December 20, 2023 – The Institute for Security and Technology today announced the addition of Eric Davis as Senior Vice President for Special Projects. In this role, Eric will advance IST’s overall vision and strategy, and lead and support initiatives across IST’s pillars. He comes to IST after acting as a consultant and advisor to civic and private sector organizations on security, trust & safety, and privacy topics such as elections integrity and artificial intelligence.
“I’m thrilled to join this talented team and further IST’s mission to address complex, technology-driven emerging threats to security and stability,” said Eric Davis. “So many of these challenges, whether AI, ransomware, or democratic integrity, are structural in nature. This is where I believe IST excels: they leverage integrated, cross-sector approaches and help to develop concrete solutions.”
Eric brings with him over two decades of experience developing programs, policies, products, and teams that safeguard consumers and platforms, tackling critical emerging issues in security, trust & safety, and privacy. His past experience includes his role as former Chief Privacy and Policy Officer and global trust & safety lead at Bigo, a live streaming and short-form video social media platform, supporting over 300 million users globally. Prior to Bigo, he was Senior Director for Product Management at NortonLifelock, Symantec’s consumer business unit, prototyping new consumer products, and leading product strategy to address the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other privacy regulations globally. Before his time at Symantec, Eric spent 13 years at Google, where he founded Google’s first Trust & Safety team, Anti-Malvertising program, and the Android Security Operations and Intel team, in addition to his other product policy and public policy leadership roles. Earlier in his career, he was eBay’s charter International Product Manager for Trust & Safety.
“We are excited to welcome Eric to the team to help grow our organization as we move into 2024,” said Chief Executive Officer Philip Reiner. “With his years of experience in Silicon Valley on issues of cybersecurity and trust & safety, Eric’s cross-disciplinary expertise is a great asset to our team.”