Alex Alben is Washington State’s first Chief Privacy Officer, an office created by the state legislature in March of 2015. He coordinates privacy and data policy for the state and consults with the Governor and Legislature on technology issues impacting citizen privacy.
As a technology executive, Alex helped launch ESPN.com and ABCNews.com, and served for six years in senior management at RealNetworks. At the outset of his career, Alben served as a researcher for CBS News covering the 1980 Presidential campaign and went on to work for Mike Wallace at CBS Reports. In the 1990’s, Alben worked as an entertainment lawyer for Orion Pictures and Warner Bros. He was a candidate for the U.S. Congress from Washington State’s 8th Congressional District in 2004.
A graduate of Stanford University and Stanford Law School, Alben writes for The Seattle Times and other publications on the intersection of media, technology and politics. He is the author of Analog Days—How Technology Rewrote Our Future.
As one of at least six Chief Privacy Officers in the country, Alex has initiated state-wide programs for enhanced privacy training, consumer education and “Privacy Modeling.” In March of 2017, Gov Tech Magazine named him one of the country’s top “Doers, Dreamers and Drivers” in state government.