Today is my last day at Public Knowledge. I started at PK as an intern over seven years ago and, though a series of lucky breaks, have pretty much worked there ever since. I am, and will continue to be, profoundly grateful for every opportunity that PK has ever afforded me.
PK is made up of people, and those people have consistently given me the guidance and freedom to try new things. Often this level of freedom was a mistake, which makes me all the more grateful. Gigi, Harold, and Sherwin trusted me when I told them that I wanted to use some of my time for half-baked (at best) ideas. Some of those ideas worked out, and others didn’t, but they never let the failures mean that I couldn’t make a case to try the next thing. Alex taught me how to think about advocacy beyond traditional tools like legal filings and Hill meetings. Alex was also the person who first suggested that we look into some of the IP issues around 3D printing – it is only because of a well timed stint at jury duty that I ended up with the time to dig into it first. Mehan and Katy forced me – in the best possible way – to think about now non-lawyers want to engage with our issues. Whitney and Tim made PK a place I wanted to come to work, and John and Jodie showed me what work from real lawyers looks like. And Brooke was my partner in crime in more ways than I can count.
I don’t want to turn this into a list of PK employees, both because that would be tedious and I don’t want to leave anyone out. PK has always been a place that combines an opportunity to work on the most important tech policy issues of the day with an opportunity to help identify and shape the most important tech policy issues of the future. I am proud of the credibility that we bring to discussions, and of the fact that even our opponents feel compelled to take our position seriously. I am equally proud of the fact that PK works with such a diverse collection of allies on such a broad spectrum of issues.
Finally, I look forward to PK’s future. PK is evolving under Gene, as are PK’s issues. This is a good thing, and a sign of institutional strength. Although I won’t be working at PK anymore, I look forward to working with PK on all sorts of issues.