Emily Rapp serves as the policy director for the Institute for Families and Technology (IFT) where she leads state and federal advocacy efforts to advance child online safety. For close to fifteen years, Rapp has directed policy programs across non-profits, private sector, and the US government, including leading government affairs strategies for the nation’s leading think tanks. Prior to IFT Rapp served as the inaugural Director of Government and Public Affairs for the Brookings Institution, the Director of Democracy Programs for the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, and the Vice President for Outreach for the JP Morgan Chase Institute and Policy Center.

During the Covid pandemic, Rapp served as the Director of Government Relations for the biosecurity arm of Ginkgo Bioworks (now Perimeter), leading state and federal lobbying efforts to expand K-12 Covid testing contracts with State Departments of Health, successfully passing state appropriations, and securing NDAA language to support war fighter readiness to prevent pathogen spread.

Prior to Ginkgo, Rapp served as a CARES Act hire for the US Small Business Administration’s (SBA) New England Office. As the SBA liaison to FEMA’s Long Term Recovery Strategies Taskforce for Region 1, Rapp lead outreach efforts and developed impact analysis tools to ensure childcare providers had access to capital during the pandemic partnership with the Administration for Children and Families, Governors offices, and state Departments of Health.

Rapp began her career at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) where she worked for seven years, most recently serving as the Director of Government Relations. She led tailored government affairs strategies across the institute’s domestic policy portfolio, including Congressional and White House engagement on the AEI-Brookings joint project on Paid Family and Medical Leave. Rapp started at AEI as a financial services research assistant.

Rapp earned her masters in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor of arts from Kenyon College.

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