In addition to her full-time legal practice, Pearson also served as Hogan Lovells’ global Innovation and New Ventures Partner. Drawing on her longstanding corporate experience, she helped design and lead a firmwide transformation and growth initiative from 2014 to 2019. In 2019, Hogan Lovells was recognized by the Financial Times as the most innovative law firm in North America.

Pearson joined Hogan Lovells from IBM where she served as the company’s Vice President, Assistant General Counsel for Cybersecurity and Chief Privacy Officer. Her responsibilities in that role included global cybersecurity incident preparedness and response.

Pearson’s appointment as IBM’s chief privacy officer in November 2000 was the first in the Fortune 500 and a bellwether for corporate privacy programs. She built and led the company’s global privacy function for a dozen years. She also helped shape the new profession by co-founding the organization now known as the International Association of Privacy Professionals and serving on its board during its first decade.

During her 19-year career at IBM Pearson gained valuable experience in other leadership roles spanning legal/compliance, human resources, and public affairs. She led large multi-disciplinary teams and represented the company externally to Congress, the White House, regulators, the media, advocacy organizations, and business leaders nationally and internationally.

Pearson has received numerous recognitions for her pioneering work in cybersecurity and data privacy law and policy, including North America “Legal Innovator of the Year” from Financial Times, “Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Trailblazer” from National Law Journal, “Woman of Influence” from Executive Women’s Forum, “Vanguard Award” from International Association of Privacy Professionals, and “Senior Statesperson” and "Band 1" in US Privacy and Data Security by Chambers & Partners.

Pearson graduated with honors from Princeton University and UCLA School of Law (Order of the Coif) and completed executive leadership training courses at Harvard Business School and Saïd Business School of Oxford University. She has taught as an adjunct lecturer at the UCLA School of Law and Georgetown University. She is a member of the bar in New York and the District of Columbia.

She has served on numerous advisory boards including for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, and the Georgetown Cybersecurity Law Institute which she co-founded in 2012 and co-chaired for six years. Her non-profit experience is extensive, including current work in local journalism and community-based theater and previous service on the boards of a library, an internet trust organization, an international university, and a social services agency.

Pearson currently divides her time between the Washington, D.C. and Richmond, VA metro areas.