Lori Fena was appointed Executive Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in September of 1995, a critical time in the evolution of the Internet and online world. Although the issues are only now gaining widespread awareness, the organization was started in 1990, to defend individual rights and promote responsibility in the new electronic world. Today, the Foundation is leading the charge to ensure that the balance of individual rights and social responsibility is respected by individuals, corporations and governing authorities alike.
EFF brought Ms. Fena in to execute a major shift in the overall structure of the organization. She is responsible for focusing the organization on three primary tasks: to influence legislation and participate in court proceedings with implications for the online world; to work with the industry to encourage the protection of civil liberties and to promote ethics online; and to educate the public on these issues.
For most of her career as a software industry entrepreneur and executive, Ms. Fena has served as a strategist for managing rapid changes in technology, markets, and business structures within corporations. In her current role, Ms. Fena is bringing to EFF the knowledge she acquired leading companies through radical transitions, leveraging expertise and building partnerships. Working with the EFF Board of Directors, Ms. Fena is building the organization and infrastructure through inclusive strategies. The first of these strategies was to form relationships with companies providing strategic counsel to EFF in a variety of fields; including:
In joining the EFF team, Ms. Fena continues a professional dedication to leading organizations through the new operational models and strategies required by rapidly changing technology. Most recently, Ms. Fena served as Vice President of Business Development for Stream International, the $1.4 billion merger of Corporate Software and RR Donnelley Global Software Services division. Prior to the merger, Ms. Fena joined Corporate Software when it acquired the Technology Board of Trade (TBT), a business she co-founded.
As president of TBT, Ms. Fena was responsible for advancing new low transaction cost business models for exchanging technology and intellectual property. The Technology Board of Trade grew out of Fena & Bates, Inc., a consulting firm in software licensing strategies and management. As a principal, Ms. Fena worked on software licensing projects for many of Silicon Valley's premier high technology companies, such as Apple Computer, The ASK Group, Oracle, Silicon Graphics, and SunSoft.
Before founding Fena & Bates, Inc., Ms. Fena was with Convergent Technologies (subsequently Unisys Corporation) where she began in software product management and went on to develop and manage the UNIX OEM and ISV software marketing groups within Convergent Technologies. She joined Convergent in 1987 from a consulting engineering company in Pasadena, California where she developed and managed the business relationships, with Mattel, MCA Universal Studios, and the Smithsonian and others.
Ms. Fena is a recognized speaker on the subject of intellectual property rights,and civil liberties, including free speech, privacy, and encryption. She frequently speaks at industry forums and on nationally broadcast programs, including as Imagina (Europe), PC Forum, Spotlight, SPA, NBC Nightly News, CNN, CNBC, and numerous radio shows. Her expertise in free speech and privacy issues as relating to the Internet has led to Ms. Fena being widely quoted by trade and national press.
In addition to her role with EFF and her various speaking engagements, Ms. Fena is chairman and cofounder of TRUSTe and is also a member of the Pacific Telesis Consumer Advisory Panel (TCAP). In 1997, Ms. Fena was named as an honoree of the national organization, Girls, Inc.
Ms. Fena grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, and received a bachelor of science in business information systems, magna cum laude from California State University in Los Angeles.
The Hundredth Window: Protecting Your Privacy and Security in the Age of the Internet