About Us

Daniel Barcay is a technologist who is passionate about the immense power and promise of technology. A builder at heart, Daniel’s career has focused on creating global-scale technologies while driving wise and responsible practices around the rollout of new tech.

Daniel was a Product Vice President at Planet Labs, where he led teams building a planetary-scale platform enabling users to extract actionable insights from a deep stack of global-daily satellite images.

Prior to that, the Chief Technology Officer of Thiel Macro, where he focused on building predictive models of global-scale market phenomena. 

Daniel started his career as a software engineer at Google, helping build several prominent projects including Google Earth and Latitude, as well as conducting machine learning research. 

He has studied leadership development, team dynamics, and adult-developmental psychology. In his leadership development practice, he teaches fellow leaders the cognitive tools to embrace complexity and thrive amidst uncertainty.

Daniel was recently a research fellow in the Antikythera Program at the Berggruen Institute - a think tank reorienting planetary computation as a philosophical, technological, and geopolitical force. 

In his spare time, he loves to fly various forms of powered and unpowered aircraft.

Maria Bridge is the Chief Operating Officer at Center for Humane Technology. In her role, Maria oversees CHT’s programmatic work, manages the team and all operations, and leads strategic planning and goal setting for the organization. 

Prior to joining Center for Humane Technology, Maria served as Chief Operating Officer at Understood, a $30M a year non-profit with over 125 staff. She also spent 9 years at Bain & Company, where she led projects for Fortune 500s on strategic growth, consumer behavior change, and organizational change. Later, she held operational roles at Warby Parker and sweetgreen during early growth stages. She received her MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business. 

Maria currently resides in the Hudson Valley area of New York State. She is an avid rock climber and dedicated meditation practitioner. She has spent over 100 days in silent meditation retreat, including a 28-day monastic style retreat. She is grateful to be able to combine her background in behavior change, mindfulness, and strategic team management through her work at CHT.

Camille is the Policy Director at Center for Humane Technology. In this role, she steers the organization’s policy strategy, supporting policy initiatives that help align technology with the public interest.

Named Business Insider's AI 100 in 2023, Camille has been published in outlets such as Science and Tech Policy Press and has been featured in The New York Times. Before joining CHT, Camille examined issues of platform power and accountability, governance, and shared prosperity at UC Berkeley.

Camille is an Aspen Tech Policy Hub Fellow and holds a master’s degree in economic development from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Sasha has almost two decades of experience working in the media, primarily at ABC Radio National in Australia. As a senior producer, she specialized in international politics and history, working across flagship national current affairs, international politics, and ideas programs. More recently, she was a researcher at the Lowy Institute for International Policy, working on a project examining how emerging technology challenges the international order and democratic norms. Sasha has taught courses on the geopolitics of cybersecurity and information warfare at the University of Sydney and Macquarie University. She holds a Masters of Security and Strategy and a Bachelor of Arts with first class Honors in History.

Randy has presented on the intersection of technology, mindfulness, and social impact to the world’s leading technology companies, NGOs, and government agencies. He is a Co-Founder and former Executive Director of Center for Humane Technology, which has helped over 100 million people globally understand the harms of extractive technology through the documentary film The Social Dilemma, the podcast Your Undivided Attention, and many other initiatives. Randy started his career at NVIDIA, where he led many award-winning projects and authored three #1-ranked books on 3D graphics over seven years. Additionally, he was a founding Board Member of the NVIDIA Foundation. Randy then served for seven years as founding Executive Director at Mindful Schools, a nonprofit that has taught mindfulness to millions of kids and over 70,000 educators worldwide. He is also on the board of Spirit Rock Meditation Center.

Pete is the Lead Policy Researcher at the Center for Humane Technology. In this role, he helps provide the foundational analysis and research that underpins CHT’s policy approach.

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With a Master’s concentrating in mechatronic design from the University of Pennsylvania, Pete spent the first stage of his career focused on hardware development for robotics, drones, and autonomous systems at a high tech startup. Instead of engineering new technologies, he has since pivoted to focus on the policy drivers and incentives that shape our technology ecosystem. He leverages his expertise and understanding of the technology industry to drive effective policy change.

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Previous to joining CHT, he worked at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, where his work focused on the geopolitical challenges emerging from the global internet and artificial intelligence. This included analyzing global AI governance, internet infrastructure, and the role of technology companies as geopolitical actors.

Julie Guirado is the Operations Director at the Center for Humane Technology. In her role, Julie oversees the strategic planning and execution of all operational processes to ensure optimal efficiency and productivity.

