With Barack Obama in the White House, the U.S. has a president who understands—and cares directly about—technology policy. Given this interest at the very top of the power pyramid, 2009 looks to be a year in which significant tech policy changes will be considered. More than a few will become reality.

But who will be steering the tech policy train? Though we can't predict exactly where the ride will take us, Ars has partnered with Tech Policy Central to bring you our first-ever guide to the conductors and engineers who will guide us down the track in 2009.

How We Chose

Thanks to everyone who submitted nominations. The tech policy crowd is a small one, as crowds go, but it still contains enough fascinating people to make the selection of a list like this difficult. In finalizing our names, we first sought those most likely to wield influence in 2009. As you might expect, that led to a fair number of Democrats—a reflection of the simple reality of the power in Washington this year.

When it came time to further narrow down the pool of influencers, our next bias was in favor of those doing something new, interesting, or otherwise innovative—the sort of people who can not only influence tech policy but would also be fascinating to sit next to at your next dinner party. These are people like Sascha Meinrath of the New America Foundation, a creative advocate of open networks who has done work on white spaces and the new Google M-Lab program; or Vivek Kundra, the hard-charging CTO of Washington, who brings Silicon Valley's innovation commitment to government I.T. work.

No list can possibly please or include everyone who might rightfully have a claim on it, but you could do far worse than getting to know the names here. These are the people who will be working on smart grids, broadband deployment, IP law, net neutrality, and even doing a bit of corporate lobbying this year; the decisions that they make (and convince others to make) will reverberate through the tubes for years to come.

A note on selection: A special Ars thank you goes to Natalie Fonseca of Tech Policy Central, who helped us develop the idea for the list and who accepted and collated the nominations. The final list selection was made entirely by Ars Technica and does not necessarily represent the views of Tech Policy Central. The TPC folks have included an additional 10 names of their own at the end.

The 2009 People to Watch List

Robert Atkinson, Founder and President, The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF)

In less than three years, Robert Atkinson has established the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) as one of the leading, and most prolific, tech policy think tanks inside the Beltway. And he's showing no signs of slowing down in 2009.

Atkinson, who advised the Obama-Biden transition's NIST agency review and Technology, Innovation, and Government Reform teams, has been working to ensure that IT measures are baked into the economic stimulus plan that the president hopes to sign into law in February. He also co-chairs the U.S. Broadband Coalition's working group on metrics, and he plans to release several research reports on behalf of ITIF in coming months, including a study that will benchmark the US against dozens of other countries on innovation-based competitiveness factors.

With policymakers and regulators hungry for data they can point to when making tough decisions about the economy, Atkinson is in a prime spot to influence broadband and innovation policy in the new administration. Look for him to make his case in the court of public opinion as well; he's frequently cited by the media and has become a contributor to several tech policy blogs.

Jim Baller, President, Baller Herbst Law Group and Founder, U.S. Broadband Coalition

Back in December, we wrote about how telecom lawyer James Baller had successfully "midwifed" a call to action to develop a national broadband strategy among warring factions in the net-neutrality debate. Bringing together so many different factions was no small feat, and now that Baller finds himself at the helm of the U.S. Broadband Coalition, the real fun begins.

Congress is contemplating pumping billions of dollars into broadband infrastructure development, and Baller's next task is to keep the Coalition on track to send a clear signal to D.C. about what a national broadband plan should look like going forward.

Representative Rick Boucher (Democrat of Virginia), Chairman of House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet; Member of House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment; Member of House Judiciary Committee

Representative Rick Boucher, a Democrat serving his 14th term in Congress, is no stranger to tech policy. More than a decade ago, the Virginia policymaker co-founded the Congressional Internet Caucus, and he's been credited with helping give rise to electronic commerce by introducing legislation in the early '90s that authorized commercial traffic over the internet.

In 2009, Boucher is poised to play a pivotal role in tech and telecom policy debates over Universal Service Fund reform, the digital TV transition, and net neutrality as co-chair of the Net Caucus and the newly appointed chairman of the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet.

A longtime supporter of improving broadband, he has described high-speed net access as a "defining feature of economic success," and he is expected to be at the forefront of Congressional efforts to spur broadband deployment, particularly in rural communities like those in the southwestern Virginia district.

You can also look for him to weigh in on intellectual property matters like fair use and patent reform as a member of the House Judiciary Committee, and he'll keep a seat on the Energy and Environment Subcommittee that he chaired in the last Congress.

Steven Chu, U.S. Secretary of Energy

What does a Nobel Prize-winning physicist have to do with tech policy? Quite a lot, actually, when that physicist has been named U.S. Energy Secretary. Chu has the ear of an ambitious president who is committed to a "New Energy for America" plan that calls for making energy and clean-tech investments a top priority.

With Chu's appointment, President Obama reaffirmed his commitment to elevating the role of science and technology, and Chu is beginning his leadership role at the Department of Energy at a time when the federal government is considering close to $1 trillion in stimulus spending.

Not only is he an accomplished scientist and researcher, Chu has proved that he can broker tough deals as well. As director of the Berkeley Laboratory, he was active in helping UC Berkeley win its share of a $500 million grant from oil giant BP to fund biofuels research at the university, despite criticism and campus protests that claimed the project gave too much power to BP's corporate interests. We expect nothing less than that same tenacity from him as he takes the reins at the DOE.

Aaron Cooper, Counsel to U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee
Stacey Dansky, Majority Counsel to U.S. House Judiciary Committee

Representative John Conyers (Democrat of Michigan) and Senator Patrick Leahy (Democrat of Vermont), chairmen of the U.S. House and Senate Judiciary Committees, respectively, oversee intellectual property matters in Congress, including patent and copyright reform, orphan works legislation, and the battle over performance rights. But behind every member of Congress you'll find hard-working staffers who keep the wheels in motion. House Judiciary IP counsel Stacey Dansky and her counterpart in the Senate, Aaron Cooper, will have their hands full this year.

Since Representative Conyers decided to nix the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property in the 111th Congress, both the House and the Senate will be taking up IP legislation at the full committee level. For Cooper and Dansky, that means their expertise will be even more valuable as they help their bosses try to pass bills that have stalled in previous sessions of Congress.