Policy Executive Board

Mike Foulkes

Director, State and Local Government Affairs and Worldwide Political Compliance, Apple

Lydia Pulley

Senior Vice President - State Government and Regulatory Affairs, Verizon

Lydia is Senior Vice President - State Government and Regulatory Affairs of Verizon.

Lydia's team has enterprise-wide accountability for effective advocacy and defense of Verizon's positions on political and policy matters at all levels of state and local government across the 50 states. The team also collaborates with all business units in the administration of the Verizon Foundation's philanthropic program throughout the states. On the legal front, Lydia's team is responsible for representing all of Verizon's business units in regulatory matters nationwide and related court proceedings.

Before joining Verizon, Lydia was in private practice in Washington, DC with Wilmer Hale, where she focused on civil litigation and government investigations. Lydia began her legal career as a clerk to Robert Merhige, Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Prior to law school Lydia was a planning engineer for C&P Telephone Company of Virginia.

Lydia received her law degree from the University of Virginia, and she received her Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and chemistry from the College of William and Mary, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

She and her husband, Rodney Willett, have 3 children.

Will Castleberry

Vice President, State and Local Public Policy, Facebook

Mr. Castleberry manages company's state and local public policy efforts and supports Facebook in developing thoughtful and effective business practices. He works directly with Governors, State Attorneys General and Legislatures to promote the safe and efficient use of social networking. In addition, he manages a team state government consultants to assist in drafting sound internet, IT and business legislation. He has helped draft model legislation to support states' efforts to combat online sexual predation, identity theft spyware, pharming and phishing. He is currently focused on issues concerning privacy, child protection and consumer protection.

From 2005 to 2012 Mr. Castleberry served as the Vice President of Public Policy for AOL Inc where managed a wide array of federal and state issues on behalf of the company. He oversaw the company's state public policy efforts and managed a team of more than 25 federal and state government consultants. Prior to his work at AOL he was a Senior Manager of Government affairs covering the Mid-Atlantic for MCI.

From 1996 to 2002, Mr. Castleberry worked in the Administration of Maryland Governor Parris Glendening in various capacities. During that time Mr. Castleberry served as the Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy with the State's Department of Business and Economic Development, and in 2000, he was appointed Director of the State's Office of Global Investment and Technology.

Mr. Castleberry serves on several boards and commissions. He is the President of the State Privacy and Security Coalition an active member of the Internet Alliance, TechNet and is a frequent appointee to the Virginia Joint Commission on Technology and Science. From 1996 to 1999 he served as a member of Maryland's Critical Areas Commission.

Mr. Castleberry holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Maryland and a Master of Science in Business from the Johns Hopkins University Carey School of Business where he has also served as an Adjunct Professor.

Will resides with his wife, Erin, and their three children in Davidsonville Maryland.

Carlos Contreras

Director of State Government Affairs, Intel

Carlos Contreras is responsible for Intel’s emerging technologies portfolio including engagements with Governors, state legislators and industry associations. As a third-generation engineer, Carlos has built a career focused on technology, creation, and community. He began his career as a process engineer for Procter & Gamble paper products before attending the Thunderbird School of Global Management where he completed a Master’s Degree in International Management.

Contreras joined Intel in 1996 in the Finance Division. He supported capital and materials purchasing, research and development, and served as Finance Controller for Intel’s Costa Rica manufacturing site. After 10 years in finance, he took on a new role as a Regional Education Manager. This was followed by a four-year assignment in Washington, D.C. as the U.S. Education Director for Intel. In this role, he developed and implemented programs that mobilized science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) in classrooms nationwide, and drove education policy change at the national and local level. He additionally oversaw Intel’s education programs in the United States including grants advancing math, science, and engineering pipeline projects such as science fairs, maker education, pre-engineering and coding programs while also promoting greater accessibility to students.

