Michele Lawrence Jawando serves as senior vice president at Omidyar Network. In this role, she oversees a multimillion-dollar budget portfolio and spearheads the organization’s efforts to address pressing global challenges through a “whole of Omidyar Network” approach, integrating emergent issues, narrative development, and policy work across all initiatives.

Previously, Michele was the US head of strategic engagement and public policy partnerships at Google, where she managed cross-departmental relationships with political leaders, nonprofits, and think tanks and co-led the 2020 Global Election Integrity team. In this role, she directed a multi-million-dollar budget in resources toward critical issues such as cybersecurity, trust and safety, gender equity, human, civil, and disability rights. Prior to Google, she served as vice president at the Center for American Progress, where her work spanned a broad spectrum of critical issues, from national security and civil rights to economic growth and climate change. Earlier in her career, Michele worked as general counsel and senior advisor to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Congressman Gregory Meeks, contributing to passing of landmark legislation and confirmations of Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

As an author and afro-tech futurist, Michele continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible in social-change, empowering underrepresented voices and technological innovation. She holds a J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law and B.A. from Hampton University.