By: Elena Mart

When Janice Kephart talks about national security, she isn’t speaking from textbooks or policy memos. Her mission was forged in tragedy, sharpened in government service, and ultimately unleashed through entrepreneurship – a journey that has made her one of the most dynamic voices at the intersection of identity, technology, and innovation.

In 1993, the World Trade Center bombing personally rocked her world, when her brother-in-law, trapped by the attack’s smoke and chaos, later succumbed to its effects. That day planted a question deep within Janice’s heart: How could systems meant to protect us fail so completely? 

It’s a question that would guide her through decades of public service, into roles advising Congress and the 9/11 Commission, and subsequently her 19 testimonies before Congress on issues related to identity and counterterrorism. All of this effort in the public eye – attention that she never sought – ultimately led her to a bold realization: True security demands more than policy. It demands innovation. 

Today, as CEO of Identity Strategy Partners and founder of ZipID, Janice Kephart is not just navigating the future of identity protection – she is building it.

Trading Bureaucracy for Boldness

After years entrenched in the complex machinery of federal counterterrorism and identity efforts, Janice came to a hard truth: government moves slowly, but threats evolve quickly.

“To truly make the impact I envisioned,” she reflects, “I had to step outside of government. I had to build something better.”

That “something better” is ZipID – a breakthrough platform that uses biometric technology to simplify and secure the critical but often overlooked Form I-9 employment verification process. For the 11.4 million American employers, the I-9 represents a regulatory landmine where employers are required to assure the government that each new hire is who they say they are (a phrase Janice coined while 9/11 Commission staff) and legally authorized to work in the US. True authorization was impossible. ZipID enables true authorization, transforming true compliance into actuality in a user-friendly, automated, and fraud-resistant experience.

Kephart didn’t just create a company. She reimagined an industry standard, fusing her deep knowledge of national security with entrepreneurial daring.

Where Creativity Meets Compliance

It’s tempting to view Janice solely through the lens of national security and technology, but doing so would miss the secret to her success: creativity.

A spoken-word artist and narrator outside of her professional pursuits, Janice approaches entrepreneurship the way an artist approaches a blank canvas – with curiosity, courage, and a vision that blends logic with intuition.

“I see solutions as a form of storytelling,” she says. “You understand the pain points, you envision the future, and you build a bridge between the two.”

Her creative drive is not an add-on; it’s the very engine powering ZipID’s fresh approach to a deeply outdated system. Where others saw complexity, she saw an opportunity to make compliance humane, elegant, and future-proof.

A Future Where Identity Empowers, Not Endangers

In a world where data breaches, identity theft, and regulatory pitfalls have become all too common, ZipID represents something rare: trust in action.

By harnessing modern biometric verification, ZipID ensures that new hires are authenticated securely and accurately, protecting both businesses and individuals from the risks of identity fraud and regulatory penalties.

Yet for Janice, it’s about more than compliance. It’s about giving people (employers, employees, and institutions) the confidence to trust in the systems that protect them.

“Identity should be your strength, not your vulnerability,” she asserts. And with ZipID, she’s turning that belief into reality, one hire at a time.

Leading with Vision, Building with Heart

Entrepreneurship, for Janice Kephart, isn’t about personal glory. It’s the next evolution of her lifelong commitment to public service. In government, she served the nation. In business, she serves the people who make that nation work – employers, workers, innovators – through smarter, safer systems.

Her journey reminds us that innovation doesn’t just come from new technologies. It comes from those willing to risk everything to build a better way forward.

Janice Kephart isn’t just redefining identity protection and compliance. She’s redefining what it means to serve, to create, and to lead – with a mission born from loss, powered by creativity, with a mission to change how America protects its future.

Published by Jeremy S.