Rita Heimes

Rita Heimes is Senior Counsel in the Cybersecurity + Privacy practice group of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, a leading global law firm. At Akin, Rita advises clients across industries on navigating the risks and opportunities presented by emerging technologies. Her deep knowledge of state, federal, and global privacy and data protection laws, combined with fluency in digital technologies, enables her to support clients in managing complex, high-stakes consumer protection issues across both transactional and dispute contexts. She also has extensive experience guiding organizations through cybersecurity incident response, from planning and preparation, to breach investigation, to regulatory notification, and helps ensure compliance with evolving federal and international cybersecurity requirements.

Rita recently served as General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer at the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), where she gained unique experience guiding a multinational client with pressing business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) privacy and data protection issues and solutions. She also managed organization-wide legal issues for IAPP in collaboration with the senior executive team, including overseeing litigation and other disputes, risk management, international operations strategy, insurance portfolio, talent opportunities, terminations, and supporting leadership with Board relations.

Rita holds the following IAPP certifications: CIPP/E, CIPP/US and CIPM.