Joy Heath Rush is the Chief Executive Officer of The International Legal Technology Association (ILTA), an organization that provides educational and networking opportunities for nearly 25,000 lawyers and legal technology professionals across the globe. As Chief Executive Officer, Joy oversees ILTA’s operations, a global network of volunteer leaders, and professional staff of more than 35 employees.

Joy has spent virtually her entire career supporting lawyers and technologists in the practice of law, and she has deep familiarity with the complexities our member organizations face. She spent 28 years at the global law firm Sidley Austin LLP in a variety of technology and leadership roles and was an executive with Litera Microsystems for more than five years.

In addition, Joy has a long history of leadership in peer networking groups associated with legal technology. Joy is a past President of the Board of ILTA and served two additional terms as a volunteer Board member representing the multifaceted perspectives of a woman leader in legal technology. Joy enjoys and has had the opportunity to speak and write on a wide array of technology and leadership topics. Other speaking opportunities have included legal technology, CIO and leadership roundtables and talent management topics at a variety of legal events, including ILTACON, ABA Tech Show, Legal Tech NY, Legal Tech West Coast, ABA Law Practice Management, ALA, NALP, and ARMA, among others. In 2019, she has spoken at Lexpo in Amsterdam, Legal Innovation Fest in Sydney, DRI Managing Partners Forum in Denver, and Information Governance for the Legal Market in Brazil, as well as several ILTA events.

Joy was recognized as the American Lawyer Media Champion of Legal Technology for 2008. In February of 2019, Joy was named one of 2019’s Women in Legal Technology by the ABA’s Legal Technology Resource Center. In October, Joy was named the recipient of the 5th annual Monica Bay Women in STEM award for 2019.

Joy’s professional philosophy is to do everything in her power to serve her constituents with intelligence, dedication, passion, and unmatched expertise, while providing a positive, fun and motivational environment for staff. She additionally loves racing, she is a Wizard of Oz fanatic, and sings whenever and wherever she can.