Experience

A career built by solving complex organizational challenges.

Executive and Legal Experience

Chief Privacy Officer & Acting Chief Risk Officer - Internal Revenue Service

As Chief Privacy Officer, Kathleen was entrusted with protecting one of the federal government's largest repositories of sensitive personal and financial information, serving hundreds of millions of individual and business taxpayers. During a period of rapid digital transformation, she led enterprise privacy and data protection, later serving concurrently as Acting Chief Risk Officer and advising executive leadership on some of the organization's most complex strategic and operational challenges.

Deputy Chief of Staff - Internal Revenue Service

As Deputy Chief of Staff, Kathleen helped guide the IRS through one of the most consequential periods in its history. Working closely with the Commissioner, Deputy Commissioners, and Chief of Staff, she helped lead the agency through the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, including supporting the launch of the Economic Impact Payment program while ensuring the continued success of tax filing season and protecting the health and safety of more than 85,000 employees.

Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Operations Support - Internal Revenue Service

As the IRS's Deputy Chief Operating Officer-equivalent, Kathleen oversaw a broad enterprise portfolio that included budget and finance, information technology, procurement, privacy, risk, facilities, and other mission support functions. She worked across the organization to align strategy with operations, strengthen organizational effectiveness, and ensure the people, systems, and resources were positioned to support one of the federal government's largest civilian agencies.

Director of Privacy & Information Protection - Internal Revenue Service

Kathleen co-founded the IRS's first centralized privacy office during a period of rapidly increasing identity theft and heightened concerns about the protection of taxpayer information. She helped build the agency's enterprise privacy program, developed its first identity theft strategy, and established the organizational foundation for a coordinated, enterprise-wide approach to privacy and data protection.

Executive Lead, Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) - U.S. Department of the Treasury

Kathleen was one of several executive leaders from throughout the federal government selected to help build the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in response to the 2008 financial crisis. Working in a startup environment, she helped build the program from the ground up, creating the people, processes, and organizational foundation needed to rapidly launch and sustain one of the largest economic stabilization efforts in U.S. history.

Associate - Jones Day (Dallas, TX), Burr & Forman (Birmingham, AL)

Early in her career, Kathleen was a corporate associate, where she represented public and private companies in mergers and acquisitions and securities matters, including Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings. She also advised clients as they navigated new corporate governance and disclosure requirements following the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Kathleen standing indoors near a white wall

Teaching

Adjunct Professor of Law - University of Virginia School of Law

Kathleen teaches Privacy in Practice: Building and Leading a Modern Privacy Office, preparing future lawyers to translate privacy law into organizational practice through governance, leadership, risk management, and AI privacy governance.

News Coverage

  • CBS News Sunday Morning

  • CNN

  • The Washington Post

  • The Guardian

  • The Times

  • Forbes

  • GQ

  • Slate

  • The Observer

  • The Briefing with Jen Psaki

  • Morning Joe

  • Bloomberg Tax

  • Tax Notes

Featured In

  • Blockers: Rebels in the Deep State by Michael Lewis

  • UVA Lawyer — “The Lawyers Breathing Life into AI”

  • The Atlantic’s Autocracy in America podcast

  • Tax Notes Talk podcast

Education & Professional Credentials

  • University of Virginia School of Law, J.D. — Articles Editor, Journal of Law & Politics

  • Georgetown University, B.A. Government (German minor) — Summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa

  • Certified Information Privacy Professional/United States (CIPP/US)

  • State Bar of Texas (Inactive)