Director, Data & AI Governance · Adobe
Joseph A. Wallace
I spent a decade building Adobe's enterprise Data and AI Governance program without a mandate, a budget, or anyone asking me to. I write and speak about leadership, organizational change, and what it actually takes to move institutions before you have the authority to demand it.
ScrollAbout
I am the Director of Data and AI Governance at Adobe, where I founded the company's enterprise Data and AI Governance program nearly a decade ago. It began with a complaint about inconsistent dashboards and became the governance infrastructure for one of the largest AI portfolios in enterprise software.
Before Adobe, I spent a year doing humanitarian finance work in post-cyclone Burma, interned at the FBI for the polygraph experience, and drafted voter ID legislation as a law school intern while thinking about boats. These things are related.
I write about governance, leadership, and institutional change at josephawallace.substack.com.
Director, Data and AI Governance
Adobe
Advisory Board Member
Collibra
Advisory Board Member
Cyera
Published in
MIT Sloan Management Review · IAPP · CDO Magazine
Speaker at
AWS re:Invent · VentureBeat Transform · Collibra Data Citizens
Writing
CDO Magazine
Almost nobody in a large enterprise is actually incentivized to do governance. Here's what CDOs can do about it before regulators force the conversation.
↗MIT Sloan Management Review
Most organizations are asking the wrong question. The right one is simpler, and almost nobody can answer it.
↗CDO Magazine
Most AI governance programs treat governance as a review process. Effective governance starts much earlier, embedded in systems, permissions, and guardrails.
↗IAPP
AI doesn't erase past governance work. It removes any tolerance for inconsistency and amplifies the debt you've been carrying.
Speaking & Podcasts
I speak on AI governance, organizational change, and the gap between frameworks and accountability. Available for conferences, panels, and podcast conversations.
Featured Keynote
Contact
For speaking inquiries, podcast bookings, press, or anything else — reach out directly. I respond to everything.