Introduction to Our Cookie Policy

We, Ann O’Leary, have a strong commitment to providing you with transparent and secure user experiences. As part of that commitment, and as we are legally required to do, we believe it is essential to provide you notice of our practices regarding cookies and similar technologies on this website. This Cookie Policy explains what cookies are, how and why we use them, the types of cookies our site uses, and how you can manage your preferences.

Our clients consist of government agencies, public officials, organizations, non-profit and academic entities that rely upon our counsel in dealing with government controversies, policy litigation, and crisis management. We are deeply committed to preserving your trust and your privacy, which is why we handle your information in a responsible manner consistent with applicable law as well as industry best practices. Please contact us at [email protected] if you have questions.

What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files created by a website situated on your device (whether a personal computer, smartphone, or tablet) when you visit that website. Cookies allow for various functions, such as running the website and its core functionality, saving preferences, improving performance and user experience, as well as providing analytics that allow us to monitor website usage.

We can further separate cookies into those that are ‘first-party’ (created and stored by Ann O’Leary’s website) and those that are ‘third-party’ – which are created and controlled predominantly by third-party service providers with whom we collaborate. Although cookies do not usually contain personally identifiable information about you, theoretically they can be viewed as connected to that data when accessed together with other data.

Why We Use Cookies

We use cookies to make our Site function efficiently, to improve your experience, and to personalize the content and services we provide to you. In particular, cookies allow us to:

  • Remind you of your preferences (e.g., language or accessibility settings)
  • Analyze how users move around the Site so we can identify trends and improve usability, stability, and functionality as well as the content we provide you
  • Provide you with tools that allow you to communicate, including contact forms, advisers’ listings, and contact scheduling
  • Offer you relevant content and materials that focus on your areas of interest

Using cookies enables us to offer you uninterrupted navigation and location-specific services when looking for strategic guidance for today’s most pressing issues.

Types of Cookies We Use

At annoleary.com, we use different categories of cookies to help operate our website and improve your experience:

  • Strictly Necessary Cookies: These are essential cookies that are needed for our sites to function properly and cannot be disabled. These include security, session management, and access to secure areas of our website.
  • Performance & Analytics Cookies: We use cookies to gain insights about how our visitors use our website, such as which pages are most frequently accessed, which helps us understand and improve the performance of our site. We engage trusted analytics and other partners to help us collect this aggregated data. For example, Google Analytics.
  • Functionality Cookies: These enable the website to provide enhanced features by collecting and remembering choices you make on our website (e.g., form entry or user preferences).
  • Targeting & Third-Party Cookies: With your consent, we may use third-party cookies delivered through our site to provide targeted or retargeted content based on your interest or to enable sharing of content using social media platforms. Our sites may also embed content, such as plug-ins from LinkedIn or other sites that provide professional services.

We do not use cookies for commercial solicitation purposes or unsolicited marketing efforts. All cookies are used in alignment with our privacy and transparency practices.

List of Cookies in Use

To be fully transparent, we post the following as our current list of cookies in use on this site. Depending on when you read this, the specific cookies in use may vary as we update technology and/or partners, but the following are commonly included:

Cookie NamePurpose
_ga, _gid, _gat (Google Analytics)Helps us distinguish users and throttle request rate to analyze traffic and usage patterns.
AnnSessionIDStores your session state between pages while you visit.
CookieConsentRemembers when you have agreed to our cookie policy.
LinkedIn Insight TagAllows analytics about site visits that originate from LinkedIn; assists with our professional outreach initiatives.
ContactFormTokenProvides secure, spam-free submission of the site inquiry forms.

We continue to manage our list of cookies carefully, with an aim toward only working with those that are necessary and useful for us. Current, 100% accurate and descriptive lists are available upon request to [email protected].

Use of Analytics, Third Party Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies

We use third-party service providers to help us understand how visitors interact with our website and to provide functionality that is critical for the services we offer. We use Google Analytics, for example, to obtain anonymous, aggregated statistics about website page visits, user navigation paths, and geographic distribution – which we use to identify necessary modifications and improvements to our content offerings for relevant audiences across the country. We also use LinkedIn Insight Tag to help measure the effectiveness of our professional outreach and thought leadership marketing efforts.

