Joel Schwarz is a highly skilled attorney specializing in privacy, cybersecurity, cyber intelligence and compliance oversight and intellectual property rights, with a specialty in HIPAA. Joel is currently Managing Partner of The Schwarz Group, LLC, providing privacy, data governance, cybersecurity, compliance, incident response, and cyber intelligence advice to various clients, both starts-ups as well as mid to large-sized companies in various industries. Prior to consulting, Joel served for more than 2 years as Natera’s Senior Director for Corporate Data Privacy and Cybersecurity.
Joel is also an Adjunct Professor at Albany Law School, where he develops and teaches Masters-level courses on cybercrime, cybersecurity and privacy, and is also Co-Founder and Board member of a nationwide initiative known as the Student Data Privacy Project, focused on strengthening our federal educational laws (FERPA), and better protecting student data privacy.
Joel’s 360-degree perspective on cyber, privacy, and emerging technology was forged across public service, the intelligence community, and the private sector—including roles as a prosecutor (Special Counsel for Internet Matters, NY Attorney General’s Securities Bureau; Assistant Attorney General, Internet Bureau; and Department of Justice’s Computer Crime & Intellectual Property Section), Intelligence Community Privacy Officer (Office of Director of National Intelligence and the National Counterterrorism Center), and private sector positions at MetLife, MBL Technologies, and biotech firm Natera.
Joel frequently speaks and writes on privacy, data protection, cybersecurity, emerging technologies and intellectual property matters, and has published in a range of journals and online fora, to include The Hill, Bloomberg, Education Week, the International Association of Privacy Professionals’ Privacy Advisor, etc. He is also the cybercrime/privacy expert for a local Washington, D.C. TV News station, providing insights and guidance on breaking stories relating to privacy and cybercrime
Joel received his law degree from Albany Law School, cum laude, and his undergraduate degree in Economics and Computer Science from the State University of New York (SUNY) Binghamton, cum laude. He subsequently completed a certification in Advanced Information Technologies from New York University.
- He’s a certified information privacy professional (CIPP) by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), and a Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer (CDPSE) by ISACA.
Joel has a forthcoming book (Spring 2027) focused on educating mid and senior-level executives, as well as the C-Suite and Board, on the technical, practical and legal aspects of cybersecurity, privacy and incident response, tentatively titled, “From Main Street to C-Suite: Cybersecurity, Privacy and Working with Law Enforcement.”