John Godfrey is Senior Vice President of Public Policy for Samsung Electronics America, a U.S. subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea. Based in Washington, D.C., he leads Samsung’s public policy team in engagement with government and industry on communications policy, 5G wireless, the Internet of Things, digital television, health care, the environment, cybersecurity, privacy, product safety, international trade, and other areas.
An active participant in the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), Godfrey is a member and immediate past chair of the CTA Foundation’s Board of Trustees and a member of CTA’s Video Division Board and CTAPAC board, among other associations and industry groups. He is also a past chairman of the Board of Directors of the Advanced Television Systems Committee, the standards developing organization for digital television broadcasting. He served on the Federal Communications Commission’s Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee in 2015.
Prior to joining Samsung in 2006, Godfrey was vice president of government affairs for Pioneer North America. Previously, he was director of government affairs for Sony Electronics. Earlier, he was with the Information Technology Industry Council, a trade association of leading information technology companies; the National Research Council, the policy research arm of the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering; and SRI International.
Godfrey has a master of arts degree in telecommunications from George Washington University, a master of arts degree in East Asian Studies from Stanford University, and a bachelor of arts degree in government from the University of Texas at Austin. He and his wife, artist Ellen Hill, have two sons and live in Rockville, Maryland.