Senior Director, Data Protection

Divya Sridhar, Ph.D., joins SIIA as the Senior Director, Data Protection. Most recently, Divya served as Policy Director, Digital Equity at Governor Jeb Bush’s foundation ExcelinEd, where she focused on policies to bridge the digital divide for students and engaged in efforts to strengthen student data privacy, working with Governor’s offices, state Broadband offices, and state legislatures.  Previously, Divya served as the Public Policy Advisor for Government Affairs for five years with the learning science publisher, McGraw-Hill. In this role, she developed and managed the company’s advocacy strategy relating to global, federal and state education privacy policy work. She has led efforts relating to global data protection and localization policies, FERPA, ESSA, HEA, CCPA, and more. Prior to her time at McGraw-Hill, she served in numerous roles in the healthcare and telemedicine industry, supporting policy and advocacy for the HITECH Act and HIPAA. 

Divya earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance from Texas A&M University, a Master of Public Policy from the University of Texas at Dallas and a PhD in Public Policy from George Mason University.  Divya lives with her husband and daughter in the New York metro area and enjoys playing tennis, hiking and traveling in her free time.