Nuala O’Connor is a pioneering leader, lawyer, and public policy expert working at the intersection of law and technology. For more than three decades, she has been at the forefront of technological innovation, advising on the responsible use of data and emerging technologies in high-stakes security environments. Her experience spans senior leadership roles in the U.S. government, multinational corporations, and the nonprofit sector, where she brings a civil liberties and human dignity lens to technology policy and data innovation.

Nuala has held pivotal leadership positions in government and the nonprofit sector. As the first Chief Privacy Officer of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), she helped establish the department’s technology and data protection frameworks in the aftermath of 9/11. Her work set essential guardrails to protect individual rights while advancing the agency’s mission during a period of unprecedented technological disruption and national security challenges. In the nonprofit sector, as President and CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology, she helped reshape public discourse on digital civil liberties, laying the foundation for ethical technology practices that strengthen free enterprise and support effective governance in a thriving democracy.

In the private sector, Nuala has championed digital ethics at the cutting edge of innovation. As Senior Vice President and Chief Counsel at Walmart, she founded and led the company’s Digital Citizenship organization. She guided one of the world’s largest companies in the responsible deployment of AI, cybersecurity, biometrics, data privacy, and digital transformation initiatives. By leading enterprise-wide efforts on the ethical use of emerging technologies, digital identity programs, and data governance, she advanced a global strategy that accelerated innovation while reinforcing corporate responsibility and human dignity. Nuala has also held senior leadership roles at Amazon, General Electric, and the internet advertising company DoubleClick, advancing human rights at the technological frontier.

Nuala frequently provides legal and policy commentary in national and international media. She has appeared on major broadcast outlets including NPR, CNN, MSNBC, and the BBC, and has been quoted in or interviewed by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and Politico. She has testified numerous times before the U.S. Congress, as well as before the European Commission and the European Parliament. Her essays and policy analyses have appeared in leading publications and platforms focused on technology innovation and societal impact, civil liberties, data privacy, and digital governance.

Nuala holds an A.B. from Princeton University, an M.Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.