Ashish Aggarwal

Vice President and Head of Public Policy, nasscom

Ashish leads nasscom’s regulatory and policy engagement with the technology industry, regulators and the government of India, since 2018. He works extensively on policies and legislations on data, use of artificial intelligence and governance of digital platforms, online safety and digital trade.

Earlier, at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, he led the technical assistance to the Indian Ministry of Finance on regulation of financial products, digital payments, and consumer protection.

Nehaa Chaudhari

Partner, Ikigai Law

Nehaa is a partner with Ikigai Law, a technology focused law and policy firm. She heads Ikigai’s tech advisory and public policy practice. 

Per the Legal 500, she is one of India’s best data protection lawyers, ranked ‘Leading Individual’ for several consecutive years, and is recognized for her TMT and aviation work as well. She is also a Chambers and Partners ranked TMT lawyer for several consecutive years.

Earlier, Nehaa worked with the Centre for Internet and Society, India (CIS), and the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University. At CIS, she was the only Indian civil society representative in copyright and broadcast treaty negotiations at the WIPO, and wrote on intellectual property rights for UNESCO.

Nehaa enjoys teaching, and has taught at several leading Indian universities like NALSAR- Hyderabad, NLU- Delhi, and IIM-Indore. She  regularly writes for academic and media publications, is oft-quoted by the press and on television news, and speaks at events around the world.

Nehaa is learning pottery, and loves to swim.

Anne J. Flanagan

Vice President for Artificial Intelligence, FPF

Anne J. Flanagan serves as the Vice President for Artificial intelligence at FPF. Anne leads FPF’s portfolio of projects exploring the data flows driving algorithmic and AI products and services, their opportunities and risks, and the ethical and responsible development of this technology.

An international policy expert in Data and Artificial Intelligence, Anne is an economist and strategic technology governance and business leader with 18+ years’ experience on five continents, including in the EU and the U.S.

Anne spent over a decade in the Irish government and EU institutions, including developing Ireland’s technical policy positions and diplomatic strategy in relation to EU legislation on telecoms, digital infrastructure, and data. She has represented Ireland in the EU Digital Single Market Strategic Group at the European Commission, the Working Party on Telecommunications and Information Society at the Council of the European Union and was responsible for foundational work on the EU’s Digital Single Market, including the EU’s early approach to AI governance.

Since moving to the U.S. in 2019, Anne has held several senior positions in technology policy, where she has helped senior technology business leaders shape responsible and sustainable technology development through her research, advice, and expertise. At the World Economic Forum, she developed and led a global portfolio of work on Data Policy and later led cross-product policy strategy for Reality Labs Policy at Meta Platforms Inc. in San Francisco, California.

Anne holds a Masters in Economics and Political Science from Trinity College Dublin, a Masters in International Relations from Dublin City University, and a Masters of Business Administration from Trinity College Dublin. Amongst her accolades, Anne is a Member of the Board of Advisors of the Innovation Value Institute (IVI) at Maynooth University and a recognized Woman Leader in Data and AI at WLDA.tech.

Rakesh Maheshwari

Former Head of Data Governance and Cyber Laws Division, MEITY

Rakesh is a former Indian Government Officer who worked for more than 35 years in the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), retiring under VRS as Sr. Director and Group Coordinator for Cyber Law and Data Governance. He holds a qualification in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering.

During his tenure, Rakesh managed activities related to the Information Technology (IT) Act, Personal Data Protection Bill, social media regulation, cyber security policies, and Aadhaar Act. He served in various capacities, including as Group Coordinator (GC) for Cyber Law, GC for Cyber Security, GC for CERT-In, and GC for UIDAI.

Rakesh was the “Designated Officer” for more than 4.5 years, as mandated under law, responsible for blocking under section 69A of the IT Act. With MeitY being the custodian of the IT Act, Rakesh played a key role in developing the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rule, 2021, and its amendments in October 2022 and April 2023. These regulations introduced a variety of intermediary regulations, social media regulations, online gaming regulations, and established the Grievance Appellate Committee (gac.gov.in). He has also participated in multiple meetings convened by various Parliamentary Standing Committees over the years.

Lee Matheson

Senior Counsel for Global Privacy, FPF

Lee Matheson, CIPP/US/E/A, CIPM, FIP,  is a Senior Counsel for Global Privacy with the Future of Privacy Forum Global Privacy team. Lee monitors and analyzes privacy developments throughout the world, with a particular focus on comparing the approaches of different global jurisdictions with regard to core privacy issues, including the regulation of individual privacy rights, de-identification, ad and cookie technology, AI/ML, and international data transfers.

