwide on human rights foreign policy, with a special focus on Internet governance and digital security.
She is a member of Board of Directors of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED); the World Economic Forum Council on the Future of Digital Economy; and the Dartmouth College Board of Trustees as well as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
