Introducing the Calyx Institute’s new Executive Director: Elizabeth Eagen

The Calyx Institute is thrilled to announce that Elizabeth Eagen will be joining us as our new Executive Director. Elizabeth is a long-time advocate for internet freedom, and we at Calyx are eager to discover how her insights and leadership will guide and shape Calyx as we continue to thrive.

Before joining Calyx, Elizabeth served as the deputy director at Cornell University’s Citizens and Technology Lab, where she designed and led projects examining the impact of emerging technologies (such as generative AI) on public policy, digital privacy and security, and human rights.

Elizabeth’s philanthropic work has focused on projects designed to protect people and their data in this fast-evolving digital age. Her expertise ranges from research advocacy to the digitization of governance via technologies such as digital identity systems. She has also helped multimillion-dollar institutions create and implement responsible strategies around technology, privacy rights, and personal data.

Calyx exists to defend digital privacy and advance connectivity. Our work has always been driven by our vision for a future where everyone has access to the resources and tools they need to remain securely connected. The global fever around AI technologies, rampant data harvesting in digital services and programs, and tech giants’ gatekeeping of free and open-source software (FOSS) projects has only made our mission more crucial, and we are excited to welcome a leader with deep expertise about the interconnectedness of technology, human rights, and society.

Elizabeth has spent more than two decades studying how emerging technologies shape public policy and how those technologies are leveraged by those in power to harm vulnerable communities across the globe, including as the leader of the Emerging Technology portfolio at the Open Society Foundations’ Information Program, and on the advisory council of the Open Technology Fund. She has also devoted herself to supporting those communities through fundraising and advocacy. In this as in so many other aspects of her work, she and Calyx are aligned.

We welcome her vision for a seamless programmatic strategy that will augment Calyx’s impact on the FOSS ecosystem, our internet membership program, and our expanding funding and education efforts.

As we step into this next phase of Calyx’s growth, we welcome community input to help us define our priorities. Please share your thoughts with us via our help desk, our social media, or the CalyxOS community channels.