Joshua Gordon

Josh Gordon co-founded the Democracy Council and serves as Senior Vice President and a member of the Board of Directors. He brings extensive experience at the intersection of international development, media freedom, and global telecommunications. An international telecommunications entrepreneur, Gordon is the founder and CEO of Global Direct Telecom and Red Pocket Mobile, which operates brands including Karma Mobility, Unreal Mobile, and FreedomPop. Earlier in his career, he served as Vice President and Managing Director at Verestar (an American Tower company) and as Director of Strategic Networks at Justice Telecom.

Gordon's engagement with democracy and media issues began during his tenure as a Degree Fellow at the East-West Center in Hawai'i, where he focused on democracy movements, media censorship, and freedom of information in East and Southeast Asia. He later served as a program manager and press officer at Freedom House in New York and Washington, D.C., monitoring democratization efforts in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Iraq, Cuba, and other regions. His analysis and commentary have appeared in outlets including The Asian Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, MSNBC, and the International Herald Tribune. Gordon holds a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School, a Master's degree in Southeast Asian Studies from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, and graduated magna cum laude from Williams College.