About the IAPP

Dena Kozanas is Associate General Counsel and Chief Privacy Official at The MITRE Corporation. She serves as a key leader and legal adviser with the company’s data privacy and protection efforts, including GDPR compliance and alignment to state, federal, and international frameworks, regulations, and laws. Dena is also responsible for standing up and growing the Center for Data Privacy and Protection, an effort by MITRE to increase its expertise in privacy, security, and enterprise risk management. 

Dena previously served in key leadership roles in the legislative and executive branches of the federal government, including as Chief Privacy Officer at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and in a dual role at the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board as Acting Chief of Staff and Executive Counselor.

Dena holds a Master of Laws degree in National Security Law from Georgetown University Law Center. She earned a Juris Doctor from The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree in government and politics from the University of Maryland at College Park. She is admitted to the bars in the District of Columbia, New Jersey, and Virginia.   Dena is also CIPP/US and CIPM certified.

In July 2022, Dena was appointed to serve a three-year term as a member of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Information Technology Advisory Council.