Name: Dean Garfield
Organization: Information Technology Industry Council
Title: President and CEO
Age: 43
What makes him an effective President:
Before joining ITI, Garfield has served in high-level positions for organizations such as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). For the latter he aided in the development of their intellectual property policy and oversaw several landmark United States intellectual property cases, including the Grokster/Kazaa case. At ITIC he has established public-private sector partnerships and was awarded with the first REACH Breaking Barriers Award in May of 2010, for his success in the technology industry and efforts to support youth to develop essential science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills.
My advice for President Obama:
“Our education policies are rooted in the 1800’s; our immigration policies date back to the 1930’s; our tax policies hail from the 1980’s; and our telecommunications and trade policies descend from the 1990’s. I would encourage President Obama to work with the tech sector to update and upgrade these policies in a fashion that will drive investment to the U.S. ‘Smart’ energy, transportation and buildings, cloud-computing, machine-to-machine communication, and molecular-level manufacturing will likely create millions of new jobs and trillions in revenue. To achieve our potential we can’t work around the edges, but need whole new strategies and bold leadership aimed at attacking our structural challenges.”