Director of Policy, EU
Facebook

Richard Allan joined Facebook in June 2009 to lead the company’s public policy work in Europe. Prior to joining Facebook, Richard was European Government Affairs Director for Cisco from September 2005.

In April 2008 the UK Cabinet Office appointed Richard as Chair of the Power of Information Task Force to work on improving the use of government data. The Task Force completed its work in May 2009 with the publication of a report whose recommendations have been welcomed by the UK Government.

Richard writes and speaks on a wide range of technology policy issues and has been an academic visitor at the Oxford Internet Institute.

Richard was elected as Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam in 1997 and re-elected in 2001 before giving up his seat in 2005.

Richard and specialised in technology issues in Parliament and was a principal spokesman on a several bills including the Data Protection Act, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act and the Communications Act. He was Chair of the Information Committee in the 1997 Parliament and a member of the Public Accounts and Liaison Committees in the 2001 Parliament.

Between 1991 and 1997 Richard worked as an IT professional in the NHS. He has a degree in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic Studies with Archaeology and Anthropology, and an MSc in Information Technology.