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Julie Samuels

Julie Samuels is President and CEO at Tech:NYC[1], the preeminent organization representing New York's tech industry[4]. She is also a Venture Partner at Hangar[6], an investment firm that builds companies in the public sector market[4]. Before assuming her current role in February 2023[5], Samuels served as Founder and Executive Director at Tech:NYC from January 2016 to January 2022[7]. Prior to that, she was President and Executive Director at Engine[8], a nationwide nonprofit focused on technology entrepreneurship and advocacy[4]. Samuels has worked as a Senior Staff Attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation[9] and as an Associate at law firms including Loeb & Loeb LLP[10]. She holds a JD in Law from Vanderbilt University Law School[13] and a BA in Journalism from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign[14]. Samuels is a frequent commentator on technology and policy issues for national media[4] and has filed briefs with the Supreme Court and testified before Congressional Committees[4].

Founded

Insights & ideas

Julie Samuels frames New York's tech sector as inevitable in scale, arguing it is becoming or already is the city's biggest industry, even as she acknowledges the definitional slipperiness of "tech company" since every company now qualifies [1]. Her stated purpose at Tech NYC is to manage that transition responsibly, focusing on what the growth of tech, both the people and companies building it and the technology itself, means for New York politically, culturally, civically, and philanthropically, with the explicit goal that the shift "lifts as many boats as possible" [1]. She traces her own entry into tech culture to an accidental path, moving from journalism student to communications intern at NCSA during the Mosaic and early Netscape era, and credits her introduction to organizations like EFF and figures like John Perry Barlow through a mentor as formative to her understanding of tech culture [1].

Experience

  1. President and CEO
    Tech:NYCFeb 2023 to Present
  2. Venture Partner
    HangarAug 2022 to Present
  3. Founder and Executive Director
    Tech:NYCJan 2016 to Jan 2022
  4. President and Executive Director
    Engine | Advocacy & Research FoundationMar 2014 to Jan 2016
  5. Senior Staff Attorney, Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents
    Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)Jul 2010 to Mar 2014
  6. Associate
    Loeb & Loeb LLPMar 2007 to Jul 2010
  7. Associate
    Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLPAug 2005 to Mar 2007
  8. Legislative Assistant
    Media CoalitionAug 2001 to Aug 2002

Education

Media & appearances

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