Peter Cowhey is the UC San Diego Interim Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. He also holds the Qualcomm Endowed Chair in Communications and Technology Policy and has served as the dean of the School of Global Policy and Strategy for twelve years. He is a leading expert on the future of communications and information technology markets and policy, specializing in United States trade policy, foreign policy, the Internet, international corporate strategy and the microfinance industry to alleviate poverty.
Cowhey currently serves on a bi-national experts group appointed by the U.S. and Chinese governments to research and guide innovation policy. In 2008, he headed the transition team on trade policy for President Obama and then served a 12-month assignment as the senior counselor to Ambassador Ron Kirk in the Office of the United States Trade Representative, playing a key role in the strategic agenda for trade policy. In the Clinton Administration he was chief of international policy for the Federal Communications Commission. His newest book—Digital DNA: Disruption and Global Governance with Jonathan Aronson—will be published by Oxford University Press in 2017.