Governing your AI environment

Kari Kelly

Founder & Managing Director

Kari founded Ethos to help companies govern AI in ways that build trust and support growth. She has built her career where technology, data and business meet, in roles that include General Counsel, strategic advisor to high-growth technology platforms and Silicon Valley practitioner. She approaches AI governance as business strategy: the trust layer that helps companies close enterprise deals, attract investment and scale with confidence.

Kari's foundation is in technology law and privacy, and she holds the CIPP/US certification. That background gives her a working command of the regulatory landscape, which she applies to business decisions. She has structured data licensing programs, led complex commercial transactions and built privacy into product design. Her work spans cross-border operations and regulated sectors, including AdTech, HealthTech, FinTech and enterprise SaaS.

She began her career as a Foreign Associate at a corporate and IP law firm in Germany, then returned to Silicon Valley as an M&A Associate at an Am Law 50 firm. As an outside General Counsel and strategic advisor, she has helped leadership teams set practical, board-level guardrails that keep businesses agile and within their risk tolerance. At Ethos, Kari works as a business advisor and strategist, helping startups and mid-market companies turn responsible AI into lasting business value.

Chiara Wirz

Senior AI Governance & Regulatory Advisor

Chiara Wirz is an AI governance, data privacy, and corporate governance specialist with nearly a decade of international experience spanning the United States, Europe, and Switzerland. Grounded in both legal and business administration disciplines, Chiara holds an LL.M., an MBA, active law admissions in California and Switzerland, as well as CIPP/US, CIPP/E, and AIGP certifications. She excels at translating complex global regulations into actionable operating structures. Her background spans in-house roles at global technology companies, private practice, and strategic advisory for fast-growing technology platforms and established enterprises.

At Ethos, Chiara focuses on AI Governance Foundation and Agentic AI Governance engagements. Leveraging her deep expertise in international data privacy compliance and certified proficiency in AI governance, she designs lifecycle accountability frameworks mapped directly to ISO 42001 and NIST AI RMF standards. Chiara helps organizations structure agent authority charters, human-in-the-loop controls, and consumer disclosure protocols, enabling clients to adopt cutting-edge AI technologies with total trust and regulatory confidence.

Kevin Kelly

Senior AI Governance & Emerging Tech Advisor

Kevin Kelly brings extensive experience guiding companies at the frontier of technology, including AI, digital assets, and aerospace, through high-stakes regulatory and commercial environments. Holding a J.D., magna cum laude, from Delaware Law School, he excels at establishing robust contracting frameworks, risk mitigation protocols, and forward-looking strategies that enable ambitious organizations to scale rapidly in fast-evolving regulatory landscapes. His career includes serving as in-house counsel at a multi-billion-dollar digital assets platform during a period of exponential growth, where he directed commercial contracting, IP licensing, and regulatory strategy under active federal agency scrutiny. Additionally, Kevin has engaged directly with U.S. and EU lawmakers on emerging technology legislation, bringing a policymaker's prospective insight to regulatory trends.

At Ethos, Kevin focuses on Agentic AI Governance and AI Vendor & Supply Chain Risk. He leverages his background in technology law and policy to help enterprise clients build resilient data rights, IP governance, and fiduciary accountability models, including spend controls and human-in-the-loop safeguards. A frequent author and speaker on technology law for premier legal forums, Kevin ensures that enterprise AI strategies satisfy board oversight, regulatory scrutiny, and counterpart trust requirements.

Heather Johnston

Senior AI Governance Advisor

Heather Johnston brings over two decades of global executive experience managing complex commercial, regulatory, and technological risk. Holding a J.D., magna cum laude, from Pepperdine School of Law and active bar admissions in California and Texas, Heather served as General Counsel for an international business line within a global leader in digital security and cybersecurity, leading cross-border teams across North America and global operations. Her tenure involved navigating high-stakes environments at the intersection of technology and enterprise risk by negotiating multi-million-dollar SaaS and software licensing transactions, advising product teams on global go-to-market strategies, and executing comprehensive risk management initiatives. She began her career at premier Am Law 100 firms specializing in litigation and corporate transactions.

At Ethos, Heather translates her deep background in commercial tech and corporate oversight into high-impact AI risk frameworks. She specializes in Board & Executive AI Oversight and AI Vendor & Supply Chain Risk, helping executive leadership teams design durable committee mandates, quarterly risk reporting, and rigorous vendor-diligence protocols. Known for delivering practical, business-aligned solutions, Heather ensures that enterprise AI deployment remains both commercially viable and strictly aligned with board-level risk tolerance.

Emile Kfouri

Technical Advisor, Agentic AI

Emile Kfouri is a technology leader with decades of experience building and scaling enterprise SaaS and PaaS solutions, with a deep focus on agent-led development and the deployment, design, and oversight of agentic systems in production environments. At Ethos, Emile provides the technical architecture required to make AI governance frameworks credible and operationally sound. He advises enterprise clients on permissioning structures, spend and action limits, human-in-the-loop design, and infrastructure controls to ensure autonomous systems operate safely, predictably, and at scale.