Heli Tiirmaa-Klaar is a visiting distinguished fellow with GMF Technology. She is the chair of the steering group of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group IT Coalition, a multinational cyber defense assistance format. She also serves at the board of directors at the Global Cyber Alliance.
Tiirmaa-Klaar was previously director of the Digital Society Institute at the European School of Management and Technology in Berlin. She also served as ambassador for cyber diplomacy and director general of the Department of Cyber Diplomacy at Estonia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she led the country's efforts to promote norms and international law to guide states' cyber activities. She established and worked as head of the Cyber Policy Coordination Unit at the European External Action Service, where she led and coordinated EU external relations on cyber issues and co-led the preparation of European Cybersecurity Strategies. She established EU strategic cyber dialogues with Brazil, India, Japan, South Korea, the United States, and several international organizations. She also launched the EU's global cyber capacity-building programs and led the development of the EU Cyber Diplomacy Toolbox to strengthen the bloc's response to malicious cyber activity. In 2011, she was seconded to NATO headquarters, where she developed NATO's cyber defense policy.
Tiirmaa-Klaar has been working on cybersecurity since 2007, when she led the development of Estonia's national cybersecurity strategy. She also coordinated the strategy's implementation, managed the National Cybersecurity Council, and led the establishment of Estonia's national cyber resilience structures and public-private partnerships for cybersecurity. Earlier in her career, she held various senior positions in the Estonian Ministry of Defence and at the University of Tallinn. Her analyses have been published in numerous academic journals.