Paul Evans, political journalist and blogger
Paul is a local democracy practitioner with a long track record of running e-democracy projects at a local level, with a particular focus upon the promotion of local representative democracy. Previously, Paul helped to establish Poptel Technology Ltd in 2002, and was instrumental in establishing the original New Statesman New Media Awards back in 1998.
Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/Paul0Evans1
Panellists
Dan Burton, Senior Vice President, Global Public Policy, Salesforce.com
Mr Burton has played a leadership role in the development of US technology policy for over twenty years. Prior to joining salesforce.com in January 2006, he was Vice President of Government Affairs for Entrust (2000-2005) and Vice President for Government Relations for Novell (1995-2000). Previously, he was President of the Council on Competitiveness where he was a pioneer in the effort to establish government technology policies for the US high-tech industry.
Mr Burton has testified several times before Congress and has lectured widely in the US, Europe, Asia and Latin America. He holds an MA in political economy from Columbia University, a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and a Diplome de Langue et Civilisation Francaises from the Sorbonne. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the board of the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA), and a member of the board of the Washington Project for the Arts.
Jeremy Hunt, MP
Jeremy was elected as an MP for South West Surrey in May 2005. He is well-known locally for his supermarket surgeries and has campaigned actively on local issues including overdevelopment and local NHS services.
As Shadow Minister for Disabled People he successfully campaigned for the BBC to increase the amount of subtitling on its programmes as well as simplification of the benefits system for disabled people and individual social care budgets.
In July 2007 he was appointed to his current role as Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and is the Conservative’s spokesperson on new media campaigning.
Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/Jeremy_Hunt
Tom Watson, MP
Tom is a prolific blogger and expert on all things social media. He was elected in 2001 to represent the people of West Bromwich East. Most recently Tom held the Ministerial post of Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office (up to June 2009) where, amongst other duties, he had responsibility for the transformation of public services and for furthering the use of digital engagement tools by government.
In this role, Tom established the Power of Information Task Force to advance the recommendations in the Power of Information Report by Ed Mayo and Tom Steinberg.
In a speech outlining his ideas for the future direction of government policy in this area, Tom stated his belief in the power of mass collaboration.
Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/tom_watson
Paul Waugh, Evening Standard
Paul Waugh is the Evening Standard's Deputy Political Editor. Based at Westminster, he has spent more than 10 years in the Lobby at the Houses of Parliament. His blog provides the inside track on the Government, the Opposition and the latest political gossip from the Commons.
Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/paulwaugh
Blog: http://waugh.standard.co.uk
