Welcome to the premiere episode of The Identity Heroes, a podcast series that explores the real-world journeys of identity leaders and the unexpected turns that shaped them.

Our first guest is none other than Eve Maler, President and Founder of Venn Factory, and a foundational force in identity standards. She’s also one of the most sharp, candid voices in the IAM space. In this episode, hosts Mark Callahan and Gerry Gebel sit down with Eve to unpack her multifaceted journey—from technical editing to standards author to CTO—and how every “non-obvious” step opened up the next. For Eve, identity has never been linear: “My career is a fractal, not a ladder.”

We cover a lot of ground, including:

• How vendor vs. enterprise mindsets shape innovation cycles
• Why consent is broken—and what identity can’t fix alone
• The rise of agentic AI and the future of delegation in identity
• Why relationship graphs might be identity’s next superpower
• And how mentorship and discomfort helped Eve grow into leadership
  

Key Themes & Takeaways

• Identity careers aren’t linear—and they shouldn’t be
• “Flow lives just outside your comfort zone”
• Vendors live in the future; enterprises live in the past
• Consent can’t be solved by IAM alone—it’s a cross-functional challenge
• Delegation needs to evolve beyond OAuth semantics
• Identity must move beyond claims to relationships
• Mentorship, coaching, and real talk make careers (and keep us sane)
  

Chapters

• 00:00 – Introduction to Identity Heroes
• 05:52 – Navigating Comfort Zones and Imposter Syndrome
• 12:00 – Trends and Innovations in Identity
• 18:05 – Future Trends and Challenges in Identity
• 25:24 – The Future of Privacy and Security
• 31:09 – The Role of Standards and Organizations in Identity
• 36:43 – Making the Business Case for Identity
• 44:50 – Coaching and Mentorship in Identity Management

Visit https://www.strata.io/identityheroes to watch the episode in video.