Ambassador Karen Kornbluh served as ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, sitting on the governing board of the economic multilateral institution in Paris, where she spearheaded the first global Internet Policymaking Principles, led the effort to expand the organization’s membership, and launched the OECD Gender Initiative.

Kornbluh previously served as deputy chief of staff at the Treasury Department and director of the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs at the Federal Communications Commission. She was policy director for Senator Barack Obama and the author of his 2008 platform.

Kornbluh began her career as an economic forecaster at Townsend-Greenspan and later was executive vice president at Nielsen, the global data firm, where she launched the Nielsen Foundation.

The New York Times called her a “passionate and effective advocate for economic equality” and she was named one of Washingtonian magazine’s top influencers. She testifies before Congress and the European Parliament, appears widely in the media, and publishes in outlets including Foreign Affairs, the New York Times, and the Atlantic Monthly.

Kornbluh is currently Distinguished Fellow for Technology and Competitiveness at the German Marshall Fund of the U.S. and chairs the boards of both Radio Free Europe and the Open Technology Fund. She has held numerous fellowships, including at the Council on Foreign Relations, Mozilla, the Center for American Progress, and New America. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.