Michelle Zebrowski is the inaugural Chief Data Officer (CDO) for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), bringing nearly two decades of dedicated service to the agency. As CDO, she spearheads efforts to cultivate CBP’s data ecosystem, ensuring data accessibility, discoverability, and its strategic application for informed decision-making. This year, under her leadership, a data catalog has been deployed, encompassing over 95% of OIT-managed datasets, totaling more than 50 petabytes of data and nearly 300,000 data assets. Her leadership is pivotal in positioning CBP at the forefront of artificial intelligence adoption within the federal government, overseeing a portfolio of over 100 AI use cases, including the deployment of ChatCBP, which is transforming how 60,000 employees accomplish their daily work.

Michelle's commitment to excellence has been recognized with numerous accolades, including the CBP Commissioner’s Award in both 2020 and 2024. She was also honored as the 2021 Commissioner’s Employee Spotlight for her volunteer efforts in animal welfare and received a CBPeople Spotlight Award. Additionally, Michelle has been featured in CDO Magazine's Global Data Power Women list for both 2024 and 2025. Her other honors include the 2024 GTSC Homeland Security Today – Holiday Hero Award for MVP Data Advancement, the 2025 GTSC Homeland Security Today Trailblazer Award, the 2025 Orange Slices National Security Award, and the 2024 Engage Homeland and National Security 100: Driving Innovation Forward award.