Rob Leathern

Founder and CEO @ InfoHawk

About

Rob has started a new company called InfoHawk building AI systems and tools to help companies protect their users from scams and deception.His other projects include: * Hawkview Labs which invests in companies working on trust, identity, privacy and safety problems. * CollectiveMetrics.org which aims to help measure tricky trust and privacy problems.He writes about these and other topics at https://robleathern.substack.comPreviously he led product management for privacy and security at Google from 2021 to 2023 as a Vice President of Product Management. Before that he led the Business Integrity (BI) product team at Facebook (now Meta), protecting people and businesses using the company's commercial products via scaled AI/ML tools to enforce policies and prevent abuse. His team also built personal and business identity, authenticity and transparency tools, including the Facebook Ad Library, which made millions of ads publicly visible across Facebook and Instagram. They were also responsible for ads privacy/data controls. As one of a small number of spokespeople for the company on these products and related policy and product issues, Rob was frequently quoted by media and press globally.Before that, Rob started and led two companies. The second (sold in 2016) was a proof-of-concept consumer subscription/ad-replacement platform. Before that, he ran Optimal, Inc. (sold in 2013 for $35mm, having raised $5.1mm from investors) which was a pioneer in the programmatic buying and retargeting space. Their buying platform was one of the largest (by gross revenue) ad optimization partners for Facebook and Twitter at the time of its sale in 2013, and was publicly recognized by Facebook as one of its most innovative partners.

Country

United States

City

Austin

Industry

Computer Software

Skill

Start-ups, Business Development, Online Advertising, Entrepreneurship, Awesomeness, Furnishings, Nunchuku Skills, Analytics, E-commerce, Online Marketing, Digital Strategy, Digital Media, Lead Generation, Strategy, Social Media Marketing, Strategic Partnerships, Digital Marketing, Product Management, Mobile Marketing, Google Analytics

Experience

Founder and CEO

InfoHawk

2026-1 - Present · 9 mos

Austin, Texas, United States

We help companies protect their users from scams and deception.

Investor

Hawkview Labs

2025-7 - Present · 1 yr 3 mos

Austin, Texas, United States

Investing in companies working on trust, identity, privacy and safety.

Board Member

CollectiveMetrics.org

2025-4 - Present · 1 yr 6 mos

CollectiveMetrics tracks meaningful indicators of online trust, privacy and safety. Our mission is to transform complex data into free and accessible insights, empowering global communities to understand and improve the systems that shape their lives.

Advisory Board Member

Sustainable Media Center

2025-3 - Present · 1 yr 7 mos

Affiliate

Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University

2024-11 - 2025-12 · 1 yr 2 mos

Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

Affiliate at The Berkman Klein Center at Harvard Law School. The Center’s mission is to explore and understand cyberspace; to study its development, dynamics, norms, and standards; and to assess the need or lack thereof for laws and sanctions.

Founder

Trust2 Consulting

2023-9 - 2025-7 · 1 yr 11 mos

Austin, Texas, United States

Trust2 provides strategic advice on product management across ads & monetization, AI, privacy, trust and identity. Clients include large companies and startups alike.

Investor, Advisor, Mentor, Board Member

[ Various ]

2005-4 - 2025-7 · 20 yrs 4 mos

Investor in or advisor to various startups, funds, or limited partnerships including Centigrade, NotCommon, Climate Draft, V1.VC, Teambuilder Ventures, Fakespot, Anonym, Abovo, Handipoints (acquired by Slide/Google), Spartan Beverages, Inadco, Alt12 Apps (acquired by The Honest Company), Chintano and others. Board member of Brand Networks after my startup's acquisition, and board member of 300 Days (a 501c3).

Vice President of Product Management

Google

2021-1 - 2023-3 · 2 yrs 3 mos

Austin, Texas, United States

I led the product team for the company's Privacy and Data Protection Office and worked closely with engineering, legal, regulatory, design and product teams across the company on privacy and security issues - including Ads, Search, YouTube, Android/Play, DeepMind, Brain, Cloud/Workspace, etc.

Senior Director of Product Management

Facebook

2017-2 - 2020-12 · 3 yrs 11 mos

Menlo Park, California

Helped start Business Integrity as its own organization at Facebook, splitting from the Ads Delivery team within the Ads and Business Platform/Products group. Grew the PM team from 3 to >40 and co-led our pillar as part of the Ads Leadership team. We worked to enforce ads and business policies across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and other Facebook products. Business Integrity prevents abuse and removes bad actors from the platform, and provides ads- and data transparency tools and controls. I have frequently engaged with regulators, media and the public to provide context on these policies and programs.