Dr. Wilneida Negrón
Personal tagline: “Equal parts of strategy and heart.”
I love tackling complex problems with smart and dedicated people. As a result, I wear different hats at different times — serial social entrepreneur, researcher-technologist, field-builder, strategist, innovator, angel investor, and artist. I blend academic insight, practical strategy, and passionate advocacy to drive meaningful change in how the economy and technology impact society.
Im the author of the upcoming book, “Dear Worker, Your Future“, which reaches across sectors, industries, labor markets, and civil society in hopes of igniting a collective reckoning and re-envisioning of how we want technology to shape our workplaces and economy.
Below are the areas i Work on:
- Behavioral economics/behavioral science
- Labor policy
- Hybrid intelligence (HI)
- Collective intelligence (CI)
- Responsible innovation
- Inclusive and ethical AI
- Impact and social finance
- Social entrepreneurship and social ventures
- Product R&D and product management
- Systems change/field-building
- Journalism/News/Media
- Multi-stakeholder approaches/coalition-building
- Social movements
- Bridging across differences
- Public safety and law enforcement
- Multi-racial approaches
- International Relations (East Asia, Latin America, and Africa)
- Financial modeling/forecasting
- Public Administration
My work has been featured at
The Guardian NPR Financial Times Washington Post Stanford Social Innovation Review Newsweek Protocol Fast Company Daily Maverick WiredBBC 4Inc.comThe Register
Personal story/Bio
I was born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, to a Dominican mother and a Puerto Rican father. Since the day I was able to speak, I have lovingly frustrated my parents and siblings with endless back-to-back questions on everything from “what is the moon made of?”; “what happens to the cows when it rains? (we lived in the small rural farming community of Palenque); “what happens if I put red chanoti seeds in my ears? (I grew up surrounded by wild A. precatorius plants and made a few trips to the emergency room with seeds in my ears). As I got older, the questions became more complicated and ranged from everything from religion to economics and politics in the US, Puerto Rico, and around the world. To this day, it's my love and curiosity for the world and the people in it that drives my purpose and work.
I began my professional career as a therapist in juvenile detention facilities, jails, and probation departments. I also spent time providing therapy and crisis counseling to marginalized communities in food pantries and churches throughout New York City. Interested in the utility of technology to change the deeply structural issues I encountered at work, I taught myself how to code and began working with human rights and poverty lawyers on developing platforms and apps to increase access to justice. Realizing that technology interacts with society and the economy in unpredictable ways, I began a new phase of my career studying and investigating the socio-economic impacts of emerging technologies (which I wrote about in my 2018 Fast Company's World Changing Ideas article.) Since then, I've studied the impact of technology globally (e.g. Taiwan, Chile, Peru, and Indonesia) and in the US, on topics ranging from democracy/politics, social movements, criminal justice, news/media, labor markets, and the future of work. I also worked at Ford Foundation, where I led cross-team conversations and field-building strategies around responsible innovation.
I am currently the Director of Research and Policy at Coworker, Co-founder of the Startups & Society Initiative (SSI) as well as the Founder of the Future of Workers Initiative, and the New Progressives. As part of SSI, I co-founded the Responsible Innovation Founders Summit — an annual event that has attracted 700+ global tech leaders including founders backed by Y-Combinator, General Catalyst, and Sequoia, and published the Responsible Innovation Primer for Founders — a distillation of 100+ interviews of influential tech and civil society leaders about building tech companies responsibly. I am currently boot-strapping my new venture, Grey Americana, a multi-media company and social community.
My current Advisory roles Are:
- Strategic Advisor at the Responsible Innovation Labs
- Product Chair and International Liaison for Axon’s Ethics and Equity Advisory Council
- Member of Partnership on AI’s Global Task Force for Inclusive AI
- Board Member and Finance Committee member for Documented.
- Principal Investigator for the Thriving BIPOC Journalism Project (an initiative of Borealis Philanthropy).
- Technology Innovation Advisory Council GlobalGiving.
- Inaugural Advocacy Chair, 2023 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (ACM FAccT)
I have a PhD In Comparative Politics, with a specialization in emerging technologies in East Asia And Latin America, a Masters In Public Administration, and a M.Phil. in International And Global Affairs. Im also a life-long Fellow at the Data & Society Research Institute and the Atlantic Institute. I am fluent in Spanish and Mandarin and have limited working proficiency in Hebrew. I invest in startups that actively collaborate with the communities, workers, and stakeholders affected by their technologies. By fostering partnerships rooted in mutual respect and shared goals, these companies drive innovation that is ethically sound, socially responsible, and sustainably impactful. My long term vision is that this collaborative approach enhances market success while ensuring that financial returns align with meaningful positive societal change.
Recent News & Press:
- Report: "Repair. Reimagine. Rebuild. Modeling the Future of News for and by Black, Brown, and Indigenous Communities." Co-authored with Borealis Philanthropy's Racial Equity and Journalism Fund. September 2024.
- Wilneida was quoted in the article: "Microsoft security tools questioned for treating employees as threats.” August 27, 2024. The Register. By Thomas Claburn.
- Wilneida was quoted in the article: "Algorithmic wage discrimination: Not just for gig workers.” July 6, 2024. The Register. By Thomas Claburn.
- Wilneida's research was quoted in the article: "Your employer might be spying on your tech. Here’s how to check.” June 13, 2024. Washington Post. By Danielle Abril.
- Wilneida's research was quoted in the article: "Borealis Philanthropy’s bold plan: Investing billions to support BIPOC journalism.” June 12, 2024. Editor & Publisher. By Diane Sylvester.
- Wilneida was quoted in the article: "Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary to Students: Employer Background Checks Can Catch Masked Protestors. Is He Right?” May 3, 2024. Inc.com. By Sam Blum.
- "How impact investments in Anthropic can strengthen responsible innovation in tech.” April 23, 2024. ImpactAlpha. By Lyel Resner and Wilneida Negron.
- "New initiative unites workers and industry to forge the future of AI and tech in the workplace” February 15, 2024. Newswire. Future of Workers Initiative Project Launch.
- "In the grey is where humanity is found.” October 18, 2023. Grey Americana. By Dr. Wilneida Negrón
- "Why impact investing needs to prioritize public interest technology.” September 21, 2023. Ford Foundation. By Dr. Wilneida Negrón and Lyel Resner
- "The long shadow of workplace surveillance.” August 30, 2023. Stanford Social Innnovation Review. By Dr. Wilneida Negrón and Aiha Nguyen
- "The Creepy Rise of Bossware.” July 23, 2023. Wired UK. By Megan Carnegie.
- "Public Interest Tech Has a Pipeline Problem." May 23, 2022. Stanford Social Innovation Review By Lyel Resner and Wilneida Negron