Heather Flanagan

Heather Flanagan is the Principal at Spherical Cow Consulting, helping organizations navigate the fast-moving world of digital identity and internet standards. With 15+ years of experience translating complex technical concepts into clear, actionable strategy, she is known for bridging communities and guiding collaborative work. Heather co-chairs the W3C Federated Identity and Exploration Interest Groups, the IETF Secure Patterns for Internet Credentials (SPICE) working group, and HotRFC. Her past roles include leadership positions with the OpenID Foundation, IDPro, the IETF/IRTF, and REFEDS. Named to the 2025 Okta Identity 25 as a top thought leader in digital identity, Heather is a frequent speaker and writer on standards, governance, and the friction of identity implementation.