Alberto Cerda
Chair, Program Officer, International
Technology and Society Program
Ford Foundation
ABOUT
Alberto Cerda Silva is a Program Officer on the Ford Foundation’s Technology and Society team. He works on internet rights from a global perspective and oversees a portfolio of grantees that focus on building public protections into the global governance of the internet. Alberto is a tenured professor in law and technology at the Center of Studies on Law and Information of the University of Chile Law School. Before joining the foundation in 2014, Alberto served as a legal adviser to the Chilean Supreme Court and the Ministry of Economy as an expert on cyberlaw, digital development, and digital copyright. He was also a founding member and international affairs director of ONG Derechos Digitales. Alberto holds is a Ph.D. in Law and holds an LL.M. degree in international legal studies, both from Georgetown University.
Lori McGlinchey
Director, Technology and Society Program
Ford Foundation
ABOUT
Lori McGlinchey is the director of the Ford Foundation’s Technology and Society program, which supports civil society organizations in the U.S. and internationally working to ensure that the internet and digital technologies are designed and governed equitably to advance social and economic justice, particularly for those experiencing persistent discrimination. She previously served as senior program officer, where she led grantmaking focused on expanding broadband equity, and constraining surveillance, extractive data practices, and discriminatory predictive technologies. She also developed funding strategies to advance free expression and address information disorder. Before joining Ford in 2014, Lori was senior program officer for the U.S. Democracy Fund of the Open Society Foundations, focused on media and internet policy, government accountability, journalism, and documentary film. At OSF she developed a special initiative to address the politicization of science-based US policy making and its impact on free expression, reproductive justice, and climate policy.
Samar Verma
Program Officer
Ford Foundation
ABOUT
As Program Officer at Ford Foundation, Samar leads the program portfolios on public interest technologies, Future of Workers and Philanthropy. He has 25 years of professional experience in the corporate sector, conducting policy research, building institutions, international development and grant management based in India and UK.
As Senior Program Specialist at International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada, he managed the global Think Tank Initiative program in South Asia & Myanmar which provided multi-year institutional support and technical capacity building to strengthen think tanks and networks. He was the global head of Economic Justice Policy at Oxfam Great Britain leading their work on trade, agriculture and climate change. He founded a South Asia policy think tank. As Senior Fellow with the think tank ICRIER, he published widely. His books on public policy are published by Oxford University Press and Sage. Samar holds a PhD in Economics and an MBA.
Graciela Selaimen
Regional lead for Latin America
The International Resource for Impact
and Storytelling (IRIS)
ABOUT
Graciela is a journalist based in Brazil. She is currently the regional lead for Latin America of IRIS – the International Resource for Impact and Storytelling. IRIS is a donor collaborative for philanthropy focused on strengthening civil society through narrative strategies and creative storytelling for impact. Before joining IRIS she was a Senior Program Officer with the Ford Foundation, developing strategies and programs in the areas of Technology and Society, Creativity and Freedom of Expression, Civic Engagement and Governance. Her work has contributed to consolidating the field of digital rights in Brazil and to bolster the independent investigative journalism ecosystem. Prior to joining Ford in 2013, she was a co-founder and director of the Nupef Institute, and the editor in chief of the poliTICs magazine, the first publication dedicated to digital policy and rights in Brazil.
Miguel Pulido
Partner
Creatura
ABOUT
Lawyer (Tec de Monterrey). He has a post-graduate degree in Human Rights (University of Chile), a Master’s degree in Human Rights and Democracy (Latin American Social Sciences Institute, Flacso). He was selected as a Yale World Fellow in 2014. Miguel has experience in civil society organizations and as consultant. Currently he is partner at Creatura where he works as well as Executive Director.
Roselyn Odoyo
Senior Program Officer
Mozilla Foundation
ABOUT
Roselyn is a human rights advocate, a feminist, and have been working in service to these movements through strategy development, philanthropic advocacy, research and convening within civil society for the past fifteen years. More recently, she has been working at the intersection of digital technology and society as a senior programme officer at Mozilla foundation. Roselyn is motivated by justice and equity and continue to pursue these values through her engagement in the tech sector with a focus on addressing intersecting inequities in the digital and technology landscape.