Harriet Pearson

Executive Deputy Superintendent, Cybersecurity Division Head
New York Department of Financial Services

Harriet Pearson is Executive Deputy Superintendent and head of the Cybersecurity Division at the New York Department of Financial Services. She joined DFS on August 1, 2023 and brings over 30 years of legal, compliance, and business experience to public service. Previously Pearson was a Partner at Hogan Lovells where she founded and led the global cybersecurity practice for a decade before transitioning to Senior Counsel in 2021. She joined Hogan Lovells after a 19-year career with IBM, where she served as the company’s first Security Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer. In these and other positions at the company, Pearson led large global 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. Born in New York City, Pearson graduated with honors from Princeton University and the UCLA School of Law and completed executive leadership training courses at Harvard Business School and Said Business School of Oxford University. She is a member of the bar in New York and the District of Columbia.