Jane Coffin

Jane Coffin is a seasoned executive and Internet community expert who has been working at the center of connectivity & infrastructure development, policy & regulatory strategy, and international development for over 30 years. She has worked in the private sector, for the U.S. Government, in “the field” helping create and develop regulators, and for the non-profit sector. Most recently she was with a start-up (Connect Humanity) as its Chief Community Officer and later a Senior Advisor. Jane worked with communities on broadband strategy, stakeholder strategy, and strategic financing for community, muni, and ISP development. She is a co-chair of the IRTF’s GAIA (Global Access to the Internet for All) Working Group.
Prior to joining Connect Humanity, Jane spent ten years at the Internet Society (ISOC) leading Internet infrastructure development and community development teams. She focused on Community Networks, Internet exchange points (IXPs), peering and interconnection, new funding mechanisms to support infrastructure development, health of the Internet data collection and platform development, policy-regulatory change to support connecting the unconnected, partnership development, grant-making, and fundraising. She has worked with the ITU, OECD, UNCTAD, UNESCAP, UNESCO, Giga, CITEL, ATU, APT, and other global, regional, and local connectivity and development organizations. While at the Internet Society, she brought in over USD 4 million in grants for Internet infrastructure development. Jane has managed staff, built programs, developed strategic and tactical plans, advised senior government officials, CEOs and other executives, and regional experts, taken part in numerous UN negotiations and worked in/with experts from over 75 countries.
Before joining the Internet Society, Jane worked for NTIA’s Office of International Affairs where she co-chaired the Federal IPv6 Task Force to encourage deployment of IPv6 in US Government agency networks, working closely with industry experts, ICANN, IETF, ISOC, ARIN, AFRINIC, LACNIC, APNIC, and RIPE NCC on IP addressing issues. Prior to working for NTIA OIA, she spent five years on USAID projects in Armenia (Deputy Chief of Party, BearingPoint – now Deloitte) and Moldova (Chief of Party, BearingPoint – now Deloitte) working on telecommunications infrastructure, and regulatory, policy, and WTO/trade issues. Before her work in the field, she was a Director at AT&T, worked for NTIA/OIA on international development and trade issues, and worked for Steptoe & Johnson’s international practice.