Stephen Almond, Director of Technology and Innovation, leads the ICO’s team responsible for anticipating, understanding and shaping the impacts of emerging technology and innovation on people and society. He is charged with engineering information rights into the fabric of new ideas, products and business models as part of our dynamic digital economy.
Prior to joining the ICO, Stephen led a World Economic Forum initiative to promote the adoption of a more agile, innovation-enabling approach to regulation with governments and tech firms worldwide. He previously worked in leadership roles across the UK Government, including creation of the White Paper on Regulation for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and roll-out of the Regulators’ Pioneer Fund, which invested in regulatory sandboxes and similar initiatives to unlock technological innovation.
Bojana is the President of Hunton Andrews Kurth’ Centre for Information Policy Leadership (CIPL), a preeminent global information policy think tank London, Washington, DC, and Brussels. Bojana works with global business and technology leaders, regulators, policy and law makers to shape global data policy and practice and develop thought leadership and best practices for responsible and trusted use of data in the 4th Industrial Revolution. With over 25 years of experience in privacy and data policy and compliance, including former global privacy head at Accenture for 12 years, she sits on several industry and regulatory advisory boards and panels.
Claudia is the General Counsel for the Information Commissioner’s Office. She is responsible for the provision of strategic legal advice to the Commissioner and Management Board. Prior to joining the ICO, Claudia worked at the Competition & Market’s Authority where she was responsible for the legal oversight of the CMA’s entire competition law enforcement portfolio, from the launch of an investigation through to decision and subsequent litigation before the Courts. Claudia also spent 8 years at Linklaters in the firm’s competition law department in London. Claudia is a dual qualified Solicitor in England & Wales and Germany.
Antoine Bon is a legal advisor at the Belgian Data Protection Authority. He has completed an LLM in information technology at Fordham University and after working in the privacy and data protection area at the UN (Global Pulse), the New York State Attorney General’s office (Bureau of Internet and Technology) and the EDPS (Policy and Consultation Unit) took the New-York Bar.
Paul Breitbarth is a privacy lawyer from the Netherlands. In 2016, he joined privacy software and research company Nymity, which became part of TrustArc in November 2019. He currently serves as Director, Global Policy and EU Strategy. As part of the Office of the General Counsel, Paul contributes to the company’s content development and thought leadership via papers, webinars, podcasts and public speaking opportunities on a variety of topics. Paul is Senior Visiting Fellow at Maastricht University's European Centre on Privacy and Cybersecurity. Previously, Paul worked as senior international officer at the Dutch Data Protection Authority and contributed to the work of the Article 29 Working Party.
Rebecca is a partner in Slaughter and May’s corporate and commercial group in London, co-heads the firm’s global data protection and privacy practice and is a member of our cyber advisory unit. She advises on all aspects of data protection and privacy, including cyber or data breach preparation and incident response, challenges with new technologies, implications for contractual arrangements, privacy aspects of M&A and investigations, and on companies’ policies and procedures. Rebecca sits on the UK Information Commissioner’s Office’s Legal Reference Panel and is Vice-Chair of the City of London Law Society's Data Law Committee. She is also a frequent contributor to data protection journals and events.
Richard is Global Head of Linklaters’ TMT practice and has advised clients on privacy related issues for more than 20 years. He has worked on privacy projects across the globe including major data security incidents, large scale privacy litigation, appearances before regulators, contentious and large scale subject access issues, the privacy implications of new technology, online monitoring techniques (including by governments), cloud computing and “big data”. He has recently led teams advising Thomson Reuters, BlackRock, RBS, Hewlett Packard, News International, Disney, Live Nation, UBS, KPMG, Hyatt Hotels, AstraZeneca, Sainsburys, Deloitte and the administrators of Lehmans on domestic and international data protection and information governance projects. He is a past member of the IAPP editorial board, currently sits on Tech UK’s data advisory group and is a member of the ICC’s digital economy committee. He is listed by Chambers and Partners and Legal 500 as in the first rank of privacy and cybersecurity advisors in the UK.
Michal Czerniawski, is a legal officer at the European Data Protection Board. He has completed a PhD on the territorial scope of the EU data protection regime. He holds an LL.M. in Law and Technology from the University of Ottawa and is an attorney-at-law admitted in Poland. Before joining the EDPB, he was the Counsellor for Data Protection, Cybersecurity and Telecommunications at the Permanent Representation of Poland to the EU. He has been directly involved in the process of drafting and negotiating the new EU data protection legislation.
