Kathy Boockvar has been a national leader in election security, democracy, government administration, and nonprofit management over the last two decades, including serving as Secretary of State of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from 2019-2021. During her tenure, Kathy oversaw secure and resilient elections during a global pandemic, and was the state’s strong, consistent, decisive, and visible leader during a moment in history filled with unprecedented challenges.

Prior to her appointment as Secretary of State, Kathy served as Senior Advisor to Governor Tom Wolf on election modernization, working closely with local, state, and federal officials to strengthen election security and technology.

While Secretary, Kathy led Pennsylvania’s Inter-Agency Election Security and Preparedness Workgroup, and co-chaired the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) Elections Committee from 2019-2020.  She also served as NASS representative on the Election Infrastructure Subsector Government Coordinating Council (EIS-GCC), a collaboration among federal, state, and local officials to secure elections and ensure that election officials across the country receive timely threat information, support, and resources.

The election security and voter education measures implemented during Kathy’s tenure helped support record voter participation and unparalleled transparency and election integrity measures in Pennsylvania. These included the certification and deployment of new updated voting systems meeting the highest standards of security and accessibility, and piloting risk-limiting audits, advanced measures that help confirm that election outcomes are correct and voting equipment and procedures worked properly.  

Kathy later worked for the Center for Internet Security (CIS) as Vice President of Election Operations, where she led initiatives to provide election officials with the highest standards of election and cyber security practices and systems, and to help combat threats to election infrastructure.

An experienced manager and attorney, Kathy previously served as Executive Director of a nonprofit women’s health organization, and as Chief Counsel for the Pennsylvania Auditor General. Her first job in elections was as a poll worker, and it inspired her to become a voting-rights attorney for a national nonprofit civil rights organization. She also worked for over a decade as a private practice attorney, and began her career as a nonprofit Legal Services attorney, representing low-income, disabled, and senior clients, and victims of domestic violence.

Kathy is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (B.A. 1990) and the American University, Washington College of Law (J.D. 1993). She received a GIAC GISF Certification in Cybersecurity Fundamentals in 2022, and a Performance Leadership Certificate from Cornell University in 2014. She is a member of the Bar of the U.S. Supreme Court, Third Circuit Court of Appeals, U.S. District Courts, and Pennsylvania, New York, and Washington, D.C. courts.

Kathy is a frequent public speaker and writer on democracy and election security. Contact Athena Strategies if you’d like to partner with Kathy for an upcoming engagement.