Ben Scott
Ben Scott at a conference in Berlin, Dec. 2018
Born	May 14, 1977 Canyon, Texas, Texas, U.S.
Education	Northwestern University University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Occupation(s)	Director of Policy and Advocacy
Employer	Luminate

Ben Scott (born 14 May, 1977) is an American policy researcher and advocate.

He is director of policy and advocacy at Luminate, a part of the global philanthropic organization, the Omidyar Group. He is also on the management board of the Stiftung Neue Verantwortung (SNV) in Berlin, an independent technology policy think tank. He has been a part of the leadership at the SNV since 2014, and before that was a fellow there.

Previously, Scott was Senior Advisor at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C., where he did work on the ad tech industry.^[1] During the 2016 presidential campaign, he was the coordinator of the Tech & Innovation Policy Advisory Group for Hillary Clinton.^[2] Previously, he was a Policy Advisor for Innovation at the US Department of State where he worked at the intersection of technology and foreign policy.

Life

Scott grew up in Canyon, Texas.^{[citation needed]} Scott is a 1995 graduate of the University of Illinois Laboratory High School. Scott is a graduate of Northwestern University. In 2010 he received his Doctorate from the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.^{[citation needed]}

Career

Scott has worked as a legislative telecommunications policy fellow for Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and as the Policy Director for Free Press, a national media reform organization. While at Free Press, Scott was described as a "driving force for 'net neutrality.'"^[3]

In May, 2010 Scott left Free Press to become Policy Advisor for Innovation at the U.S. State Department.^[4]

Since 2018 he has served as director of policy and advocacy at Luminate, part of the global philanthropic organization, the Omidyar Group.^{[citation needed]}