Justin Antonipillai served as Counselor to U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, with the Delegated Duties of Under Secretary for Economic Affairs.
In this capacity, Mr. Antonipillai led the Economics and Statistics Administration, which includes the Office of the Chief Economist and two of our nation's leading information agencies: the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Mr. Antonipillai also served as the Department of Commerce’s Strategic Leader on Data with a focus on: (1) Driving innovation around the Commerce Department’s Open Data; (2) Bringing data into Commerce Department programs and operations; (3) Improving the quality, scope, and timeliness of U.S. core economic statistics; and (4) Bringing modern data technologies into the Department.
Mr. Antonipillai has also led a number of high-priority efforts around privacy and security. From 2013 until 2016, Mr. Antonipillai co-led the U.S. Negotiating Team in reaching the E.U.-U.S. Privacy Shield with Europe. Among other things, Mr. Antonipillai led dialogues with the European Commission, outreach to industry and civil society groups, briefings for Congressional committees and EU Members States, and engagements with the CNIL and E.U. Member State Ministries and Data Protection Authorities. He also testified in the EU Parliament in support of adoption of Privacy Shield, and is a regular speaker on the subject of international privacy regimes.
Mr. Antonipillai also has been deeply engaged on the issues of cybersecurity, encryption, and privacy—including on the General Data Protection Regulation, Signals Intelligence Reform, and other US domestic privacy law issues – and a wide range of economic issues, including tax and data policy issues.
Mr. Antonipillai joined the Commerce Department in 2013 as Deputy General Counsel, and has also served as Acting General Counsel and Acting Chief of Staff to Secretary Pritzker.
Prior to joining the Commerce Department, Mr. Antonipillai was a partner with the international law firm of Arnold & Porter LLP where he focused on the growth of United States-based companies, private equity funds, and accounting firms. During his time in private practice, Mr. Antonipillai was selected one of the "Top 40 Lawyers Under 40" by Washingtonian Magazine, and one of the "Top 40 Business People Under 40" by the Washington Business Journal.
In 2016, Mr. Antonipillai was awarded the National Intelligence Medallion by Director James Clapper.
Mr. Antonipillai received his BA from Cornell University in 1994 and a law degree from American University, Washington College of Law in 1997.