Johanna Mikes Shelton is the external affairs lead for U.S. Policy at OpenAI, a position she has held since April 2024. Prior to this role, she led Google’s public policy engagement with the White House and U.S. Executive Branch, overseeing a team working with the federal government on core internet policy and cutting edge technology regulation. As an early member of Google’s Washington team, Shelton has played a key role in nearly every policy issue the company has faced since 2007, including competition, intellectual property, privacy, censorship, broadband, artificial intelligence, self-driving cars, and drones. She previously held leadership positions at the intersection of technology and government—serving as senior counsel for telecommunications and internet for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce under Chairman John Dingell, counseling Representative Rick Boucher on telecommunications and intellectual property, advising Federal Communications Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein on cable and broadcast matters, and handling FCC Common Carrier Bureau antitrust reviews and rulemakings. Shelton was an attorney for Latham & Watkins in Washington, DC, and clerked for the Honorable Karen Nelson Moore of U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Shelton received her J.D. magna cum laude and a B.S. in Business Administration summa cum laude from Georgetown University.