Juliette Kayyem
Speaker
Professional Affiliation
Faculty Director of Homeland Security Project, Belfer Senior Lecturer in International Security, Harvard Kennedy School; Former Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Intergovernmental Affairs
Expert Bio
In academia, the private sector, government, and media, Juliette Kayyem is a national leader in homeland security, cybersecurity, resiliency, and safety. She is currently a Professor in International Security at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, where she is faculty chair of the Homeland Security and Security and Global Health Projects. In this position, she teaches courses on homeland security and crisis management and leads programmatic efforts across a broad range of security challenges including North American border management, climate change adaptation, and public health disinformation. She is an affiliated faculty for Harvard鈥檚 National Public Leadership Initiative. She is co-editor of the book, 鈥溾婤eyond 9/11: Homeland Security for the 21鈥媠t Century鈥.鈥 (MIT Press, 2020).
Kayyem is an innovative leader and consultant in the private sector. She is the CEO of Grip Mobility, a technology platform that provides audio and video capabilities for rideshare companies to increase the security for drivers and riders; Grip Mobility is now distributed globally, with several major pilots with Uber. She was named Inc Magazine鈥檚 top 100 Female Founders in 2019. She also serves as a security advisor to start-ups such as Evolv Technologies, a firearm and bomb detection system, and major companies, such as Airbnb and UPS.
In government, she most recently served as President Obama鈥檚 Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security. There she played a pivotal leadership role in major operations including handling of the H1N1 pandemic and the BP Oil Spill response; she also led major efforts and stakeholder engagement in policies on critical infrastructure protections, cybersecurity, and community resiliency. Before that, she was Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick鈥檚 homeland security advisor guiding regional planning and the state鈥檚 first interoperability plan, climate change policies, and overseeing the National Guard. As an advisor, she served on the Department of Homeland Security鈥檚 Homeland Security Advisory Committee where she co-authored its strategic assessment of critical infrastructure and cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
In government, she most recently served as President Obama鈥檚 Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security. There she played a pivotal leadership role in major operations including handling of the H1N1 pandemic and the BP Oil Spill response; she also led major efforts and stakeholder engagement in policies on critical infrastructure protections, cybersecurity, and community resiliency. Before that, she was Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick鈥檚 homeland security advisor guiding regional planning and the state鈥檚 first interoperability plan, climate change policies, and overseeing the National Guard. As an advisor, she served on the Department of Homeland Security鈥檚 Homeland Security Advisory Committee where she co-authored its strategic assessment of critical infrastructure and cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
In government, she most recently served as President Obama鈥檚 Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security. There she played a pivotal leadership role in major operations including handling of the H1N1 pandemic and the BP Oil Spill response; she also led major efforts and stakeholder engagement in policies on critical infrastructure protections, cybersecurity, and community resiliency. Before that, she was Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick鈥檚 homeland security advisor guiding regional planning and the state鈥檚 first interoperability plan, climate change policies, and overseeing the National Guard. As an advisor, she served on the Department of Homeland Security鈥檚 Homeland Security Advisory Committee where she co-authored its strategic assessment of critical infrastructure and cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, and the mother of three children, she is married to First Circuit Court of Appeals Judge David Barron.