Milly is a seasoned public affairs professional with over ten years of experience in the US, UK, Brussels and Croatia. Milly kicked off her public affairs career in Palo Alto, California. Living and working in the heart of Silicon Valley gave her the unique opportunity to witness first-hand the rise of big tech and its impact on policy making.
Currently based in Zagreb, Milly works with global Fortune 500 companies helping them with policy efforts in Croatia, as well as Croatian companies looking to understand the Brussels policy making machine. She is also the Head of Public Policy at the Croatian Artificial Intelligence Association (CroAI).
Milly holds a Master of Science in Politics and Communication from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
Erika Douglas is an Assistant Professor at Temple University Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia. Her scholarship is focused on the intersection of competition and data privacy law, with particular emphasis on the application of legal theory to new technology. Erika's recent publications appear in Yale Law Journal Forum and Virginia Journal of Law & Technology. She is currently working with the Global Privacy Assembly on a report that examines interactions between antitrust and data privacy law and cross-agency collaboration. Prior to joining Temple, Professor Douglas practiced antitrust law in Silicon Valley, where she represented a number of big tech clients.
Bruno Gencarelli is the Head of the Data protection Unit within the European Commission (DG Justice and Consumers). The unit is responsible for all aspects of Commission's policies and activities in the area of data protection: negotiation, adoption and implementation of the reform of EU data protection legislation, addressing data protection issues at international level (including through the negotiation of international agreements and the adoption of adequacy decisions), monitoring the application by Member States of EU data protection legislation, ensuring the secretariat of the "Article 29 Working Party", etc. He is one of the lead negotiators of the EU-US "Umbrella Agreement" and of the Privacy Shield. He previously served as a Member of the Commission's Legal Service and as an assistant (référendaire) to a judge at the European Court of Justice after having practiced law in the private sector. He holds degrees in law and political science. He is an Associate Professor in EU Competition Law at Sciences Po Paris.
Joining the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada in 2012, Brent Homan is Deputy Commissioner at the OPC, responsible for enforcement oversight of Canada’s federal public and private sector privacy laws.
Mr. Homan’s accomplishments in Privacy include key investigations such as: Facebook/Cambridge Analytica and Aggregate IQ (2019), Statistics Canada (2019), Equifax (2018), the World Anti-Doping Association (2017), Ashley Madison (2016), the Bell Advertising Program (2015), and Google Behavioural Advertising (2014). With a rich background in International enforcement, Mr. Homan has joined forces with global partners, co-leading numerous international investigations including the Global Privacy Award winning Ashley Madison joint-investigation with Australia and the US FTC and the first ever international joint-investigation in the field of Privacy (against Whatsapp) with the Dutch. Mr. Homan also created and spearheaded the Global Privacy Enforcement Network (GPEN) Privacy Sweep, now in its seventh year and involving 28 Privacy Authorities from around the world.
A leader in digital economy innovation, Mr. Homan has been examining the growing intersection of privacy, consumer-protection and anti-trust issues, with a focus on advancing collaboration across these regulatory spheres.
Prior to his appointment at the OPC, Mr. Homan was Assistant Deputy Commissioner at the Competition Bureau of Canada where he led numerous high profile misleading advertising investigations in the areas of price representations, E-Commerce and Health Fraud. In the area of health, Mr. Homan led Canada’s Tobacco Inquiry into the use of Light and Mild descriptors, culminating in the removal of Light and Mild labelling from cigarette packaging across Canada.
Prof Dr Hielke Hijmans is President of the Litigation Chamber/Member Executive Board of the Belgian Data Protection Authority. On part time basis: guest professor at VUB (IES), member Meijers Committee (EU fundamental rights), lecturer Luxembourg University.
Author of The European Union as Guardian of Internet Privacy: The Story of Art 16 TFEU (Springer 2016), based on his doctorate thesis.
Before, he worked as consultant (e.g. at Centre for Information Policy Leadership (Washington, London, Brussels) and Considerati (Amsterdam)), at the EDPS, mostly head of policy unit, the CJEU (Cabinet Geelhoed) and at Ministry of Justice in The Hague (Legislation Directorate).
