AI Governance Advisor | Tech Founder | Former Chief Privacy Officer | Executive Coach

Boards and executive teams are navigating a defining question. How do we govern artificial intelligence in a way that strengthens, rather than erodes, the human intelligence inside our organizations?

Building solutions to answer this question powers my life's work.

I am a tech founder, AI governance advisor, attorney, and former Chief Privacy Officer. For two decades, my career has lived at the intersection of human intelligence, artificial intelligence, and emerging technology. The pattern is consistent. I see technology inflection points early, and I build the frameworks that help leaders and organizations move through them with clarity.

Seeing the First Inflection Point

In 2006, I was serving as in-house counsel and assistant secretary at a publicly traded company when social media and online automation began reshaping how professionals build their brands and grow their revenue. Having practiced at an Am Law 100 law firm and as a federal government attorney, I understood the uncertainty licensed professionals felt. They were eager to embrace new technology, yet unsure how to do so within professional and ethical requirements.

So I built the bridge. I founded UpwardAction® to equip attorneys and other professionals with the tools to leverage emerging technologies to expand their brands, automate parts of their marketing, and diversify their revenue streams. The work grew to include training leaders from NASA, the Council on Foreign Relations, the DC Bar, and law firms across the country.

Governance at the Highest Stakes

I later returned to federal service, ultimately serving as Chief Privacy Officer and Senior Agency Official for Privacy at a federal financial services regulator. With over 16 years of federal government experience, I built and led a privacy program to full federal compliance standards, served as Managing Associate General Counsel, and managed the agency's intellectual property portfolio.

This is governance work in its most demanding form. Data, emerging technology, regulatory accountability, and enterprise risk, all managed at scale and under scrutiny.

The AI Inflection Point

As artificial intelligence accelerated, I recognized another pivotal moment, this time for boards, regulated industries, and licensed professionals seeking to adopt innovation responsibly while navigating uncertainty and risk.

After choosing to leave federal service in early 2025, I traveled the world immersing myself in cultural experiences and global AI governance conversations, earned advanced AI governance (AIGP) and privacy management (CIPM) certifications through the International Association of Privacy Professionals, and focused my work on the governance of intelligent systems.

What I Build Today

Through UpwardAction Advisory, I advise organizations across the full AI governance lifecycle, from pre-vendor decisions through adoption, defense, and ongoing governance. I design and deliver AI literacy and AI governance training for boards, executives, and teams, because education is where transformation takes root.

I am also the creator of Human Intelligence Value Mapping™ and Unique Human Contribution™, proprietary frameworks that help organizations identify the human intelligence that drives their value, decide what belongs to people and what belongs to machines, and activate AI-native, human-first leadership.

In the Boardroom

Institutional investors and proxy advisors now treat AI oversight as a core fiduciary responsibility, yet only a small fraction of boards include a director with AI governance expertise. I bring boards a rare combination of legal training, a regulator's discipline, a founder's operating judgment, and deep fluency in AI governance, privacy, and emerging technology. I help boards ask sharper questions, structure credible oversight, and connect AI strategy to the human intelligence that creates enterprise value.

Coaching Leaders Through Bringing the Future Into Their Present

Alongside my advisory and board work, I maintain an executive coaching practice for leaders navigating their own next chapter. As an ICF-trained coach, I work with executives and founders on purpose, positioning, and readiness, whether the next move is a board seat, a venture, or a reinvention. The same thinking that guides organizations through AI transformation guides individuals through personal transformation. Both begin with knowing your Unique Human Contribution™.

The future belongs to leaders who bring it into the present. My work helps them do exactly this.

Learn more at www.CoachTC.com.