When he returned to Arizona, he took on the role of Regional Public Affairs Director. Contreras oversaw a team responsible for community engagement, governmental affairs and communication strategy for sites in Arizona, California, Austin, Costa Rica, and Guadalajara. These Intel sites include Intel’s corporate headquarters, cutting edge manufacturing, research and development, engineering labs, shared service centers, and a broad spectrum of Intel business units. He then transitioned to Global Higher Education Engagement and Government Policy Manager for the Autonomous Driving Division at Intel Corp. As part of the strategic marketing team, he oversaw Intel’s autonomous driving higher education programs including student contest, research as well as industry collaborative. In his role he also developed government engagement strategies to accelerate the adoption of autonomous driving technology

Contreras has served on numerous boards including as founding member of the Maker Education Initiative. He worked directly with Sally Ride and Craig Barrett on President Obama’s STEM initiative - Change the Equation. He served as a STEM Education Industry Advisor for the National Governors Association (NGA), National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), and White House Science Fair. He currently serves on the Board for the Arizona School for the Arts (ASA) and represented Intel on the University of Michigan MCity leadership council. He has often served as a resource to media on STEM initiatives and the importance of creating access to STEM opportunities for young people.

Larry Disenhof

Group Director of Export Compliance and Government Relations, Cadence Design Systems

Larry Disenhof is Group Director of Export Compliance and Government Relations at San Jose, CA-based Cadence Design Systems. Cadence Design Systems is a leading provider of electronic design automation (EDA) tools and semiconductor IP. Larry works from a regional office outside Boston, and lives in New Hampshire. Larry has been involved in exporting high-tech hardware, software and technology since 1981.

Larry is an active participant and past East Coast Chair of CompTIA’s Export Committee, chairs the export committee of the EDA Consortium, and is on the advisory board of the Massachusetts Export Council’s Compliance Alliance. Now that his twins are successfully launched, Larry volunteers with the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, is a board member of an organization to help the homeless, and is active in regional politics in southern New Hampshire.

Steven M. Emmert

Senior Director for Government & Industry Affairs, RELX Group

Steven M. Emmert is the Senior Director for Government & Industry Affairs with RELX Group. RELX Group is a world leading provider of professional information solutions and is the parent company of LexisNexis Risk Solutions, LexisNexis Legal & Professional, Elsevier, and Reed Exhibitions. Mr. Emmert works on federal and international policy issues in the areas of privacy, data security, cyber security, big data, analytics, cloud computing, identity management, technology policy, information policy, and copyright law. In his previous role as in-house counsel, Mr. Emmert worked extensively with data and information licensing, data rights acquisition, and rights management as well as with privacy oversight and compliance. Prior to joining LexisNexis in 1989, Mr. Emmert was in-house counsel with OCLC Online Computer Library Center in Dublin, Ohio.

Mr. Emmert is active in policy work through a number of industry trade associations including CompTIA, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the Consumer Data Industry Association and participates in a number of industry groups focused on global policies including the Global Privacy Alliance, the Center for Information Policy Leadership, and the U.S. Council for International Business. Mr. Emmert is a member of the American Bar Association and the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

He earned his J.D. in 1982, and his B.A. in 1979, both from The Ohio State University. He is admitted to the bar of the State of Ohio, and has been admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts for the Southern District of Ohio and the District of Columbia, the D.C. Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Meg Hardon

Head of Government Relations, Infineon Technologies

Meg Hardon is Head of Government Relations, U.S., for Infineon Technologies. She has over 30 years of experience as a strategic public affairs consultant in international business, technology and public policy.

An active member of the technology business policy community in Washington, Ms. Hardon has experience in a wide range of issues including Internet of Things, Connected Cars, identity management, privacy and security, energy efficiency, smart grid, and telecommunications.

Prior to joining Infineon, Ms. Hardon was a senior government relations advisor at Kelley Drye & Warren’s Government Relations and Public Policy practice in Washington, DC, working with Infineon and other technology companies. Ms. Hardon started her career at the Commission of the European Communities in Brussels, Belgium and The Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

She has a BA in Political Science from Duke University, and a MA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

Vince Jesaitis

Director, US Government Affairs, Arm, Inc.

