Michael Brennan: Tech Expert Takes on Social Ills

Ford Foundation

January 5, 2016 | Read Time: 1 minute

Michael Brennan, 33

Program Officer, Ford Foundation
New York

Michael Brennan might be the first person with a Ph.D. in computer science to serve as a program officer at a top foundation. The Ford Foundation hired him because it believes technologists are critical to solving tough social problems.

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Take body cameras for police officers. Yes, they might promote greater accountability, says Mr. Brennan. But someone who understands facial-recognition software can point out the potential privacy and surveillance implications.

“If you don’t have people who have the knowledge of where the technology is going,” he says, “you may end up with an answer that one or five or 10 years down the line you regret.”

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About the Author

NICOLE WALLACE

Features Editor

Nicole Wallace is features editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy. She has written about innovation in the nonprofit world, charities’ use of data to improve their work and to boost fundraising, advanced technologies for social good, and hybrid efforts at the intersection of the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, such as social enterprise and impact investing.Nicole spearheaded the Chronicle’s coverage of Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts on the Gulf Coast and reported from India on the role of philanthropy in rebuilding after the South Asian tsunami. She started at the Chronicle in 1996 as an editorial assistant compiling The Nonprofit Handbook.Before joining the Chronicle, Nicole worked at the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs and served in the inaugural class of the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps.A native of Columbia, Pa., she holds a bachelor’s degree in foreign service from Georgetown University.