About the IAPP

Alexandra Reeve Givens is the CEO of the Center for Democracy & Technology, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization fighting to protect civil rights and civil liberties in the digital age. She is a leading advocate for protecting people’s online privacy and access to information, and ensuring emerging technologies advance human rights and democracy. 

At CDT, Alex leads an international team of lawyers, policy experts, and technologists. CDT advocates to policymakers and the courts in the U.S. and Europe, works with tech companies to improve their policies and product designs, and shapes public opinion on major tech policy issues. 

Alex previously served in the United States Senate, as the chief counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee covering innovation and consumer protection, and was the founding Executive Director of Georgetown University’s Institute for Technology Law & Policy. She began her career as a litigator at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York City, and taught for nine years as an adjunct professor at Columbia Law and Georgetown Law. 

Alex regularly appears in news outlets such as CNN, CBS News, NPR, The Washington Post and Wired, and has testified in Congress multiple times on topics relating to AI governance and privacy. She serves on the boards of the Urban Institute and the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, and on advisory boards for the Aspen Institute, World Economic Forum, Partnership on AI, KKR and numerous companies. She is also a judge for the Webby Awards. Alex is a graduate of Yale University and Columbia Law. You can find her on BlueSky and LinkedIn.