Prior to joining the Center for Humane Technology, Julie directed finance and operations teams across non-profit, for-profit, and entrepreneurial ventures. Her extensive experience spans over 30 countries, where she led diverse, multicultural teams. Known for her ability to introduce the right level of processes, she ensures that operations are both effective and sustainable without unnecessary complexity.

Julie is originally from France where she received her Masters in Management from ESSEC Business School. She also received an MBA from the EGADE Business School in Mexico. Julie also studied psychology at Harvard University, UC Berkeley and holds an executive certificate in leadership coaching from Georgetown University.

Now based in New York City, Julie enjoys rock climbing, reading, cooking and practicing mindfulness. She finds herself at home at Center for Humane Technology where she draws upon her business acumen, psychological insights, and strategic thinking to address what she considers the most critical challenges of the 21st century.

Abby has dedicated her career to service and the betterment of people's lives through collaborations with companies, governments and nonprofits. With extensive experience in managing high-profile public and press events for gubernatorial and mayoral administrations, as well as CEOs, world leaders, and national and international press, Abby brings a wealth of expertise to her work. Her specialties include strategic planning, scheduling, event management, team building, and fundraising, all of which she approaches from a values-based perspective that emphasizes the importance of connection and community.

TristanHarris.com

Tristan Harris has spent his career studying how today’s major technology platforms have increasingly become the social fabric by which we live and think, wielding dangerous power over our ability to make sense of the world. Named to the TIME 100 “Next Leaders Shaping the Future” and Rolling Stone Magazine’s “25 People Shaping the World,” Tristan is Co-Founder of the Center for Humane Technology, which is catalyzing a comprehensive shift toward humane technology that operates for the common good, strengthening our capacity to tackle our biggest global challenges. He is the Co-Host of “Your Undivided Attention,” consistently among the top ten technology podcasts on Apple Podcasts, which explores how social media’s race for attention is destabilizing society and the vital insights we need to envision solutions. Tristan was also the primary subject of the acclaimed Netflix documentary, “The Social Dilemma,” which unveiled the hidden machinations behind social media and has reached an estimated 100 million people worldwide, streaming in 190 countries in 30 languages. He has briefed heads of state, technology company CEOs, and members of the US Congress, in addition to mobilizing millions of people around the world through mainstream media campaigns.

From his childhood as a magician, to his coursework in Stanford’s Persuasive Technology Lab and later as a Design Ethicist at Google, Tristan has explored the influences that hijack human attitudes, behaviors and beliefs. Following his 2013 viral internal presentation at Google, “A Call to Minimize Distraction & Respect Users’ Attention,” which sounded the alarm on the harms posed by the attention economy, Tristan began to surface these issues in public conversation via 60 Minutes and a TED Talk in 2017. The deep resonance of the ideas led to the Time Well Spent movement, which sparked product changes at Facebook, Apple, and Google, and laid the groundwork for the launch of the Center for Humane Technology as an independent nonprofit in 2018.

Lizzie is the Public Affairs Coordinator at the Center for Humane Technology. She is passionately curious about the intricate relationship between media, technology, and politics. She has extensive research experience across intersecting issues in media and communication, including online misinformation and extremism, sustainability and internet infrastructures, and digital rights. Lizzie is a New Jersey native and holds a master’s degree in media and communication governance from the London School of Economics and a bachelor’s degree in political communication from the George Washington University.

As a parent, Julie became interested in understanding and preventing the harms caused by social media and technology addiction. At CHT she is able to utilize her experience and skill set to advance the purposeful work of the organization. She acts as a force multiplier and thought partner to Aza Raskin while keeping him on time and on target.

Julie began her career in the dot com heyday of Silicon Valley with IBM Global Services leading software development projects before becoming a freelance consultant. Julie holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Brown University and her personal interests include yoga, gardening, skiing, and solving all sorts of puzzles.

Fun fact: after Julie’s initial foray into technology, she made a career pivot and pursued her passion for flowers; she worked as a professional floral designer in the Bay Area for over a decade.

As the director of Palisade Research, Jeffrey specializes in assessing the offensive capabilities of current AI systems to understand the risks posed by AI misuse and loss of control scenarios. Jeffrey previously worked at Anthropic through his security consulting firm Gordian. Jeffrey has been instrumental in developing secure infrastructure for various tech companies, philanthropic organizations, and existential-risk projects. His research has covered cybersecurity and AI intersections, emerging biotechnological threats, and nuclear warfare risks. Jeffrey has advised state and federal government offices on AI and emerging technological risks. Outside of work, Jeffrey is passionate about rollerblading, skiing, snowboarding, and exploring remote, serene locations.

