ABOUT SHEENA
FULL BIO.
Founder, 1836 & Co. | Founder, K’ept Health Institute | Co-Chair, CTA Women’s Health Working Group
Sheena D. Franklin works at the intersection of healthcare, data, privacy, and policy—helping organizations turn regulatory complexity into strategic advantage.
As Founder of 1836 & Co., she advises digital health, medtech, and consumer technology companies on privacy governance and women’s health strategy, guiding leaders to protect enterprise value, reduce risk, and strengthen trust in high-scrutiny markets.
Her work builds on more than two decades of experience navigating regulation and accountability across the public and private sectors. She began her career in healthcare lobbying and policy, representing Fortune 50 companies before Congress, the FDA, and CMS on issues spanning healthcare reform, privacy, and health information policy. That experience shaped her understanding of how legislation, markets, and innovation intersect—the same intersection 1836 & Co. now occupies.
At Grant Thornton LLP, Franklin founded the firm’s first Political Affairs and Compliance department during the rollout of new federal lobbying laws, designing internal policies that set the standard for transparency and ethical governance. Earlier, at Perkins Coie LLP, she served as a Senior Political Compliance Specialist, assisting Fortune 100 clients and political organizations on compliance strategy and managing the day-to-day reporting and disclosure requirements.
That early foundation in regulatory systems, political accountability, and healthcare policy now informs her leadership in health technology, data privacy, and ethics as the founding Principal of 1836 & Co., and the founder of The K’ept Health Institute, a women’s health data organization building trusted data infrastructure.
She also serves as Co-Chair of the Consumer Technology Association’s Women’s Health Working Group, where she led development of the first-ever industry standards for consumer and healthcare technologies that impact a woman’s health and wellness.
Her insights have been featured on stages including TEDx, CES, Johnson & Johnson, and Capitol Hill, and she was recognized by CTA with the Technology Achievement Award for pioneering national standards that integrate women’s health, data privacy, and innovation.