Welcome and Keynote on "AI and the Influence on Democracy" by Zaid A. Zaid

Zaid A. Zaid is a Senior Advisor at Orange Court Strategies, a strategic advisory firm, where he advises clients on government affairs, technology policy, AI governance, and regulatory strategy. He also serves on the Tesari AI National Security Council, an AI-powered investigative intelligence platform focused on cross-border financial crime and national security investigations, and is a co-founder and Advisory Board Chair of Civic Guild, an organization connecting AI and tech talent at leading frontier labs with pro-democracy civil society organizations. Most recently, Zaid served as Director and Head of U.S. Public Policy at Cloudflare, where he built the company's federal policy program and led its AI governance strategy, including formal engagements with the White House, the National Security Council, and the Department of Commerce on AI governance, cybersecurity, and trusted technology. Before Cloudflare, he served as Head of Strategic Response Policy for North America at Meta, leading the company's response to some of the most consequential platform governance and geopolitical crises of the past decade. Earlier in his career, he served as Special Assistant to President Obama and Associate White House Counsel, and as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer with postings in Iraq, Egypt, Tunisia, and the United Nations. Zaid serves on the board of directors of HALO Trust USA and is a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He holds degrees from Columbia Law School, the Fletcher School at Tufts University, Georgetown University.