Vince Jesaitis joined Arm, Inc. in October 2017 as Director, US Government Affairs. He oversees U.S. federal and state government affairs and advocacy on all issues affecting the company, which range from trade and market access to IoT security, cybersecurity, and intellectual property among many others. Prior to that he was Vice President, Government Affairs at the Information Technology Industry Council. Vince has worked on numerous pieces of legislation that have been signed into law; including the spectrum auction provisions in the Middle Class Tax Relief Act of 2012, the Responsible Helium Administration and Stewardship Act of 2013, and the Congressional Trade Priorities Act of 2015, among other legislation.

Jesaitis has founded and lead numerous inter- and cross-sectoral coalitions focused on affecting legislative and regulatory outcomes. He began his political career interning in Congress for U.S. Representative Dennis Moore (Kan.) in 2002 before moving on to work for U.S. Representative Gene Green (Tex.) in 2003. He spent nearly eight years there, the last three of which he served as Legislative Director. In that time, he oversaw the Congressman’s entire legislative portfolio and covered most issues that came before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He specialized in telecommunications, broadband, wireless and privacy policy and legislation. He was serving as legislative director to Green when the Member served on the subcommittees where both the Affordable Care Act and the American Clean Energy and Security Act originated. Jesaitis also staffed Rep. Green as a shared committee employee while he was Chairman of the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.

Jesaitis is originally from Missouri, and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from William Jewell College in 2001. He now resides in suburban Richmond, VA with his wife and two young children.

Chuck Lennon

President and CEO, Team Logic IT

Chuck Lennon is the president of TeamLogic IT®, a national provider of comprehensive IT services for businesses. With locations across North America, the company provides managed services, computer consulting and support services for companies seeking to outsource their IT or that require supplemental IT support services.

Under Mr. Lennon’s leadership, TeamLogic IT has grown to nearly 100 franchise locations. The company is a Franchise Business Review Franchise 50 Award winner, a distinction given to franchisors that receive high owner satisfaction ratings, and has received their #1 technology franchise designation for four years in a row. MSPmentor has named TeamLogic IT to its list of top MSP companies, and Mr. Lennon has been named to the MSPmentor 250 list of top managed services executives.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Lennon served as vice president of marketing for Sir Speedy, Inc., and as vice president of marketing for New Horizons Computer Learning Centers.

Steve Merlis

Head of Strategy & Operations, Samsung

Karen Murphy

Vice President, Global Trade, Flex

Karen Murphy is the Vice President, Global Trade responsible for the flex corporate trade function. In 2013, Karen joined flex from Applied Materials where she was the managing Director of Global Trade. Karen, a licensed US Customs Broker, had a long and accomplished career at Applied where she was responsible for ensuring compliance with the export and import regulations in over 15 countries and successfully established a global classification center of excellence in India.

She is a past member of the President’s Export Council’s Subcommittee on Export Administration (PECSEA) and is a current member of the Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee (RPTAC) for the Bureau of Industry and Security. She has participated in several projects to reduce administrative burden in compliance with trade regulations.

At flex, the global trade function is responsible for ensuring compliance with global trade regulations around the classification, importing and exporting of goods in each of the jurisdictions in which flex does business. Global Trade is focused on developing and setting global policies and procedures, developing and administering global trade training and assessment programs for global operations, directly supporting all significant Corporate responses to audits and governmental inquires and working with customers on ways to find additional savings in our collective supply chains.

Monique Rodriguez

Senior Director of Government Affairs, Qualcomm

Monique Rodriguez is Senior Director of Government Affairs for QUALCOMM Incorporated. In this capacity she manages part of QUALCOMM's international public policy agenda on a range of issues, including international trade, technology policy, competition and innovation, and intellectual property. In addition to maintaining and strengthening QUALCOMM's relationships with branches of the United States and foreign governments, she often represents the company before industry associations and multilateral institutions, such as the United Nations and World Trade Organization (WTO).

Ms. Rodriguez also manages all legislative matters at the local and state level, including political fundraising and acting as the QUALCOMM liaison to local and state government in all 50 states. In this capacity Ms. Rodriguez is responsible for creating and executing corporate strategy in areas ranging from quality of life, technology neutrality, environmental stewardship and taxation.