Josh is a Brooklyn-based journalist and audio storyteller. Prior to CHT, he produced shows for NPR, Audible, and Turner Classic Movies as well as several independent audio projects. Josh was part of the award-winning team at The Markup that exposed racial bias in the PredPol predictive policing software and, as a Stabile Investigative Fellow at Columbia University, he uncovered systemic abuses in the special education system. Josh is excited to bring his production and journalism toolkits together as producer and researcher for "Your Undivided Attention.” He is passionate about the mission of building a more humane future through education.

AJ Marechal is a writer known for fusing grounded, accessible storytelling with high-concept ideas and philosophy. Her professional writing experience spans from journalism to screenwriting, and she has staffed on TV shows for networks including FX and Hulu. Throughout her writing career, AJ has maintained a keen interest in how technology transforms social, cultural, psychological and emotional systems. She is passionate about articulating that transformation to the world, and believes strong, clear narratives are an essential part of unlocking a better future. AJ graduated from NYU with a degree in Philosophy. In her spare time, she is an avid dancer.

Kirsten is an associate producer on the Your Undivided Attention podcast and a project manager at Center for Humane Technology. She previously oversaw operations for 10+ years at a small film production company for an award-winning filmmaker. Before that, she attended The University of Texas at Austin where she earned a degree in Communication. She’s a seasoned operator and proud generalist who relishes using her creative background in the context of mission-based work.

Noelle keeps a pulse on the rhythm of CHT operations. She manages strategic time planning, prioritization, and project management for the Executive Director, Daniel Barcay. Inspired by CHT’s mission, she values contributing a robust knowledge of systems and strategy to a team of aligned leaders.

Prior to joining CHT, Noelle held operations management roles across a diverse range of companies. She excels in mission-driven environments, identifying opportunities for growth, impact, and collaboration throughout. At the heart of her work is aligning organization objectives with creative solutions.

Based in the Bay Area, Noelle is a certified breathwork facilitator, dedicated meditation practitioner, and passionate about community weaving, innovation, sustainability, and spending time outdoors.

Casey is an attorney and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer. He has served governors of both parties: as a state senate-confirmed appointee of Governor Phil Scott to lead the Vermont Economic Progress Council, and as a director of budget policy and analysis during Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s administration. Casey also spent nearly 4 years on the public policy team at Amazon and led nationwide state and local tax policy for the company.

Earlier in his career, he specialized in field operations for USAID-funded local governance strengthening and rural development programs in settings like Ethiopia, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Pakistan, and Zimbabwe.

Casey’s works of creative nonfiction were past selections as a finalist for the Santa Fe Writers Project Non-fiction Literary Award and a semi-finalist for the Tucson Festival of Books Non-fiction Literary Award. His writing has appeared in Bethesda Magazine and Reed Magazine.

Aza is the co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, was an architect and subject of the documentary The Social Dilemma, and is the co-host of the popular podcast Your Undivided Attention. He is also a National Geographic Explorer and co-founder of Earth Species Project, a nonprofit dedicated to translating animal communication. Trained as a mathematician and dark matter physicist, he has taken three companies from founding to acquisition, has been a co-chairing member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on the Future of Al, briefs heads of state, and helped found Mozilla Labs, in addition to being named FastCompany’s Master of Design, and listed on Forbes and Inc Magazines 30-under-30.

Julia is a journalist and storyteller whose award-winning career spans The New York Times Magazine, Best American Science Writing, Best American Essays, Nautilus, NPR, the BBC, the CBC, Pushkin Industries and other major outlets. She is a veteran of three newsrooms and a former editor at San Francisco NPR station KQED. Her work on Your Undivided Attention explores some of her favorite themes: humane evolution, existential risk and old-fashioned cooperation.

Jessica is the Operations Manager at Center for Humane Technology. She is driven by a profound belief in the power of mission-driven work and brings many years of operations experience to the team, primarily from her work with conservation based nonprofits. By focusing on optimizing systems and fostering supportive work environments, Jessica helps build a foundation for programmatic success.

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Outside of work, she enjoys ample time offline in the wilds of her home state, Montana. Jessica believes that together, we can make a meaningful impact and leave a legacy of positive change for future generations.