Fiona Alexander
Distinguished Policy Strategist-in-Residence
SIS Faculty
Bio
Ms. Fiona M. Alexander is both Distinguished Policy Strategist in Residence in the School of International Service and Distinguished Fellow at the Internet Governance Lab at American University. For the Internet Governance Lab, she is also the inaugural Chair of an Alumni Expert Council. Fiona is a former government executive with extensive experience and globally diverse contacts in international Internet, telecommunications and emerging technology policy. She serves as an advisor to the United Nations International Narcotics Control Board, a Non-resident Senior Fellow with the Digital Innovation Initiative at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), a member of the Freedom Online Coalition Advisory Network, and a Mentor for the International Telecommunication Union Woman in Cyber Mentorship Program.
For close to 20 years, Fiona served at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in the U.S. Department of Commerce where she was Associate Administrator for International Affairs. In this role, she was the principal official responsible for the analysis, development, and execution of international Internet, cyber and communications policy within the Executive Branch of the United States government (USG). She managed the U.S. government’s relationship with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and is NTIA’s sole Presidential Rank Award winner for her leadership in the two-decade effort to privatize the Internet’s domain name system (DNS). Ms. Alexander is a member of the High-level Advisory Group for the Global Internet & Jurisdiction Policy Network and previously served as member of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Multistakeholder Advisory Group.
At NTIA, Fiona was the convener and co-leader of the Department of Commerce’s Internet Policy Task Force which developed policy, norms and tools for issues related to commercial data privacy, online copyright protection, cybersecurity, and the global free flow of information. She represented the United States at a variety of fora, including the UN World Summit on the Information Society, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and ICANN. During her tenure, the U.S. led the development of Internet policy making principles and joined the only international agreement on Artificial Intelligence at the OECD, won the election of the first woman in the 153 year history of the ITU, and managed the collaborative implementation of Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) at the authoritative root of the Internet domain name system.
Prior to joining NTIA, Ms. Alexander was a Senior Consultant at Booz, Allen & Hamilton. She has a Master’s Degree in International Relations from American University, Washington, D.C. and is co-founder of Salt Point Strategies, a consulting group that provides public affairs advice, strategy, and advocacy to clients navigating the emerging high-tech economy.
