The Future of Misinformation
John Yang, President and Executive Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC
John C. Yang is the President and Executive Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice |AAJC. He leads the organization’s efforts to fight for civil rights and empower Asian Americans to create a more just America for all through public policy advocacy, education, and litigation. Mr. Yang served in the Obama Administration as Senior Advisor for Trade and Strategic Initiatives at the U.S. Department of Commerce, where he was the principal advisor to Secretary Penny Pritzker on issues related to Asia and worked with the White House and other U.S. agencies on strategic and economic issues concerning the region. Previously, Mr. Yang was a partner with a major Washington, D.C. law firm, and also worked in Shanghai, China as the legal director for the Asia-Pacific operations of a U.S. Fortune 200 company. Mr. Yang was the 2003-04 President of NAPABA.
Mr. Yang’s other leadership positions have included: Member, National Advisory Committee for Race, Ethnicity & Other Populations, U.S. Census Bureau (2017-2019); Co-Chair, National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (2019-present); Member, American Bar Association House of Delegates (2008-18; Minority Caucus Chair, 2014–16); General Counsel, D.C. Bar (2000-02); Advisory Committee on Pro Se Litigation for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (1998–2002). In 1998, Mr. Yang co-founded the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to addressing the direct service legal needs of Asian Pacific Americans in the D.C. metropolitan area. He received his law degree from George Washington University Law School.
Roberta Braga, Director, Counter-Disinformation Strategies, Equis
Roberta Braga is director for counter-disinformation strategies at Equis, a set of organizations working to better understand the Latino electorate in the United States.
She previously managed global content and campaigns at the law firm Baker McKenzie and served as deputy director for programs and outreach at the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center. Over her five years in the think tank world, Roberta helped to shape the intellectual framework for the Council’s Latin America programming and led programming on Brazil and projects on democracy-building, countering disinformation and misinformation in elections, and trade integration.
Roberta has also worked at the US Department of Homeland Security, Promega Corporation, and the Federal Communications Commission. She earned her MA in Global Communication with a focus on Public Diplomacy from The George Washington University and her BA in Journalism and International Security from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Originally from Brazil, she is a native Portuguese- and English-speaker, and fluent in Spanish.
Chris Rodriguez, Law and Policy Fellow, HTTP (Moderator)
Chris Rodriguez serves as HTTP’s Law and Policy Fellow focused on current and emerging technology issues impacting U.S. Latinos. Chris helps manage HTTP’s relationship with other national civil rights organizations, the U.S. Federal Government, and the technology sector. Chris substantively assists in HTTP’s advocacy by crafting arguments to the government through Comments, letters, and blogs. Concurrent to HTTP, Chris has clerked for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, and the U.S. Department of Commerce. Chris is fluent in Spanish and proficient in French and Portuguese. Chris graduated from American University and currently a third year Juris Doctor Candidate at the Catholic University of America. Chris plans to use his law degree for the public interest.