TheBridge profile: Camille Crittenden
Name: Camille Crittenden
Current city: Berkeley, CA
Current job: Executive director, Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) at UC
Past job: Executive director, Human Rights Center at UC Berkeley; Associate Director of Development at UC Press and San Francisco Opera
Q. How are you currently bridging the gap between innovation and regulation? I lead a multi-campus research center at the University of California: the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society and the Banatao Institute (CITRIS). The mission of bridging innovation and regulation is reflected in our name, in a way. I also co-founded the CITRIS Policy Lab, which provides interdisciplinary tech policy research, education and thought leadership regarding formal and informal regulation to amplify the positive effects of innovation on society.
Q. Job advice in three words? Keep asking questions
Q. What can innovators learn from policymakers? Consider the impact of your innovation on all audiences, users and stakeholders. Imagine the worst-case scenario and create guardrails to mitigate harm.
Q. What can policymakers learn from innovators? Operate on a faster time scale than policymakers typically do. While it’s not the government’s job to “move fast and break things,” sluggish regulation means that tech companies have more opportunity to run away with technologies that may be discriminatory, biased or otherwise harmful.
Q. Can you describe a skill you have carried throughout your career that has always proved to be valuable? Clear writing. I was fortunate in my academic career to have had professors who took time to correct and improve my work, eliminating redundancy and giving it more verve. My guilty pleasure is copyediting.
Q. Favorite spot for a coffee meeting? Yali’s in Sutardja Dai Hall at UC Berkeley, my office building!
Q. Favorite book/podcast/long-form article you recommend?
NYT: Hard Fork, the Ezra Klein Show, The Daily
HBR: Women at Work
NPR: Up First, Fresh Air
Q. Why are you part of TheBridge community? Or, why do you think it's important this community exists for tech, policy and political professionals? Tech companies and government entities–along with institutions of higher education–are the most powerful levers for social change. They drive economic development, job creation, and the spread of ideas, for better or worse. The more we can converge on HOW we want to use our platforms for advancing society, the more effective we will be at accomplishing those goals.
Q. Everyday is probably different, but are there certain skills you think are essential to your job? Time management! Ruthless prioritization. Holding time for strategic thinking and writing. Staying responsive to staff and communicating clearly.
Q. Looking back, what advice would you give yourself in the beginning of your career? My current role is nothing like I would have imagined during my years of graduate school in musicology. I would have tried to reassure myself that gaining transferable skills (writing, public speaking, project management, fundraising!) would lead to professional success in any number of paths.
Q. Living person you admire? UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ. She started her career as a Berkeley faculty member and scholar of Victorian English before becoming President of Smith College. She returned to Berkeley late in her career and has overseen one crisis after another (bridging a substantial operating deficit, Covid, struggles over student housing development, athletics scandals) while maintaining a sense of kindness, grace and integrity. She’s an inspiration for what a strong, silver-haired woman can accomplish in a challenging environment!
Q. Most underrated virtue in an employee? Willingness to tackle new challenges with a positive attitude. I love working with colleagues who are hungry to learn and aren’t afraid to question precedent.
Q. Best advice you’ve received? Read widely. I appreciate all kinds of good writing, whether a novel, creative nonfiction, or pithy Instagram comment!
Q. Morning routine? Sadly, I’m at the gym by 5am most days, where I take a first pass at email and listen to the news. I come home and eat, shower, walk the dog and settle in for the day.
Q. How do you unwind after work? I like to walk the dog (a Belgian Malinois named Katie) and listen to a book or podcast see above:).