Ms. Rodriguez serves on the boards of the National Center for APEC, National Foreign Trade Council and the New Children’s Museum. She also serves as a member of the San Diego & Imperial District Export Council.

Ms. Rodriguez graduated from the University of California, San Diego in 2002 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. She also received a Masters in Business Administration from the Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego in 2008./p>

Qualcomm invents breakthrough technologies that transform how the world connects and communicates. When we connected the phone to the Internet, the mobile revolution was born. Today, our inventions are the foundation for life-changing products, experiences, and industries. As we lead the world to 5G, we envision this next big change in cellular technology spurring a new era of intelligent, connected devices and enabling new opportunities in connected cars, remote delivery of health care services, and the IoT — including smart cities, smart homes, and wearables.

Jennifer Sanford

Director of International Trade & Energy Policy, Government Affairs, Cisco

Jennifer Sanford joined Cisco in April 2004, and currently serves as Director of International Trade & Energy Policy in the Government Affairs Department in Washington, DC. Ms. Sanford is responsible for advancing Cisco’s international trade policy agenda, and serves as Chair of the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) International Committee and as Vice Chair of the International Trade Advisory Committee (ITAC-8). She also manages Cisco’s U.S. climate & energy policy vision, strategy and execution, in areas such as grid modernization, climate change, energy efficiency, e-waste and eco-design.

Prior to Cisco, Ms. Sanford was Director of International Trade Policy for seven years at the American Electronics Association (AeA) in Washington, DC, where she successfully led the high-tech industry’s efforts to secure Congressional passage of legislation to reauthorize Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) in 2002, and to establish China’s Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status in 2000. She also worked for many years on the development and implementation of the European Union (EU) environmental and energy laws on electronics.

Ms. Sanford’s career began in 1996 in San Francisco, CA, with a customs consulting and publishing firm, Worldtariff (now owned by FedEx).

Ms. Sanford holds B.A. in International Studies (1994) and an M.A. in International Policy Studies (1995) from the Middlebury (Monterey) Institute of International Studies.

As of February 2018

Virginia Schaefer

Director, Government Relations, Texas Instruments

MJ Shoer

Chief Community Officer, CompTIA

MJ Shoer is Chief Community Officer at CompTIA, the leading non-profit trade association for the global technology industry and workforce. He leads the global community team, which is responsible for all aspects of community engagement, programming, cybersecurity programming, recruitment, and retention for CompTIA’s 2,000 member organizations.

In his tenure as chief community officer MJ has increased CompTIA’s global presence with the expansion of member-led communities into Ireland, the DACH region of Germany, Austria and Switzerland and soon, to ASEAN countries in Asia.

Under his direction CompTIA has also expanded its cybersecurity presence through the growth of the CompTIA Information Sharing and Analysis Organization (ISAO); the creation of the CompTIA Cybersecurity Trustmark, an organizational credential to help managed service providers (MSPs) and solution providers elevate their cybersecurity awareness and readiness; and the formation of the CompTIA Emergency Response Team, a group of dedicated volunteer members who will provide rapid support and resources to assist any MSP that’s recovering from a cybersecurity breach or business disruption event.

MJ has over three decades of experience in the IT industry. His is an engaging executive and well known for his engagement in the MSP and broader IT communities and his cybersecurity expertise. In 1997, he founded Jenaly Technology Group, Inc. a pioneer of the MSP business model. Jenaly was acquired in 2015 after which MJ served as CTO of the acquiring MSP. After another rollup acquisition by a national MSP, in 2019 MJ launched a consulting business working with MSPs, leading peer groups and working with other channel organizations. MJ is a former member of the CompTIA Board of Directors and a former Board Chair.

MJ began working with CompTIA in late 2019 to build the CompTIA ISAO and joined CompTIA as staff in late 2020. MJ was named Chief Community Officer in January 2022. MJ is also the host of Shoering Up Security on the CompTIA Connect YouTube Channel and the publisher of CompTIA World Magazine. He is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire. You may follow MJ on Twitter @mshoer.