Rachel Gillum is a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab and a leader with experience driving strategic initiatives and solutions to address complex geopolitical challenges within the US government, multinational corporations, and academia.

Gillum is vice president of ethical and humane use of technology at Salesforce where she leads the global policy team. She and her colleagues work to put ethics and privacy at the center of product design and product use policies to ensure Salesforce technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), are not used for harm and uphold basic human rights. She manages the company’s Ethical Use Advisory Council— a group that includes international experts from the United Nations, Freedom House, academic institutions, and other organizations.

The US Chamber of Commerce appointed Gillum as a commissioner on its AI Commission on Competition, Inclusion, and Innovation. The Commission convenes thought leaders with experience in government, industry, and civil society to develop durable, bipartisan AI policy solutions to ensure the United States continues to lead in innovation while fostering fairness and upholding human rights.

Gillum is also an affiliated scholar at Stanford University and the author of several academic works. 

Gillum previously worked alongside former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates as a senior director at RiceHadleyGates LLC, where she and her team assisted chief executive officers and senior executives at major tech companies in meeting key strategic and geopolitical challenges. Gillum led the firm’s portfolio of technology and venture capital companies as senior director of the Silicon Valley Office. Her global experience stems from her time working as an intelligence analyst within the US government as well as leading major research projects in international relations at Stanford University. 

Gillum is a term member at the Council on Foreign Relations and a security fellow at the Truman National Security Project. She is the co-founder and former co-director of Truman’s diversity initiative, aimed at supporting and advancing underrepresented minorities in the international security profession. Gillum received her doctorate and master’s degrees from Stanford University and her bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington in Seattle.