DeVan Hankerson Madrigal is the State Policy Analyst and Research Manager at the Center for Democracy & Technology, where her research promotes technology access and the protection of individual rights to ensure broader societal benefit from technological advancement. With more than twelve years of experience in telecom policy and public interest advocacy, her work centers equality of opportunity within digital ecosystems.
Before joining CDT, DeVan was a Technology Policy Analyst at Georgetown Law’s Institute of Technology Law & Policy, where her research explored the intersection of digital exclusion and AI bias. She also managed communications and produced the technology and broadband policy podcast, “Tech on the Rocks” in collaboration with the Institute’s Distinguished Fellows.
Previously, DeVan served as Senior Director of Public Policy and Government Relations at the Goodfriend Group (now I Street Advocates). She also co-directed research at the Multicultural Media, Telecom, and Internet Council (MMTC), focusing on broadband access and affordability as well as wireless spectrum policy.
Her international experience includes both cross-border trade work at the Dubai Chamber of Commerce in the UAE, and research and grant accountability for a Jordanian NGO focused on economic inclusion and gender equality.
DeVan is affiliated with the University of North Carolina’s Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life, and is a former recipient of the Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship. She holds an M.A. in International Trade Policy (M.P.P.) from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, and a B.A. in Psychology and Linguistics from Vassar College. Her writing on mis- and disinformation online, content moderation and digital access for students with disabilities has appeared in law reviews and been quoted in the Washington Post, The Hill, and Forbes.
