Denise Zheng (she/her)
Managing Director, Metaverse Continuum Business Group & Global Lead for Responsible Metaverse
Accenture
Denise Zheng is Managing Director and Global Lead for Responsible Metaverse at Accenture. She leads a multidisciplinary team spanning technology, strategy, and policy to design, build, and operate in the metaverse responsibly. She also oversees various strategic initiatives for Accenture’s Chair and Global CEO.
She has a unique blend of expertise, including advanced technology R&D programs, policy development, and strategy, and driving major cross-industry initiatives on artificial intelligence, data privacy, and cybersecurity working with CEOs of Fortune 500 companies.
Before joining Accenture, Denise was head of technology and innovation at Business Roundtable. She also led the Strategic Technologies Program at CSIS, the top-ranked think tank in the United States. She served as a lead systems engineer, a technical advisor, and chief of staff of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Plan X program in the Information Innovation Office. Earlier in her career, Denise was director for cybersecurity at CA Technologies and was a principal subject matter expert for Senate Homeland Security Committee brought in to draft and negotiate comprehensive cybersecurity legislation.
Denise has testified multiple times before the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives as an expert on data privacy and internet governance issues. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, and she has been interviewed by CNN, BBC, CBS, and NPR on various technology issues.
Denise completed her bachelor’s and graduate studies at the University of Michigan, the London School of Economics, the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, and The Wharton School of Business.
