Staff & Members

Ben Golant has nearly a decade of experience working on law and policy issues affecting the video game industry, first as Chief Counsel at the Entertainment Software Association in Washington, DC, and now as Senior Director for Global Game Policy at Tencent. In both positions, he has worked extensively on player health and safety issues in addition to a wide range of matters focusing on the social and economic benefits of video games. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center where he teaches a highly popular class on video game law and policy. Ben had a long career working on communications policy and copyright law at three US agencies including: (1) the Federal Communications Commission, (2) the United States Copyright Office, and (3) the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He earned his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, where he focused on communications law, and his BA/BS in social psychology and advertising from Boston University.

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Henry Adams is Director of Trust & Safety (strategy, partnerships & policy) at Resolver, a Kroll business. He has spent the past decade working across domains to mitigate risk in high-harm settings. Henry is a former Head of Intelligence with a background in counter terrorism, national policing operations and crisis negotiation. At Resolver, he initially led global intelligence operations with a focus on rapid response services, before overseeing product development and advanced network analysis capabilities. Today, Henry leads Resolver's strategy and engagement with wider industry, as a passionate advocate for the protection of children online; and a proponent of the power in taking proactive intelligence-led approaches to online safety.

Kristelle Lavallee Collins is the Global Teen Policy Manager at Discord, where she focuses on promoting the wellbeing and empowerment of youth. Before joining Discord, Kristelle led Youth Safety and Wellbeing policy for North America at TikTok, overseeing policy frameworks for teen users and managing special initiatives, including the STEM Feed. She also served as the Senior Content Strategist at the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Alongside her role at Discord, Kristelle is an adjunct professor of psychology at Gordon College, and a lecturer in Child Study and Human Development at Tufts University.

Ethan Arenson is the Head of Digital Safety at Verizon. In this role, Ethan leads Verizon’s online safety efforts, including Verizon’s work to fight online child exploitation and the company’s work to promote internet safety through parental education and digital literacy. Ethan is also responsible for content standards across the company.

Ethan previously led the Trust & Safety and Law Enforcement teams at Verizon Media, home to Yahoo and AOL. Prior to joining Verizon, Ethan served as a computer crimes prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice, as cyber counsel to U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, and as a consumer protection attorney focused on internet-based fraud at the Federal Trade Commission.

Ethan holds a J.D. from the George Washington University Law School and a B.A. from American University.

As a global public policy leader at Netflix, Shanta focuses on digital and media policy issues including online protection of minors, ratings & classification, accessibility and technology ethics. She has also in previous roles at the company led strategic policy initiatives & campaigns, industry development efforts, regulatory advocacy, and industry relations across the Asia Pacific region.

Shanta has over 10 years of experience in developing regulatory, industry, and communications strategy for private companies and public sector entities. Prior to joining Netflix, she held various Government Relations and Communications positions in PayPal Asia Pacific. Her work there included leading on internal and external policy & public affairs efforts for the company’s technology organisation and corporate social responsibility initiatives; providing communications counsel to senior leadership at the regional and global level; and spearheading consumer and Business-to-Business media campaigns; She was also previously a part of Strategic Movies, a strategic and crisis communication practice.

Additionally, Shanta has acted as a policy and communications consultant to several Members of Parliament in Singapore, conducting policy research and drafting parliamentary speeches. Shanta holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the National University of Singapore

* Denotes member of FOSI Board

Tami Bhaumik is the Vice President of Civility and Partnerships at Roblox where she spearheads the platform's digital civility initiative and works to foster a global community of internet safety leaders to ensure good digital citizenship on Roblox. To establish a healthy and safe community, Tami is focused on providing kids, teens, parents, and caregivers with skills needed to create positive online experiences, in partnership with the world’s leading safety and industry organizations. At Roblox, she empowers platform users to self-govern and create a confident, resilient online community with the knowledge and tools to create positive experiences for themselves and others in the metaverse.

Ellen Blackler is Vice President, Policy Strategy, Global Public Policy at The Walt Disney Company.   She leads the policy strategy function in key policy areas including Internet policy, supply chain governance, human rights, environmental policy, consumer protection, advertising, food and nutrition and children and the media.  

