Lisa Poggiali

Lisa joins IFES with over fifteen years of experience working at the intersection of technology, democracy, and human rights. Most recently, Lisa served as the Senior Democracy, Data, and Technology Specialist at USAID, where she helped develop the Agency’s digital democracy portfolio. In this role, she shaped strategy, policy, programs, and research to support the safeguarding of democratic institutions, processes, and norms in the face of rapid technological innovation and shifting geopolitical and global digital governance dynamics. Her work has supported governments, civil society, and industry across five continents to address the new forms of digital surveillance, and challenges to data protection, digital security, and information integrity that AI and other technologies pose, and to develop and harness technologies that strengthen democratic resilience and respect for human rights. 

 Prior to her work in government, Lisa was a practicing anthropologist, where she researched, taught, and published on the impact of technology on social cohesion and polarization, democratic governance, and national security, with a focus on East Africa. She is particularly passionate about strengthening networks between global and local stakeholders, and with coalition building as a means to solve seemingly intractable problems. Lisa holds a Ph.D in Anthropology from Stanford University.