# Author and Co-founder, IIW

Source: https://startwithidentity.com/experts/phil-windley/
Last updated: 2026-08-29
License: content by Start with Identity. Cite the source URL.

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## Bio

Phil Windley is an author, researcher, and co-founder of the [Internet Identity Workshop](https://startwithidentity.com/conferences/iiw/). His book Learning Digital Identity is a widely used reference, and his work on decentralized identity, autonomic identifiers, and identity architecture has influenced both standards and practice. He previously served as CIO of the State of Utah.

Profile built from public IIW and personal-site records.

## Where their work shows up

Windley's writing on [decentralized identity](https://startwithidentity.com/guides/fundamentals/what-is-decentralized-identity/) and autonomic identifiers is among the clearest available on why holder-mediated presentation differs from [federation](https://startwithidentity.com/glossary/federation/), and why removing the issuer from the moment of presentation matters. See [decentralized identifiers](https://startwithidentity.com/standards/decentralized-identifiers-did/) and [DID methods compared](https://startwithidentity.com/guides/decentralized-identity/did-methods-compared/).