Keynote Speakers

Congressman Jared Huffman & Jim StEyer in Conversation 9:00-9:50 am

EMERSON SYKES ON FREE SPEECH, SOCIAL MEDIA & DEMOCRACY ✸ 1:15-1:50 pm

Virtual

Emerson sykes

Emerson Sykes is a senior staff attorney with the ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project where he focuses on First Amendment free speech protections. From 2019-2020, he was also host of At Liberty, the ACLU’s weekly podcast. Prior to joining the ACLU in 2018, he was a legal advisor for Africa at the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL). In that role, he provided technical legal assistance to civil society leaders, government officials, law students, and other stakeholders from across Africa to improve the legal framework protecting the freedom of association, assembly, and expression on the regional and national levels. From 2012-13, he served as assistant general counsel to the New York City Council, where he worked to increase transparency for council members’ discretionary spending, and contributed to the council’s friend-of-the-court brief against the NYPD’s “Stop and Frisk” program. In 2011, he was a senior policy fellow in the office of a Member of Parliament in Ghana. he previously conducted research and wrote about U.S. foreign policy for The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank, and worked for the National Democratic Institute’s Central and West Africa Team.

Jared Huffman

Jared Huffman represents California’s 2nd Congressional District, which spans the North Coast of the state from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border and includes Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino, Humboldt, Trinity, and Del Norte counties. He was first elected to Congress in November 2012 and currently serves on the Committee on Natural Resources, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. In the 117th Congress, he chairs the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans and Wildlife, with jurisdiction over federal water projects, fisheries management, coastal zone and oceans policy, and wildlife and endangered species. He also founded the Congressional Freethought Caucus to promote sound public policy based on reason, science and moral values, while protecting the secular character of government and championing the value of freedom of thought worldwide. During his four terms in Congress, Congressman Huffman has built a reputation as a progressive leader and an environmental expert who focuses on making a difference. He is also committed to ensuring our communities are resilient to the effects of climate change, including wildfires and droughts. He has been instrumental in defending America’s coastlines from offshore oil and gas drilling, introducing legislation to protect the Pacific and Arctic Oceans as part of a coordinated, nationwide effort to protect oceanic ecosystems and coastal economies, while reducing our unhealthy dependency on fossil fuels.

Jim steyer

Jim Steyer is one of the most respected experts and entrepreneurs on issues related to children, education, and media and technology in the United States. He is founder and chief executive officer of Common Sense, the nation's leading nonpartisan organization dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and impactful voice they need to thrive in the 21st century. Jim Steyer is also a nationally known author, having written the widely acclaimed book Talking Back to Facebook in 2012, as well as another highly successful book, The Other Parent: The Inside Story of the Media's Effect on Our Children in 2002. He has long been an award-winning professor at Stanford University, where he has taught popular courses for more than 30 years. He is a consulting professor in the Stanford School of Education as well as the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, teaching a variety of courses on civil rights, civil liberties, and education issues. Prior to launching Common Sense, Jim Steyer was chairman and CEO of JP Kids, a leading educational kids' media company. Before that, he was the founder and president of Children Now, the highly respected national advocacy and media organization for children, which he founded in 1988. In addition, he co-founded the Center for the Next Generation with his younger brother Tom Steyer in 2012.