Joel Usher was 2017 Congressional Innovation Fellow. He is a technology entrepreneur, former consultant, and U.S. Army war veteran with nearly a decade of experience at the National Security Agency. He brings substantive first-hand knowledge and expertise to a broad range of privacy and security matters. As the co-founder and CEO of a ridesharing technology company, he touched all aspects of startup operations with an emphasis on transportation and sharing economy business models, fundraising, and governing regulations, and can leverage this experience in policy discussions and research. He is a passionate LGBTQ+ and intersectional feminist ally, and eager to advance policy work in these fields as well.
Usher earned a computer science degree while serving on active duty, which he followed with master-level political coursework at the George Washington Graduate School of Political Management, and an MBA from Oxford.