Michael Chertoff is Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of the Chertoff Group, a global security risk management and growth advisory firm, which he co-founded after a notable career in public service, where he repeatedly addressed security issues of first impression.

As U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary from 2005-2009, he led the largest reorganization of the Federal civilian workforce since World War II. He gave up lifetime Federal appeals court judgeship to serve as DHS Secretary.

Earlier, at U.S. Department of Justice, he supervised investigation into the 9/11 attacks. Secretary Chertoff began his career as Federal prosecutor in New York in 1983, where he led the simultaneous prosecution of the heads of 5 major mafia crime families.

At Chertoff Group, Mr. Chertoff uses the same critical thinking discipline he used in government to help major corporations address evolving security issues, including cyber, geopolitical and physical risk. “Risk management has become the CEO’s concern,” he says. “We help our clients develop comprehensive strategies to manage risk without building barriers that get in the way of carrying on their business.”

Mr. Chertoff graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College (1975) and Harvard Law School (1978). From 1979-1980 he served as a clerk to Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, Jr. In addition to his role at Chertoff Group, Mr. Chertoff is also a senior of counsel at Covington & Burling LLP, and a member of the firm’s White Collar Defense and Investigations practice group.

He serves as an advisor to the American Bar Association’s Artificial Intelligence Task Force, as co-chair of the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity, on the board of trustees of the Freedom House, and as a director on the board of The Atlantic Council.

He is the author of Exploding Data: Reclaiming Our Cyber Security in the Digital Age.

Expertise 

• Risk identification, analysis, and mitigation
• Crisis management – prevention, preparation, response, and recovery
• Strategic counsel on global security solutions

Previous Government Service

• Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2005 – 2009)
• Federal Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (2003 – 2005)
• Assistant Attorney General of the United States, Criminal Division (2001 – 2003)