INDEPENDENT CONSULTANCY, TRAINING, SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

​Merve Hickok is the founder of  www.AIethicist.org  platform and Lighthouse Career Consulting.

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She is an independent consultant, lecturer and speaker on AI ethics and bias and its implications on individual & society.  She aims to create awareness, build capacity, advocate for ethical and responsible AI. She collaborates with several national and international organizations building AI governance methods, and has been recognized by a number of organizations for her work.

Merve has over 15 years of global level senior experience in Fortune 100 with particular focus on HR technologies, recruitment and diversity.  She is a SHRM Certified Senior HR Professional and Career Coach certified by Neuroleadership Institute.

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Merve is part of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) P7008 Working Group (7008 - Ethically Driven Nudging for Robotic, Intelligent and Autonomous Systems), and P2863™ Working Group (2863 - Recommended Practice for Organizational Governance of Artificial Intelligence). IEEE is considered one of the leading organizations to set global standards and frameworks on ethics of autonomous and intelligent systems, with a focus on interdisciplinary collaboration. Lighthouse Career Consulting is recognized as a member of The Open Community for Ethics in Autonomous and Intelligent Systems (OCEANIS) alongside national institutions.

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She is an instructor at RMDS Lab providing training on AI & Ethics and responsible AI development and implementation; is also a ForHumanity Fellow working to draft framework for independent audit of AI systems.

Merve is a founding editorial board member of Springer Nature AI & Ethics journal.  She is also a technical/policy expert for AI Policy Exchange to support its mission to make the discussion on impact of AI systems more accessible and to drive better policy decisions. As a regional lead and mentor at Women in AI Ethics Collective, she works to empower women in the field.

Merve currently works with a Nevada-based social enterprise, High Sierra Industries, focused on learning systems for individuals with intellectual disabilities. She manages IT and software projects, acts as the organization's HIPAA privacy and security officer, and leads all the business process improvement initiatives.

She is also a member of the board of directors for Northern Nevada International Center (University of Nevada-Reno). NNIC serves as Northern Nevada's refugee resettlement agency to help displaced persons and victims of human trafficking, as well as organizing programs for international delegations through the U.S. Department of State and other federal agencies. It is among the top organizations in the United States hosting over a dozen U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs large exchange programs.