Prior to joining Disney, Ellen was on the Public Policy team at AT&T from 2003 to 2011.  At AT&T, Ellen managed policy development on privacy, broadband deployment and universal service, access to ICT for people with disabilities, health care and tax related issues.  She previously was Special Assistant to the Chief of the Wireline Competition Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission.   During her tenure at the FCC she led the team drafting the FCC’s annual 706 reports on the status of the availability of broadband service, led a team which drafted significant new rules on the accessibility of telecommunications for people with disabilities and worked on other significant proceedings related to universal service issues.

She has also worked at the New York Public Service Commission and the New York State Legislature, where she handled energy and telecommunications issues.   

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Emilie has worked at the intersection of technology and public policy for over 15 years. She is currently the Director of Global Public Policy for Safety, Privacy and Consumer Protection at Uber, which includes earning trust by putting out our US Safety Reports, scaling advocacy to end gender-based violence, and partnering with internal and external stakeholders to leverage our technology and processes to help keep users safe. Emilie has held multiple prior roles at Uber including leading public policy efforts for Uber Eats globally, as well as UK & Ireland public affairs. Before joining Uber, Emilie worked at Virgin Media, leading the company’s efforts on children’s safety online, and the International Chamber of Commerce in the UK. She holds a MSc in Public Policy from the London School of Economics. Originally from Sweden, Emilie now lives in San Francisco, CA.

Justin Breton is the Director of Brand Experiences & Partnerships at Walmart & oversees all digital & emerging experiences that drive meaningful customer engagement, including interactive video content platforms, in-store & at-home AR experiences, immersive commerce brand destinations, & all owned & operated shoppable livestreams.

In 2023, Justin launched Walmart Discovered, Walmart’s immersive brand destination on Roblox, which allows players to discover games, experiences, & UGC that are designed by top community creators & voted on by users. In April 2024, Walmart was the first to launch real-world commerce on Roblox in Walmart Discovered. More recently, Justin’s team launched Walmart Realm, the first-ever social-inspired & influencer-curated immersive commerce experience.

Prior to Walmart, Justin oversaw strategic partnerships & integrated campaigns at Squarespace & Foursquare. Justin has been recognized as one of Brand Innovators’ 40 Under 40 & was one of Business Insider’s 14 Rising Stars of Brand Marketing in 2024. He lives in Brooklyn, New York with his husband, Will, & Pomeranian, Winston.

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Rudy N. Brioché serves as Vice President for Global Public Policy and Policy Counsel for Comcast Corporation. In this role he focuses on the development of the company’s public policy positions and legislative analysis.

Prior to joining Comcast, Rudy served as Legal Advisor to Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein at the Federal Communications Commission and Legislative Counsel to U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ). In these roles, he focused on media and broadband policy.

Earlier in his career, Rudy practiced law as a commercial litigator in New York City and Baltimore, and served as Counsel to the Washington Bureau of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He also clerked for Judge André Davis on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland and Chief Judge Robert Bell on the Maryland Court of Appeals.

Rudy received a B.A. from Rutgers College, a J.D. from the University of Maryland, and an M.A. in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School.

David Brown has spent 25 years leading customer care, and Trust & Safety for start-ups including online retail in the 90's, online schools in the early 2000's, then social networking and dating services since 2006.

Dave was "Director of Trust & Safety" of social media service myYearbook from its inception until its 2012 acquisition, and has been "SVP of Trust & Safety" at The Meet Group since. In this current role, Dave and his team are responsible for all things content moderation, user safety, payment, and customer care operations.

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* Denotes member of FOSI Board

Emily leads child safety public policy at Google, working to ensure that children have safe and enriching online experiences.  Prior to joining Google, she led the policy team at Thorn, a tech-focused nonprofit committed to ending online child sexual abuse, establishing the organization as a sought after policy partner and thought leader both in the United States and globally. Previously, she served for seven years in multiple roles as a key aide to U.S Senator Jeanne Shaheen and worked as senior staff on several political campaigns in her home state of New Hampshire. Emily is an alum of the College of the Holy Cross and holds a Master's in International Relations from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

Howard Clabo is Chief Brand and Communications Officer at Aura, a mission-driven technology company dedicated to creating a safer and more accessible internet for everyone. As CCO, Howard is responsible for communicating the power of digital wellness to improve consumers' security, while bettering the lives of those most vulnerable to online threats through education, engagement and other forms of support.  

