OUR FOUNDER and ceo

Florence D. Hudson is an experienced Board Director, senior executive and consultant. She is Founder and CEO of FDHint, LLC, consulting with industry, government, research and academic clients in advanced technology innovations, and collaborative innovation. She is Executive Director of the Northeast Big Data Innovation Hub at Columbia University, a community convener, collaboration hub, and catalyst for data science innovation. She is Principal Investigator on multiple awards funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation under grants #1916585, #1550284, #1748395, #2333532, the Department of Transportation / Federal Highway Administration, and a subaward from Howard University for the U.S. National Institutes of Health funded Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Consortium to Advance Health Equity and Researcher Diversity (AIM-AHEAD). As leader of one of the four US Big Data Innovation Hubs, she collaborates with data science leaders across the U.S. and in the European Union to enable EU-US collaboration on Next Generation Internet. She is Principal Investigator for the COVID Information Commons, a portal and community to enable research collaboration for COVID-19 response, recovery and mitigation, funded by NSF grants #2028999 and #2139291 through 2025.

inspiring keynote speaker

Florence is invited to deliver keynote presentations around the world, from executive business transformation to healthcare security and academic conferences. Her speaking engagements, future and past including her TEDxTalk, are linked on the FDHint speaking page.

View this short video about Florence’s role as Executive Director of the Northeast Big Data Innovation Hub in the Data Science Institute at Columbia University. The Hub community includes 17,361 individuals in 67 countries, where they leverage open free online content to learn how to use data and knowledge for social good. Learners of all ages, from students to professionals, are welcome to join in.

Florences’ Journey and Development of Expertise

Trained as an Aerospace and Mechanical Engineer, Florence began her career at Grumman Aerospace Corporation and NASA, followed by a career in Information and Communications Technology including roles as IBM Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Internet2 Senior Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer, and special advisor for Trusted CI, the NSF Cybersecurity Center of Excellence at Indiana University, leading their Cybersecurity Research Transition to Practice (TTP) program. In 2016 she was awarded U.S. National Science Foundation grants for End-to-End Trust and Security for the Internet of Things (IoT) and Cybersecurity Transition To Practice (TTP) Acceleration. In 2018 she became Founder and CEO of FDHint, LLC. Florence received her Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering degree from Princeton University, and executive education certificates from Columbia University and Harvard Business School.

TIPPSS leader - Trust, Identity, Privacy, Protection, Safety and Security - She wrote the books!

Florence Chaired the IEEE/UL 2933 working group receiving the IEEE - Standards Association 2024 Emerging Technology Award for developing the IEEE/UL 2933 global standard for Clinical Internet of Things Data and Device Interoperability with TIPPSS - Trust, Identity, Privacy, Protection, Safety, and Security. In this role she led a working group of over 300 people from 22 countries and 6 continents including industry, academia, healthcare leaders, government, regulators, and technologists who developed the recently approved IEEE 2933-2024 Clinical IoT TIPPSS standard for improved safety, security and privacy for connected healthcare devices and data. She has published multiple books on TIPPSS, including two in Springer Nature’s Women in Engineering and Science Series. Her books are linked on the FDHint Writing page.

Business and technical leader and role model

She is passionate about enabling and inspiring future generations of technical and business leaders through her roles on multiple boards and advisory councils including the Princeton University Civil and Environmental Engineering Advisory Council, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Industrial Advisory Board, Chair of the Stony Brook University Mechanical Engineering Industrial Advisory Board, the UC San Diego DERConnect External Advisory Board for Distributed Energy Resources, and the Neuroscience Outreach Network Advisory Board. She is a role model for women and anyone in STEM. Read Her-story here.

BOARD EXPERIENCE

Current Advisory Boards and Steering Committees:

• Columbia University, NY - Northeast Big Data Innovation Hub - Executive Director and Steering Committee

• Princeton University, NJ - Civil and Environmental Engineering - CEE Advisory Council

• Stony Brook University, NY - Mechanical Engineering - Chair, Industrial Advisory Board

• University of California San Diego - NSF Distributed Energy Resources Connect (DERConnect) - External Advisory Board

• Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, CA - Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering - Industrial Advisory Board

• National Cancer Institute - Computational Approaches for Cancer Workshop at SuperComputing - Program Committee

• IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) - Vice Chair, Standards Committee

• Blockchain in Healthcare Today - Editorial Board

• NeurON: The Neuroscience Outreach Network - Advisory Board

• Ecosystem for Research Networking - Steering Committee

Past Board positions:

• Union County College - CyberService Advisory Board - 2017-2020

• Princeton University - Technology Advisory Council 2009 - 2019

• Princeton University - Infrastructure Master Plan Technology Advisor - 2015 

• Connected World Magazine - Security Advisory Board - 2014 

• Society of Women Engineers Board of Directors 2005-2006, Board of Trustees 2010-2013

• SHORE - Sheltering the Homeless is Our Responsibility - Vice President, Board Member, 2008 - 2011

• Juvenile Law Education Project - President, Board Member - 1990 - 2016

For profit:

• IEC Electronics (NASDAQ: IEC), US, Independent Board Director and Compensation Committee, 2012-2015

CLIENTS AND COLLABORATORS