Heidi L. Wachs is Vice President in Aon’s Cyber Solutions’ (formerly Stroz Friedberg) Washington, D.C. office, where she helps clients prepare for and respond to data breach and cybersecurity incidents and develop and implement data privacy and information security programs.  Ms. Wachs, whose experience includes serving as a technical analyst and Chief Privacy Officer for a major research university, frequently speaks and writes on data privacy, information security, information governance, and best practices for data privacy and breach response.  

Before joining Stroz Friedberg, Ms. Wachs helped lead the Data Privacy and Cybersecurity practice at an AmLaw 100 international law firm, where she counseled clients in a broad range of industries on privacy, information governance, and cybersecurity issues.  Her practice included providing proactive and reactive advice on data breaches and cybersecurity incidents including developing incident response plans and creating and facilitating tabletop breach response exercises, managing all aspects of breach response including drafting internal and external communications, engaging third-party cyber forensic investigators on behalf of clients to preserve applicable attorney-client and/or attorney work product privilege, and coordinating notification to regulators, federal and state government agencies, and affected individuals. She also advised clients on developing, reviewing, and revising privacy, information security, and information governance policies to mitigate information and cybersecurity risk.  

 Prior to her law firm experience, Ms. Wachs worked with information technology professionals in higher education and the private sector.  She was a Research Director focused on privacy and identity management at an international research and consulting firm, where she authored technical publications for a global client base and presented at worldwide events on topics including privacy, information classification, and identity governance and administration.  She served as a Washington, DC-based major research university’s first University Chief Privacy Officer and Director of IT Policy, where she established and managed university-wide data privacy initiatives for information technology operations and data breach response. Earlier in her career, Ms. Wachs represented technology-focused clients as a public relations executive.  

 In 2017, Ms. Wachs was recognized by the National Law Journal as a Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Trailblazer.  She was also named to the Legal 500 in 2017 and 2016. Ms. Wachs earned her B.A. in Journalism from Lehigh University and her J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where she served as Managing Editor of the Women’s Law Journal. She is a member of the District of Columbia and United States Supreme Court bars and is a certified information privacy professional, CIPP/US.