David S. Byer—Corporate Member Representative

David Byer joined Apple in December 2000 to head up the company's policy, advocacy, and strategic relations efforts in the area of education. Byer came to Apple after completing a yearlong tenure as executive director of the Web-based Education Commission, a bipartisan 16-member panel established by the U.S. Congress to recommend policies to maximize the educational promise of the Internet. Byer was appointed in December 1999 by Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, who chaired the Commission.

Byer directed the Commission's efforts to assess the critical pedagogical and policy issues affecting the use of the Web in learning. The members of the Commission included federal lawmakers, K–12 and postsecondary educators and administrators, and leading high tech executives appointed by the President, Secretary of Education, and the majority and minority leadership of Congress. The Commission issued its recommendations in December 2000.

From 1994 through his appointment, Byer worked for the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) in Washington, D.C., serving as its vice president of Government Affairs beginning in 1997. In this role, Byer led the association's overall public policy and advocacy efforts and was its chief lobbyist on education technology, high-tech worker training, and content regulation. During his tenure, Byer was appointed to state long-range technology planning task forces in Texas and California and served on a special Education Commission of the States' panel on education technology.

Before joining SIIA, Byer spent more than a decade in the field of government relations focusing on workforce, K–12, and postsecondary education policy issues with the American Society for Training and Development, National School Boards Association, and the National Association of College and University Business Officers. He began his career on Capitol Hill as an assistant to former U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island.

Byer currently serves on the boards of the International Society for Technology in Education, National Coalition for Technology in Education and Training and SIIA's Education Division. He previously served on the executive board of the Washington, D.C.-based Committee for Education Funding. Byer holds BA and MBA degrees from George Washington University.