Corey Owens
Head of Global Public Policy at WeWork
Fee Range
$25,000Travels From
Washington, DC, US
Corey Owens
Biography
Corey Owens has spent his career at the bleeding edge of disruptive innovation, from media (Facebook), to transportation (Uber), to real estate (WeWork). Corey has spent his career at the intersection of those who would build and those who would govern, and has led some of the most complex and high-profile campaigns for change in recent corporate history.
He is currently the Head of Global Public Policy at WeWork, the world's largest coworking platform with more than one hundred communities in a dozen countries. Corey was previously the Head of Global Public Policy at Uber Technologies, where as one of its earliest employees he led Uber's engagement with policymakers and regulators around the world. Prior to joining Uber, as an early member of Facebook's public affairs team, Corey helped shape evolving expectations of online privacy.
Corey cut his teeth on the field team at the American Civil Liberties Union, where he organized gun owners, film stars, and local elected officials in defense of civil rights. He built coalitions of law-and-order conservatives to champion criminal justice reform at The Constitution Project, and organized workers across the country at the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. Along the way Corey has worked on the field teams of state and national electoral campaigns in Ohio, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, and Virginia.
Corey has been commended as a Leader of Tomorrow by the St Gallen Symposium, recognized by Forbes on their 30 Under 30 in Law and Policy list, and honored with the Award for Excellence in Public Policy by the Santa Clara High Technology Law Journal. He is an advisor to HomeZen and Hippocamp Media, and a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council.
Corey has been a featured speaker at some of the world's leading universities, trade associations, and conferences. He is a graduate of Truman State University and The George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management. Corey lives with his far-better-half Zeynep in Washington, DC.
Corey Owens
Featured Keynote Programs
Governing the Ungovernable
When Innovation and Regulation Collide
Is one company’s belief that an existing regulatory regime is outdated an excuse to ignore the the law entirely? Should forward-looking policymakers attempt to reign in the excesses of new industries, and if so, how? Corey built and led Uber's historic campaign to change laws the world over, and helped shape how governments understood and regulated phenomena like social networking (Facebook) and coworking (WeWork). Described recently as having "shaped how a generation of innovative companies interact with governments," Corey speaks to the expected tensions and unexpected common ground between those who build and those who govern. Disruptors, incumbents, and governments alike should consider carefully the insights Corey uncovered on the front lines of Silicon Valley and Washington... or learn them the hard way.
• How the Sharing Economy is
• Changing How Companies Do Politics
• The Myth of the Consumer-Voter: What Successful People-Driven Electoral and Corporate Campaigns Have in Common
• Masters of Disaster, Indeed: Lessons from Failures of the Sharing Economy
• The Weaponization of Competition and Competition Policy in the Innovation Economy
The Future of Work from Ridesharing to Robots
Never before in human history has innovation and technological disruption so immediately enhanced or threatened the livelihoods of millions. The nature of work has been changing since long before the emergence of the sharing economy, but these companies have become the face of one of the most important policy debates of a generation. These companies are colliding head on with unions themselves in the midst of a reinvention - and increasingly complex labor politics. From his time as a union organizer to his leadership of Uber's historic campaign to reshape work for millions, Corey has been at the pointy end of the stick of this debate.
The Cult of Creators
Entrepreneurship in the "We Generation"
Open any newspaper, tune to any TV channel, and you'll see a celebration of "entrepreneurs," a canonization of disruptors and inventors. And to be sure, entrepreneurship has never been more important to established and developing economies alike. But somewhere along the way it became enough to say the word "entrepreneurship," to claim the title of "entrepreneur." Corey has had front row seats on some of the most famous entrepreneurial rocket ships of our day (Facebook, Uber, WeWork), and along the way had extracted the most important questions any successful entrepreneur has to answer.
• What will get you out of bed on the hard days?
• Are you listening to what people say they want, or to what they show you they want?
• Are you embracing or resisting the inevitable?
• Are you prepared to fail for the right reasons?
• What's beyond your bubble?
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