Shorenstein Center adjunct faculty member, Kathy Pham, is a product leader, computer scientist, and founder who has held roles in product management, software engineering, data science, consulting, and leadership in the private, non-profit, and public sectors. Her expertise lies at the intersection of technology, ethics, and responsibility, with a focus on ethical principles in practice in product management, design, and engineering. At this session of Data + Donuts, hosted by Harvard Kennedy School Library & Research Services, Kathy will speak about the intersections of data bias, algorithmic justice, and public policy.

Kathy currently serves as the Workday Vice President of Artificial Intelligence. In 2024, she was named the ABIE Technical Leadership Award Recipient. Most recently, she was appointed the inaugural Executive Director of the United States National AI Advisory Committee, tasked with advising the United States President and the National AI Initiative Office. Previously, she served as the Deputy Chief Technology Officer of the Federal Trade Commission. Kathy also serves as a Senior Advisor at Mozilla. Her experience and leadership has spanned Mozilla, Google (Search, Health, and People Operations), IBM, Harris Healthcare, and the federal government at the United States Digital Service, where she was a founding product and engineering member. She has founded the Ethical Tech Collective, Product and Society, Women in Product Boston, the Cancer Sidekick Foundation, Team Curious, and Unite for Sight Southeast.

At Harvard, Kathy has held multiple faculty, fellowship, and affiliate positions. At the Kennedy School, she created and teaches Product Management and Society, and launched Product and Society. At the Business School, she teaches Product Management: Building New Technologies. Kathy is an Affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center where she co-founded the Ethical Tech working group, and focuses on ethics in technology, with an emphasis on engineering culture and computer science curricula. She is also a Fellow at the Shorenstein Center, former Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center, faculty affiliate at the Center for Research on Computation and Society (CRCS), and faculty affiliate with Assembly:Disinformation.

Kathy’s talk will be given in a hybrid format. Register to receive a link to join via Zoom. In-person attendees can join us in the Allison Dining Room (Taubman Building, 5th Floor). Those without an HUID may enter via the Wexner security desk after showing a photo ID. View a map of campus.

Data + Donuts features researchers and practitioners speaking about how they use data in their work, and on issues of data and society. The sessions welcome those from the HKS community and beyond to share knowledge, discussion, and donuts. Explore the full list of past speakers. Video recordings are available upon request.