Ieva Ilves advises the President on digital policy and information technology. Her focus is to build a strong digital Latvia, where people, ideas and companies benefit from technologies. Under the leadership of the President she encourages discussions and the search for solutions to protect democracy in the digital age. This entails freedom of speech, privacy and rule of law online, while promoting innovation and growth of technology. Earlier, Ieva Ilves was in charge of cyber security policy at the Ministry of Defense and served as a diplomat in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and abroad. Ieva spent three years in Silicon Valley to enrich her perspective on the future of technologies, worked for the EU mission in Baku, Azerbaijan and the Latvian delegation at NATO HQ in Brussels. She holds an MA from the University of Latvia and an MIPP from Johns Hopkins University SAIS.