Deborah (she/her) joined Deloitte over 25 years ago and currently serves as the US Cyber & Strategic Risk leader for the Risk & Financial Advisory practice at Deloitte & Touche LLP, as well as a member of the US Extended Leadership Team and previously of the US Board Council. In her role, Deb leads one of Deloitte’s largest growth and business transformation Offering Portfolios in the company’s 175-year history with over 8,000 professionals (across the U.S., India, and Israel) in an interdisciplinary Cyber, Extended Enterprise, Crisis & Resilience, and Strategy & Brand business.
Growth and change are inevitable in the ever evolving digital marketplace; however, Deb’s transformational leadership and forward-thinking approach cemented Deloitte’s position as a leading technology and services provider and fostered a culture of innovation, purpose, accountability, ownership, and autonomy—ultimately breaking the “glass ceiling” of possibilities and empowering her professionals to achieve their fullest potential. For example, over several months—during the pandemic-related marketplace disruption, she successfully concepted, negotiated, and closed six strategic acquisitions—during which time, she concurrently drove record consecutive year over year growth, more than doubled the workforce, and invested heavily in bringing break-through cyber and strategic risk management solutions to clients. With Deloitte’s clients and people as her focus, Deb continues pushing forward with growth-oriented, innovative opportunities.
Deb distinguishes herself inside Deloitte, and in the broader professional services industry, by applying her authentic, empathetic, and purpose-driven leadership style to inspire her community and deliver results for clients and for the business. She advocates for and is changing “the face of cyber” by expanding opportunity and access—connecting women, LGBTQ+ and other underrepresented communities, and individuals with non-traditional backgrounds—to the field of cyber. These values are weaved throughout the business—including Deloitte initiatives around mental health and solution-oriented training and recruiting efforts. Through these efforts, she is creating a workforce that is better suited to solve the multitude of challenges caused by the changing threat landscape.
Recognized as a thought leader on numerous topics, Deb regularly appears in national news media, speaks at industry events, and has written for the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and other publications. She hosts the “Resilient” and “the best problem I ever had” podcast series, and appears in the “Ella the Engineer” comic book series, created to inspire the next generation of girls in STEM.
Deb believes in the power to create the change you want to see in the world and uses her remaining time to give back to her community, actively helping others transform their lives and those of others. She serves on Virginia Tech’s Business Information Technology and Masters in Information Technology advisory boards within the Pamplin College of Business. Additionally, she trains service dogs on behalf of the Guide Dog Foundation and America’s VetDogs to aid the visually impaired, veterans, and first responders. Deb is currently raising Benny, her third full-time service puppy and Deloitte’s first sponsored “puppy with a purpose.”