Matt Bailey
Matt Bailey is the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) senior global advisor for cyber and information Integrity. Matt works closely with regional teams and field offices to advance and implement IFES thought leadership and programming on issues at the intersection of technology and democracy, along with senior global social media specialist Lisa Reppell, cyber diplomacy specialist Tarun Chaudhary, and information integrity officer Federico Roitman. Matt provides strategic vision and leadership of IFES’s cyber and information integrity portfolio, directing outreach and partnerships; technical advancement and innovation; technical assistance quality assurance; business development; and program design. Matt came to IFES with almost two decades of experience as a technical and policy advisor, civil servant, technologist, and cybersecurity engineer. Most recently, Matt served as the Digital Freedom Program Director at PEN America, where he guided research and advocacy on issues including mass surveillance, digital advertising, encryption, and algorithmic bias. Before that, he served as a senior advisor for Democratic Innovation at the National Democratic Institute. He also recently served as part of the Biden-Harris Presidential Transition Team, leading the landing team for the U.S. Digital Service.
Matt’s service in government includes leading the policy team in the Office of the U.S. Chief Information Officer under two presidents. While at the White House, Bailey was part of the teams that launched the first-ever U.S. government-wide open source and legislative data initiatives and led its participation in the Open Government Partnership. Previously, Bailey served the city of Washington, D.C. as its director of technology innovation and was an early employee at the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He has also served as a cybersecurity engineer and analyst and software developer, as well as founded Code for D.C., an affiliate of Code for America. Matt holds an M.A. in literature from Georgetown University, USA.