For more than 30 years, Harriet Pearson has done pioneering work at the intersection of IT, business, and law. Though her consultancy Axia Advisory, she now provides clients with digital governance solutions such as board training, cybersecurity breach readiness, regulatory strategies, and business development and communications coaching.
Until June 2024 Harriet was Executive Deputy Superintendent and head of the Cybersecurity Division at the New York Department of Financial Services. She played a key role in updating DFS’s nation-leading cybersecurity regulation and built and deployed a comprehensive set of resources to help businesses comply with the new requirements.
Previously Harriet was a Partner at Hogan Lovells where she founded and led the global cybersecurity practice for a decade starting in 2012 before transitioning to Senior Counsel in 2021. Among her representations were high-profile and high-stakes matters involving crisis management, investigations, and regulatory enforcement in the aftermath of high-profile cyberattacks. She also served as the firm’s global Innovation and New Ventures Partner.
She joined Hogan Lovells from IBM where she served as the company’s first VP-Assistant General Counsel for Cybersecurity and Chief Privacy Officer. During her 19-year career at IBM she held other executive roles spanning legal/compliance, human resources, and public affairs. Harriet led large multi-disciplinary teams and represented the company externally to Congress, the White House, regulators, the media, advocacy organizations, and business leaders nationally and internationally.
Pearson has received numerous recognitions for her pioneering work in cybersecurity and data privacy law and policy, including North America “Legal Innovator of the Year” and Global Top 20 Practitioners in 20 Years from the Financial Times, “Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Trailblazer” from National Law Journal, “Woman of Influence” from Executive Women’s Forum, “Vanguard Award” from International Association of Privacy Professionals, and “Senior Statesperson” and “Band 1” in US Privacy and Data Security by Chambers & Partners.
Harriet graduated with honors from Princeton University and UCLA School of Law (Order of the Coif) and completed executive leadership training courses at Harvard Business School and Saïd Business School of Oxford University. She has taught as an Adjunct Lecturer at both the UCLA School of Law and Georgetown University. She is a member of the bar in New York and the District of Columbia. She currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Technology, Law and Security Program at American University Washington College of Law and has served on numerous advisory boards including for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Electronic Privacy Information Center, and the Georgetown Cybersecurity Law Institute which she co-founded in 2012 and co-chaired for six years. She helped found, and for a decade served on the board of directors of, the International Association of Privacy Professionals and previously served on the boards of several non-profit organizations providing educational and social services.
In addition to her professional work, Harriet is engaged in community-based philanthropy and investment in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. She and her spouse rehabilitated and now operate the historic Shepherdstown Opera House, and she publishes the WV Independent Observer covering local news in Jefferson County. She is a member of the Country Roads Angel Network and she co-chairs the Grant Committee of WISH, a women’s giving circle that grants approximately $150,000 annually to non-profit organizations and university-based programs in and around the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.