Michelle DeLaune

Michelle DeLaune is an American criminologist and nonprofit executive who has served as president and chief executive officer of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children since April 2022, the first woman to hold that post. She studied psychology at George Mason University and earned a master's degree in criminology at the University of Maryland, College Park, interning with the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Behavioral Science Unit at Quantico during her graduate studies. She began at the center as an analyst on its CyberTipline, which handles reports of child sexual exploitation, and over sixteen years held several roles, including eight years as chief operating officer. Under her leadership the center introduced the Take It Down program, which lets minors submit digital fingerprints of explicit images so technology companies can remove them. Her work centres on online child exploitation, including sextortion and financial blackmail of minors, and on prevention education drawn from the center's case data. She has testified before the United States Congress.