Prior to joining Aura, Howard led communications for Fortune 500 companies including Hewlett-Packard, Applied Materials and FedEx. As SVP, Global Communications at Hewlett-Packard, Howard led communications in support of the largest corporate turnaround in history, the largest corporate separation, creating two $50 billion companies, and the subsequent spin-off and mergers of HPE's Enterprise Services and Software businesses, creating the world's second largest IT services company and sixth  largest software company. Howard is a father of two girls and holds an BA in Political Science from Tulane University.

Sara DePaul is an Assistant Vice President for Global Public Policy at AT&T, where she is responsible for developing and coordinating public policy positions on privacy and consumer protection issues at the state and international level. She also leads the company’s public policy engagement on Artificial Intelligence, children’s privacy and online safety, health data privacy, and other emerging privacy and consumer protection issues. Prior to joining AT&T, Sara served as Associate General Counsel and Senior Director for Technology Policy at the Software & Information Industry Association and advocated the association’s global public policy positions on privacy, data security, cross-border data flows, among other issues. She previously worked at the Federal Trade Commission as Counsel for International Consumer Protection in the Office of International Affairs, Counsel to the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, and as a Regional Office Attorney. Sara is located in Washington, D.C.

Chief Corporate Affairs Officer to k-ID, Luc Delany, works with policy makers, regulators and top safety organizations, to advance the company’s mission worldwide. Luc is an internationally recognized public policy and regulatory affairs expert for the technology and video games industries. He has spent 20 years working internationally with the world’s leading technology and gaming companies as a strategic advisor, both in-house at Google and Meta, and through his advisory firm, Delany & Co, established in 2013. Luc believes so passionately in k-ID’s mission he left his own firm to join k-ID. He has been a leader in the gaming industry for over a decade, through his roles as CEO of the International Social Games Association (ISGA) and Chair of the Mobile Games Intelligence Forum (MGIF), both of which play key roles in regulatory development for online video games.

Throughout his career, Luc has spoken and given testimony in Parliaments and in regulatory hearings around the world. He is a media commentator, regularly appearing on TV, Radio and in print.

Matt Diaz serves as Corporate Counsel for Privacy at T-Mobile. He supports T-Mobile’s consumer products and provides counsel on children’s privacy matters, outbound communications, and various other privacy issues. Matt is based in T-Mobile’s Reston, Virginia office.

Prior to joining T-Mobile, Matt spent over five years in private practice counseling clients on a range of privacy, cybersecurity, and technology issues. He focused his practice on data protection compliance, data breach response, technology transactions, and mergers and acquisitions. As a law student, Matt served as a Policy Specialist at Connected Nation, law clerk at CTIA, and law clerk in the Office of the Chairman at the Federal Communications Commission.

Matt earned his juris doctor degree from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and bachelor’s degrees in Philosophy and Political Science from the University of South Florida.

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Viraj Doshi is the Platform Safety Lead at Snap Inc., focusing on the safety and digital well-being of the Snapchat community. His work involves engaging with external audiences, advising on internal safety-related products and policies, and raising awareness of online risks through programs and initiatives. Prior to Snap, he worked at Meta leading proactive efforts on youth well-being and content moderation including the global outreach efforts for Meta’s oversight board. Before joining the tech industry, Viraj worked at a consultancy out of Washington D.C. and Mumbai, helping international political and advocacy organizations, as well as companies, develop grassroots and digital campaigns. After graduating from Washington University in St. Louis, he spent a year on a Fulbright grant in Colombia researching the impact of education methodologies on civic participation.

* Denotes member of FOSI Board

Eric Ebenstein is a Senior Director of Public Policy at TikTok where he is responsible for US strategic policy initiatives and government affairs at the federal, state and international levels. He has more than a decade of experience working on regulatory and policy issues for technology companies.  

Prior to joining TikTok, Eric was Head of North America Public Policy at DJI–the world's leading civilian drone company. During his tenure, he led DJI's advocacy efforts for regulatory and legislative issues on the federal and state level as well as internationally for Mexico and Canada. Before this, Eric was at POET, a sustainable energy company where he built the state Government Affairs team and mandate. He also served as Chief of Staff for Government Relations at Hewlett Packard where he advised on the North American government affairs program.