Before coming to the FPF, Lee was a member of the Privacy & Cybersecurity Group at Crowell & Moring, LLP, where he advised clients on U.S. and international privacy, security, and data transfer compliance. Lee was also a 2017-2018 Westin Research Fellow with the IAPP.

Lee is a graduate of Denison University and The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.

Bilal Mohamed

Policy Analyst for Global Privacy, FPF

Bilal serves as a Policy Analyst for FPF’s Global Privacy Team and is based in India. He will focus on monitoring and analyzing developments related to the implementation and enforcement of India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, as well as tracking advancements in adjacent policy areas such as artificial intelligence regulation.

Prior to joining FPF, Bilal played a key role in supporting the Office of the Minister of State for the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India. At the Ministry, he contributed his expertise in legal and policy research, focusing on areas such as data protection, platform regulation, and online gaming.

He has also worked as a researcher at the Centre for Communication Governance (CCG), National Law University Delhi, and the Aapti Institute. While at CCG, he authored policy responses, research reports, and blog posts on issues surrounding data governance and intermediary liability. At Aapti, his research focused on the role of data stewardship models in enhancing the socio-economic value of data while preserving community privacy rights.

Bilal holds an LL.B (Honours) degree from the University of Edinburgh, where his undergraduate thesis focused on defining the contours of India’s constitutional right to privacy. He was also a 2021 Daksha Technology Law and Policy Fellow.

Dominic Paulger

Policy Manager for Asia-Pacific and China, FPF

Dominic is a Policy Manager in the Future of Privacy Forum’s Asia Pacific and China (APAC) office, where he conducts research and analyzes key trends in law, regulation, and policy relating to data protection, privacy, and emerging technologies in APAC and leads FPF’s projects and activities across the region.

Prior to joining FPF, Dominic worked in Amazon Web Services’ Global Public Policy team, where he developed strategic advocacy positions and materials to educate policymakers on a wide range of issues relating to data and the digital economy in Asia. He was also a research assistant for Dr. Clarisse Girot at the Asian Business Law Institute (ABLI), where he contributed to a major publication on legal convergence for cross-border transfers of personal data in Asia: “Transferring Personal Data in Asia: A path to legal certainty and regional convergence.” Dominic earned a J.D. from Singapore Management University and a B.A. from King’s College, London.”

Josh Lee Kok Thong

Managing Director for APAC, FPF

Josh is deeply passionate in the issues at the intersection of law, policy and technology, and is a changemaker in the spheres of the law of tech, and the tech of law.

As a legal architect that hopes to re-shape relationships disrupted by technology, Josh is the Managing Director, Asia-Pacific of the Future of Privacy Forum. In this role, he leads a team furthering FPF’s mission of advancing data protection best practices and the trusted development and use of emerging technologies in the region.

Josh received his LL.M. from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law in 2022, where he was named to the Dean’s List for his academic achievements. Josh was also a Richard Buxbaum International Graduate Fellow and a White & Case Kathryn Aguirre Worth Scholar. An active contributor to Berkeley Law’s student body, Josh served as the LL.M. Editor of the Berkeley Technology Law Journal and co-founded B-LIT, Berkeley’s first legal innovation student organisation.

Before postgraduate studies, Josh served for half a decade in the Singapore Government. More recently, he was the Legal Policy Manager for Artificial Intelligence (AI) Governance in Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Commission, where he managed Singapore’s overall AI governance policies. Before that, Josh was an Assistant Director for Legal Policy in the Ministry of Law, where he drove criminal and civil legislative reform, particularly in technology and online harms. He also practiced as an international arbitration lawyer in a large Singaporean law firm.

As a driver of the tech of law, Josh is the first Chairperson of the Asia-Pacific Legal Innovation and Technology Association (https://alita.legal), a pan-regional industry platform driving legal innovation and technology initiatives in the region. Josh also co-founded LawTech.Asia (https://lawtech.asia) and etpl.asia, organizations that advance thought leadership on law and technology in Asia. In 2019, Josh was identified by Asia Law Portal as one of Asia’s Top 30 Persons to Watch in the business of law.

In addition, Josh is a member of Singapore’s Law Reform Subcommittee for Robotics and AI, where he authored a law reform report on “Criminal Liability, Robots and AI Systems”.  Josh was also a chapter co-author of Law and Technology in Singapore, which was edited by Professor Simon Chesterman, Professor Goh Yihan, and Judge of Appeal Andrew Phang. Given his keen interest in new technologies like AI and its potential impacts on society and governance, Josh is also a voting member of the IEEE P2863 Working Group on Organisational Governance of AI Systems, and holds research roles in the National University of Singapore and the Singapore Management University. He speaks regularly at conferences and dialogues in the law of tech and tech of law ecosystems.