Julia Pierson
Julia Pierson is an experienced federal law enforcement executive and a former Director of the United States Secret Service. During her tenure, Director Pierson was involved in the security and recovery efforts following the Oklahoma City bombing, the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington D.C., and the Boston Marathon bombing. From these experiences, Director Pierson has advocated for and implemented crisis intervention and employee assistance programs within the Secret Service to support first responders exposed to traumatic incidents. She also aims to ensure support services are available to journalists covering violence and tragedy.
Throughout her 30-year career, serving five presidential administrations, Director Pierson led significant improvements in agency operations by spearheading change and developing state-of-the-art technology solutions. These solutions were designed to mitigate emerging threats, improve global protective and investigative capabilities, enhance critical information sharing, support operational effectiveness, and streamline organizational processes. Director Pierson is a recipient of the Presidential Meritorious Executive Rank Award and has received multiple special recognition and Secret Service performance awards.
Director Pierson is a graduate of Harvard University’s National Preparedness Leadership Initiative (NPLI) and lectures on crisis and threat management practices to senior government and business executives. She has lectured at institutions including the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Academy for Critical Incident Analysis, Research Center, and the Center for Mass Violence Response Studies within the National Police Foundation. She is a board member of the Safe Community Cooperative and an active member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the Police Honor Roll, and the Concerns of Police Survivors (COPS) foundations.