Heather Flanagan, Technical Writer for Aspen Digital, is the Principal at Spherical Cow Consulting, where she helps organizations navigate the fast-moving world of digital identity and Internet standards. With more than 15 years of experience translating complex technical concepts into clear, actionable strategy, Heather is known for her ability to bridge communities, guide collaborative work, and make standards development a little less intimidating.
She is a co-founder of the Identity Salon, a vendor-neutral forum for candid, peer-driven conversations about the future of digital identity. Heather currently serves as co-chair of the W3C Federated Identity Working Group, the W3C Exploration Interest Group, and the IETF Secure Patterns for Internet Credentials (SPICE) working group. She is also an appointed member of the W3C Technical Architecture Group (TAG) and serves as Content Chair for Identiverse.
Named to the 2025 Okta Identity 25 as one of the top thought leaders in digital identity, Heather is a regular speaker and writer focused on standards, governance, and the real-world challenges of identity implementation. If there’s work underway to shape the future of identity or rethink how the Internet functions, she’s probably in the middle of it.
