Game Changers Panel: Patrick Robinson, Airbnb; Christopher Schafer, Uber
Implications of Innovation and the Sharing Economy
Patrick Robinson is Head of Public Policy for Airbnb in EMEA and Canada. He leads a team of public affairs professionals who work with cities to open the door for new forms of tourism and educate policymakers about the huge poten-tial of the “sharing economy” for sustainable economic and cultural growth.
Airbnb is an online community marketplace that connects hosts with unique spaces in their homes with guests from around the world who are looking for local experiences. Founded in San Francisco in 2008, Airbnb offers over 1 mil-lion spaces in 190 countries, and enabled the travels of over 30 million guests.
Patrick joined Airbnb after several years at Yahoo, most recently as Director of the company’s innovative global business and human rights programme, which leads the company’s efforts to protect and promote online free expression and privacy for its 800 million users worldwide. He was previously Director of Pub-lic Policy in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.
Prior to joining Yahoo! he was Director of Communications for the Virgin Group’s UK television business, responsible for corporate and consumer public relations, public policy and regulatory compliance across a portfolio high-profile cable and satellite entertainment brands.
Between 2004 and 2006, Patrick was an adviser in the British Broadcasting Cor-poration’s public policy division, working on a range of issues concerning the renewal of the BBC’s royal charter (constitution). He initially joined the BBC in 2002 and spent two-and-a-half years living and working in Sarajevo on a BBC-led project to establish public service broadcasting in post-conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina. The project was funded by the UK government’s Department for International Development as part of the European Union’s strategic recon-struction and reform efforts in the country. Patrick graduated from the Univer-sity of Cambridge in 1997 with a degree in Social and Political Sciences.
Chris Schafer is Public Policy Manager for Uber Canada. Based in Toronto, he oversees a team of consultant lobbyists across Canada working on establishing a regulatory home for ridesharing in cities from Vancouver to Halifax.
Chris has a background in politics, public policy, and law. Prior to joining Uber, Chris was an associate lawyer with Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP in Ottawa, where his practice included work on public inquiries and regulatory law. At the law firm, Chris was also a federal registered lobbyist for such clients as Ama-zon.com, among others.
After leaving law firm life, Chris worked as executive director and lawyer with the Canadian Constitution Foundation, a legal foundation committed to litigat-ing for the rights and freedoms of Canadians. This role led to an opportunity to work as on-air TV legal commentator for Sun News Network in Toronto.
to