Alec Ross is the author of the New York Times bestseller "The Industries of the Future" and has launched a campaign to become the next Governor of Maryland, a seat up for election in 2018 and currently held by Larry Hogan.

He was also the  technology policy expert who was Senior Advisor for Innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the duration of her term as Secretary of State. After leaving the Department of State in 2013 he joined the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University as a Senior Fellow.  

The Industries of the Future has been translated to fifteen languages, and was named the 2016 Book of the Year by the TriBeCa Film Festival's Disruptive Innovation Foundation. He is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Johns Hopkins University.

He has a B.A. in history at Northwestern University.