Swiss born Esther Dyson is a self-described authority on emerging digital technology and considered a founding member of the digerati. A member of the US National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council and a director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, she is active in industry affairs. She also co-chairs the NII AC's Information Privacy and Intellectual Property sub-committee and runs the EFF's Information Privacy sub-committee. She sits on the board of the Global Business Network and the WPP Group.

After graduating from Harvard in economics, she joined Forbes as a fact-checker and quickly rose to reporter. In 1977, she joined New Court Securities as "the research department," following Federal Express and other start-ups. After a stint at Oppenheimer covering software companies, she moved to Rosen Research and in 1983 bought the company from her employer Ben Rosen, renaming it EDventure Holdings. She sold EDventure Holdings to CNET Networks in 2004 and left CNET in January 2007.

As an investor/commentator, Esther Dyson focuses on emerging technologies and business models (peer-to-peer, artificial intelligence, the Internet, wireless applications), emerging markets and emerging companies. She provides state-of-the-art knowledge of the business of computer and systems development while her research into the future of the Internet provides great insights for businesses around the world.

Esther Dyson is a regular keynote speaker at major industry events in Europe, including the World Economic Forum in Davos. She likes to combine a short, punchy keynote followed by a lengthy interactive session.