Carmen Landa Middleton wore several different hats during her 33-year career at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) – including most recently as deputy chief operating officer (COO), a member of the agency’s executive leadership team and the number 4 position. As deputy COO, Carmen managed the CIA’s day-to-day operations, led on a diverse range of issues from geopolitical crisis responses to strategic investment and oversaw the execution of the largest structural and business process change since the agency’s inception in 1947. During her tenure as the director of CIA’s Open Source Center Carmen drove the development of the unclassified Cloud architecture and spearheaded a strategy on the disruptive evolution of Open Source tradecraft. As the CIA’s chief diversity officer, she co-chaired a historic study, the Director’s Advisory Group on Women in Leadership, examining the CIA’s record and practices as they pertained to the careers of women. She also oversaw the launch of an anti-harassment program, with a special emphasis on sexual harassment, within the agency.

President of Common Table Consulting,  Carmen is a recipient of the Working Mother Media National Security Annual Legacy Award, the Meritorious Presidential Rank Award, National Intelligence Superior Service Medal and the CIA Director's Award. She is a member of several advisory and directors’ boards, including the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Intelligence Community Studies Board; the Advisory Board to SAP NS2; and the Board of Directors for the Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement. She graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara, Phi Beta Kappa, with a degree in Spanish Language Literature, and studied abroad during her junior year at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. She and her husband have one adult daughter, the artist Maggie Middleton.