Eric holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Lehigh University, from which he graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa and a Juris Doctor degree from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. He is based in TikTok’s Washington, DC office and lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and two children.

Kerry Hopkins is Senior Vice President, Global Affairs with Electronic Arts Inc. (“EA”), one of the world’s leading interactive entertainment software companies known for video game franchises including The Sims, EA SPORTS Madden NFL and Battlefield.  Kerry joined EA in 2006 and currently leads the teams responsible for EA’s global intellectual property, litigation, public policy and trust & safety programs. She is a member of EA’s Global Affairs Leadership Team.

Kerry began her career in the video game industry in 1994 with Sony Computer Entertainment America working on the launches of the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 game consoles.  She was also an IP litigator with Reed Smith LLC for several years.   Kerry earned her undergraduate degree from New York University and holds a juris doctor, summa cum laude, from the University of San Francisco.  Kerry sits on the board of San Francisco’s Muttville Senior Dog Rescue and spends her free time spoiling Jackson, a Husky-Mini-Poodle mix rescue.

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Natasha Jackson, Head of Public Policy and Consumer Affairs at the GSMA, is responsible for public policy and regulatory issues arising from mobile content services. Natasha leads the GSMA's work on promoting responsible self-regulatory approaches to mobile content services. She was responsible for the development of a global code of practice on mobile spam and has recently developed educational toolkits for mobile operators outlining issues and good practice in the areas of age-sensitive commercial content and child protection. She also leads the GSMA's global mobile initiative against child sexual abuse content (child pornography). Natasha has a broad telecommunications background, having worked in the sector for over 15 years. She started her career at Cable & Wireless and has worked internationally across fixed and mobile business in both blue chip and start up environments.

Patrick Kilcur is Executive Vice President of U.S. Government Affairs at the Motion Picture Association, where he oversees all government relations functions and policy agenda for the association and its member companies for the United States.

Prior to joining MPAA, Patrick served in the United States Senate as the Republican Floor Assistant for Majority Leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell. In this role, Patrick worked on behalf of the Senate Republican caucus in negotiating legislative and executive matters with Democratic leadership, and providing floor strategy and Senate procedure counsel to Republican Senators. Patrick started his professional career working in the office of United States Senator Arlen Specter as a member of his legislative staff in Washington D.C.

Patrick received his bachelor of arts from De Sales University, and served as Student Body President his senior year. He has been named an Honorary Kentucky Colonel and is a member of the De Sales University President’s Council. Patrick is an alumni of the American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL), serves on the US Chamber of Commerce Committee on Taxation, and is on the board of the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI).

Joni Lupovitz serves as Vice President & Associate General Counsel for NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, where she works on policy and regulation involving cable TV program networks, media, consumer protection, and competition. 

Joni previously served as NPR’s Senior Director, Public Policy, representing NPR and the public radio system before Congress and federal agencies. Before that, as Vice President, Policy at Common Sense Media, she led advocacy on children’s online privacy and connected classrooms.

Joni’s 14-year tenure at the Federal Trade Commission included serving as the agency’s Chief of Staff, Attorney Advisor for Commissioner Jon Leibowitz, and Assistant Director for Enforcement in the Bureau of Consumer Protection. She worked in private practice earlier in her career.

Joni holds a J.D. from George Washington University Law School and a B.A. from McGill University.

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Candela Montero is Senior Director, Global Public Policy at Epic Games where she leads the company’s online safety public policy efforts globally. Prior to Epic, Montero led external affairs and oversaw social impact efforts at Netflix. She also spent nearly a decade at The Walt Disney Company where she led public affairs initiatives and corporate social responsibility at different divisions of the company.

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* Denotes member of FOSI Board

Simon Morrison manages third-party content issues in Amazon’s U.S. Public Policy team. In that role, he works on a range of content policy and content moderation issues – including misinformation/disinformation, hate speech, liability, and Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM)—working with Amazon’s businesses on policy development and enforcement, and advocating externally on the company’s behalf.

Prior to Amazon, he worked for Google for 13 years, in London and Washington, D.C., focusing on a range of issues including intellectual property, intermediary liability and child safety.

