Gigi B. Sohn is the President and Co-Founder of Public Knowledge, a nonprofit organization that addresses the public's stake in the convergence of communications policy and intellectual property law. Public Knowledge seeks to ensure that the three layers of our communications system -- the physical infrastructure, the systems and the content layer -- promote fundamental democratic principles and cultural values including openness, access, and the capacity to create and compete.
Gigi serves as the chief strategist, fundraiser and public face of Public Knowledge. She is frequently quoted in the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, as well as in trade and local press. Gigi also has had articles published in the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Variety, CNET and Legal Times, and writes blog posts for the Huffington Post. In addition, she has appeared on numerous national and local cable, broadcast television and radio programs, including the Today Show, Good Morning America, PBS NewsHour, C-SPAN’s Washington Journal and The Communicators and National Public Radio’s All Things Considered and Morning Edition.
Gigi is a Senior Adjunct Fellow at the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado and a Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne Faculty of Law, Graduate Studies Program in Australia. She has been a Non-Resident Fellow at the University of Southern California Annenberg Center, and an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University and at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University.
Gigi previously served as a Project Specialist in the Ford Foundation’s Media, Arts and Culture unit. In that capacity, she developed the strategic vision and oversaw grantmaking for the Foundation’s first-ever media policy and technology portfolio. Prior to joining the Ford Foundation, Gigi served as Executive Director of the Media Access Project.
1n October 1997, President Clinton appointed Gigi to serve as a member of his Advisory Committee on the Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters (“Gore Commission”). The Electronic Frontier Foundation gave Gigi one of its Internet “Pioneer Awards” in 2006. In August 2011, the NonProfit Times named Gigi named one of its “Power & Influence Top 50” non-profit executives.
Gigi currently serves on the board of the Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group (BITAG), the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference (TPRC) and the Sports Fans Coalition. She is a member of the advisory board of the Future of Music Coalition. Gigi served on the District of Columbia Bar Board of Governors from 1997-2000.
Gigi holds a B.S. in Broadcasting and Film, Summa Cum Laude, from the Boston University College of Communication and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School