Such providers may also utilize their own cookies to compile usage statistics or provide other interactive features. We do not authorize third-party service providers to use your information for their own marketing purposes. We also configure applicable analytics tools in accordance with privacy and data minimization principles.

Managing Cookies

You have a choice when it comes to cookies on annoleary.com. We use a cookie consent banner on the opening of the site that provides you with options to either accept or manage cookies. You may:

  • Agree to accept all cookies on this site
  • Decline cookies that are not strictly necessary (i.e., analytics cookies, third-party cookies)
  • Manage your settings for certain categories of cookies

You can update your preferences at any time by clicking on the ‘Cookie Settings’ hyperlink found at the bottom of every page of our website.

You also have the option most web browsers provide to allow the user to view, delete, and/or block individual cookies. Some browsers allow you to set preferences so that persistent cookies are disabled.

Please be aware that disabling strictly necessary cookies may impact core functionality on this website as well as your ability to use certain features.

How to Block Cookies

Nearly all modern web browsers provide controls for cookie management and privacy settings. Your browser may be set to:

  • Alert you when a website is using a cookie
  • Accept or deny cookies on a predetermined basis
  • Automatically erase cookies when you exit or close your browser
  • Block or prevent some or all cookies, including third-party cookies

Instructions for how to disable or block cookies are available in the appropriate support pages for your browser:

  • Google Chrome: Settings > Privacy & Security > Cookies and other site data
  • Mozilla Firefox: Preferences > Privacy & Security > Cookies and Site Data
  • Microsoft Edge: Settings > Cookies and site permissions
  • Safari: Preferences > Privacy

For mobile device browsers, refer to your manual. Please note that the deletion or blocking of cookies may limit your use of our website and the functionality available to you.

Your Privacy Rights

  • You can see the information we collect through cookies
  • You can require us to correct or erase the data we hold about you (some exceptions apply under applicable laws)
  • You can withdraw your consent with respect to any cookies not strictly necessary to operate the annoleary.com site
  • You have the right to complain to the relevant data protection authority if you believe there are violations of your right to privacy

We are dedicated to honoring your privacy rights as mandated by the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) wherever applicable, and other related legislation. If you wish to contact us on any topic related to privacy, please reach out at [email protected]. For more information, please review our Privacy Policy.

Security of Data and Cookies

We respect your information security. Your cookies (those placed by annoleary.com) are stored on secure servers and processed according to industry standards. We adopt technical and organizational measures designed to protect the cookies against unauthorized loss, theft, or misuse. Your cookie information is kept for as long as it is needed for the purpose for which it was collected and removed from our systems thereafter or anonymized. We won’t use your cookie information for advertising purposes, or sell or disclose it to third parties.

Children’s Privacy

The site is directed to professional users, such as government bodies, agencies, instrument organizations, and the research community – not to children under the age of 16. We avoid knowingly collecting, processing, or using personal data from children. If you become aware that a child has provided us with personal data by way of cookies or information completed in forms, please contact us at once at [email protected] so that we may take such action as appropriate.

Amendments to this Cookie Policy

To further our commitment to transparency, we will review and revise the Cookies Policy regularly to take into account any changes in technology, the necessity of the Cookies Policy requirements from a legal perspective or from our business or operational position. When this occurs, we will publish the most recent version of this updated Cookies Policy on this page, clearly identifying what is new and when this became effective. We invite you to revisit this Cookies Policy periodically to learn more about how we use cookies and otherwise protect your privacy.

Contact Us Regarding Cookies and Privacy

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests in relation to our cookies policy or your privacy rights, please let us know. We strive to give you clear information and respond to any queries as soon as possible. Please contact Ann O’Leary at:

Direct questions or requests for an appointment through the message form on the website or send an email directly. Thank you for your confidence in us and we are committed to protecting your privacy. For further details, please visit our Contact Ann O’Leary page.

Endnote: Our Pledge Regarding Cookies

At Ann O’Leary, we recognize that trust is an essential part of every relationship. The judicious and responsible use of cookies demonstrates our commitment to protecting your privacy and respecting your data while providing a broad range of high quality, tailored services to our clients. Whether you are a government agency, business enterprise, not-for-profit or academic institution, you may count on us when handling your data. We appreciate your consideration of our Cookie Policy and for allowing Ann O’Leary the opportunity to serve you with strategic advice, crisis management services, and as your voice in advocacy and outreach in the policy arena.