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* Denotes member of FOSI Board

Mike Pappas is the CEO/Co-founder of Modulate, which works with studios like Activision, Riot Games, and Rec Room to foster safer and more inclusive online voice chat. Mike’s work at Modulate ranges from developing new partnerships within the industry, monitoring trends and new opportunities for Modulate’s unique technology to have a positive impact, and reinforcing an internal and external culture of passion, respect, and personal growth. Outside of work, his passions include creating themed cocktail lists, long-distance running, and playing Nintendo games.

Cinnamon Rogers is VP, Global Public Policy for Sony Interactive Entertainment PlayStation where she leads the global team responsible for engaging with policymakers around the world. Cinnamon collaborates with government officials, nonprofits and industry to advance policies that support innovation in interactive entertainment and to promote safe online spaces where everyone is welcome to play. She has over 25 years of legislative and regulatory experience working at the federal, state, and global level representing the media, tech, software and telecommunications sectors. Early in her career she worked in the House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, and National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

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Jim Schuler has been with CTIA for the last 19 years. Mr. Schuler’s responsibilities include forming, coordinating and advocating wireless policy on topics of concern to CTIA membership, including critical issues involving taxation, broadband deployment, wireless verticals, and government mandates.

As Vice President of External and State Affairs, Jim has led the State Regulatory effort, Grassroots and Grasstops engagement on federal and state issues, Third Party partnerships and coalition building, Intergovernmental outreach, Accessibility Outreach and Online Safety.

As Assistant Vice-President, Jim lead CTIA’s efforts in developing and implementing strategies relating to minimizing federal, state, and local taxation of wireless services. Activities include: Developing and implementing a strategic plan to educate policymakers and consumers on the negative impact of taxes on consumers and network infrastructure; advocacy at the federal, state and local level; management of the Association’s tax efforts in coordination with CTIA membership; and integration of the industry’s grassroots efforts on state and local tax issues.

Sarah Shanfield is Vice President of Operations at Saturn. Sarah is responsible for overseeing all business and product operations at Saturn, including the Trust & Safety team.  Prior to joining Saturn in 2021, Sarah was an investment professional at Felix Capital, Raine Group, and Goldman Sachs. Sarah holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia and an MBA from Havard Business School.

* Denotes member of FOSI Board

As part of Microsoft’s Digital Safety Office, Liz Thomas leads on Public Policy and Partnerships, focused on empowering every person to have a safe and trusted digital experience across Microsoft’s products and services.

In her role, Liz coordinates global engagement on digital safety issues, including on regulatory measures, and supports work to address illegal and harmful content online. She also works with policymakers, companies, and organizations to integrate multistakeholder perspectives on digital safety and drive digital safety initiatives.

Before joining Microsoft in April 2020, Liz held policy and legal roles in the New Zealand government, including at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Liz graduated from the University of Otago with Bachelor’s degrees in Arts and Law and has a Master’s degree in International Relations from the Australian National University.

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As president of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), Pat leads the teams responsible for assigning age and content ratings to video games and apps, enforcing marketing guidelines adopted by the video game industry, and operating ESRB Privacy Certified, an FTC-approved COPPA Safe Harbor Privacy seal certification program.

She also serves as founding chairperson of the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC), a non-profit organization that operates a ground-breaking global rating and age classification system for digitally delivered games and apps. Pat is a member of the Board of Directors for the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS), a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement and recognition of the interactive arts and a former Chair and long-standing Director of the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI).

Prior to joining the ESRB in 2002, Pat spent 18 years at Disney/ABC, with responsibility for the development of a broad range of new media and market initiatives, including the establishment of two video game joint ventures (Creative Wonders; OT Sports) and the management oversight of ABC.com, ABCNews.com, Oscar.com and Oprah.com in her capacity as Senior Vice President, General Manager of the ABC Internet Group.

* Denotes member of FOSI Board

Nicola Wright is the Director of User Trust & Online Safety at Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Washington. As one of the longest serving team members in the Business Affairs division at Nintendo, Nicola plays an integral role in shaping areas such as community building, online safety, parental controls, user-generated content and platform moderation. Her work at Nintendo has long involved weaving the values of trust and safety into all aspects of the business, including seven years leading the company’s product clearance team. Nicola has also been deeply involved for more than two decades with the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), the non-profit, self-regulatory body for the video game industry. Nicola’s passion for online safety connects directly with Nintendo’s continuing mission to create unique entertainment that puts smiles on the faces of people all over the world.