Mr Nick Ashton-Hart is an Associate Fellow within the Global Fellowship Initiative of the GCSP. Nick Ashton-Hart is the Geneva Representative of the Digital Trade Network, following a decade as the only Geneva-based full-time representative from the technology sector to the UN, its specialized agencies, and member-state delegations. He has advised on digital trade and development policy to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), is an adviser on digital trade policy to the chief trade negotiator of Nigeria, Ambassador Chiedu Osakwe, and an Associate Fellow of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy. He is a long-time negotiator in international telecommunications on the delegation of the United Kingdom, and the lead negotiator for the European region’s 48 member-states on a portfolio of Internet-related economic issues at the International Telecommunications Union.
He came to international relations from private-sector careers in the entertainment and ICT sectors; in the music industry he managed the careers of some of the world’s most successful and influential artists. He was elected twice to lead the International Music Managers Forum.
He is a periodic writer for the Council on Foreign Relations’ Net Politics, has written chapters for various publications on digital trade policy, and tweets in his personal capacity as @nashtonhart.