Julie Samuels is Executive Director of Tech:NYC. Before that she was Executive Director at Engine, a nation-wide nonprofit focused on technology entrepreneurship and advocacy, where she remains a member of the Board. She is a frequent commentator on technology and policy issues for national media—particularly in the intellectual property space—and has filed briefs with the Supreme Court and testified before Congressional Committees.

Earlier in her career, Julie worked at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), where she was a senior staff attorney and the Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents. Before joining EFF, Julie litigated IP and entertainment cases. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Julie spent time as a legislative assistant at the Media Coalition in New York, as an assistant editor at the National Journal in D.C., and worked at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) in Champaign, IL.

Julie earned her J.D. from Vanderbilt University and her B.S. in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She serves on the Boards of Engine, and the Internet Education Foundation, TechCongress, and on various Advisory Boards, such as of the Defensive Patent License and the License on Transfer Network, as well as on Comptroller Scott Stringer’s Red Tape Commission. She lives in New York City with her family.