Gary Shapiro is president and CEO for the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)®, the U.S. trade association representing more than 2,000 consumer electronics companies, which owns and produces CES® – The Global Stage for Innovation.

Shapiro leads a staff of 160 employees and thousands of industry volunteers and has testified before Congress on technology and business issues more than 20 times. In 2012, and in prior years, Washington Life magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in Washington. Under Shapiro’s leadership, CEA also annually wins many awards as a family friendly employer, the healthiest workplace in D.C., one of the best places to work in Virginia and as “a green” tradeshow producer.

CEA focuses on innovation as a national policy to spur the economy, create jobs and cut the deficit. CEA advocates for a lower deficit, skilled immigration and free trade. CEA does not seek any government funding for industry.

Shapiro led the industry in its successful transition to HDTV. He co-founded and chaired the HDTV Model Station and served as a leader of the Advanced Television Test Center (ATTC). He is a charter inductee to the Academy of Digital Television Pioneers, and received its highest award as the industry leader most influential in advancing HDTV.

As chairman of the Home Recording Rights Coalition (HRRC), Shapiro led the manufacturers’ battle to preserve the legality of recording technology, consumer fair use rights, and opposing legislation like PIPA and SOPA, harmful to a robust Internet.

Shapiro has held many exhibition industry leadership posts, and received the exhibition industry’s highest honor, the IAEE Pinnacle Award.

He sits on the State Department's Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, the Economic Club of Washington, as a member of the Commonwealth of Virginia's Commission on Information Technology and on the Board of Visitors of George Mason University. Shapiro also has been recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a “mastermind” for his initiative in helping to create the Industry Cooperative for Ozone Layer Protection (ICOLP).

Shapiro authored CEA’s New York Times best-sellers “Ninja Innovation: The Ten Killer Strategies of the World’s Most Successful Businesses” (Harper Collins, 2013) and “The Comeback: How Innovation will Restore the American Dream” (Beaufort, 2011). Through these books and television appearances, and as a columnist whose more than 400 opinion pieces have appeared in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Washington Post, Shapiro has helped direct policymakers and business leaders on the importance of innovation in the U.S. economy.

Prior to joining the association, Shapiro was an associate at the law firm of Squire Sanders. He also has worked on Capitol Hill, as an assistant to a member of Congress. He received his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate with a double major in economics and psychology from Binghamton University. He is married to Dr. Susan Malinowski, a retina surgeon.