Hana Callaghan was the director of the Government Ethics Program at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. Her background was in law, government and politics. She worked in private practice as a corporate litigator, for a member of the U.S. House of Representatives as a senior congressional aide, and as a political consultant managing statewide political campaigns. In addition, she served as the associate executive director of the Santa Clara County Bar Association where she had oversight of continuing legal education programs.

Callaghan earned a bachelor's degree from University of California, Berkeley, a law degree from Seattle University, and an LLM in tax law and policy from Golden Gate University. She was also a member of the State Bar Association of California and a former member of the State Bar Association of Washington.