Yordnaka Ivanova is a legal and policy officer who has worked on the recent proposal for Artificial Intelligence adopted by the Commission on 21 April 2021. Her previous experience includes work as an EU official on other legislative files in the Commission. Outside the Commission, she has also worked as an attorney-at-law advising companies on compliance with EU regulations.
Joe heads up the UK Government team responsible for the UK's data adequacy arrangements. The policies, procedures, and capabilities associated with conducting data adequacy arrangements are new to the UK Government, as they get repatriated from the EU to the UK, following Brexit.
Joe's team works out of the UK Government Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, the lead department on data protection policy. Prior to building this new capability, Joe worked in the Department for International Trade where he was Deputy Head of Digital Trade policy, advising the UK Government on digital and data policy for post-Brexit trade agreements. Prior to working for the UK Government, Joe was a lawyer, working as an associate in the London office of Covington & Burling, advising organisations and large multinationals on data privacy in a variety of contexts: public policy, litigation, regulatory enforcement, and compliance.
Verena is a Policy Program Manager, AI, at Facebook, where she has built up and manages Open Loop, a global experimental governance program initiated by Facebook to bridge the gap between tech and regulatory innovation. Open Loop prototypes public policy ideas around new and emerging technologies, such as AI, based on trial-and-learn, design-driven and co-creative, multi-actor approaches. Long before her current role, Verena has been championing and leading strategy and public policy innovation through novel methods, e.g. human-centered or design thinking, at numerous organizations globally, including the World Economic Forum/C4IR, IMF, EU Commission, AfDB, World Bank.
Kari Laumann is Head of section for research, analysis and politics at the Norwegian Data Protection Authority (NDPA). She is also the project manager for NDPA Regulatory Sandbox for Privacy and AI. The sandbox is one of several initiatives in the Norwegian Government’s National Strategy for AI where the aim is to stimulate innovative and responsible AI. Laumann has experience from the Norwegian telco Telenor Group where she had responsibility for privacy in Telenor’s Asian business units. She also has extensive experience from the Norwegian Board of Technology where she gave advice to Parliament on the impact and future potential of technology.
Anna-Katharina is a counsel in the German TMT practice with long-standing experience in all aspects of data protection law including cross-border data transfers, Big Data, AI and GDPR implementation projects. She also advises on data protection law aspects of all types of (corporate, finance and real-estate) transactions and projects agreements. Her expertise also includes computer and software law, e-commerce, distribution law, software implementation projects (including cloud computing, i.e. SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS), and outsourcing agreements. Anna-Katharina has recently advised Deutsche Börse, various domestic and foreign companies from the financial sector, a global leading car manufacturer, several digital services platform providers and a Japanese multinational electronics corporation on domestic and international data protection projects. Anna-Katharina is a member of the German Association of Law and Informatics (DGRI). She regularly publishes on the topic of data protection and is listed as one of the “most renowned lawyers” for data protection in Germany” (Handelsblatt 2019, 2020).
As Director Business Strategy & Manager Public Policy, Gabriela is responsible for SCOPE Europe’s market outreach and product development, actively working with the organisation’s executive management. Furthermore, she oversees communications and event management for both SCOPE Europe and the EU Cloud CoC, besides working on policy analysis and content development for the drafting and monitoring of codes of conduct. Gabriela has lived and studied in Brazil, the United States, France, and Belgium, being fluent in Portuguese, French, English, and Spanish.
Bertrand Pailhès has been Director of Technologies and Innovation at the CNIL since November 2019. Graduated of Telecom ParisTech, Sciences Po Paris and Ecole des Mines, Bertrand Pailhès worked at ARCEP and CNIL in the service of technological expertise before joining, in 2013, the office of the minister responsible for the digital economy, Fleur Pellerin. In 2015, he was appointed Chief of Staff to Axelle Lemaire, Secretary of State for Digital Affairs and notably worked in this context on the law for a Digital Republic adopted in October 2016. Since July 2018, Bertrand Pailhès was national coordinator of the strategy for artificial intelligence at the Interministerial Directorate of Digital.
Anne-Charlotte Recker is a legal advisor at the Litigation Chamber at the Belgian Data Protection Authority, where she handles files throughout the litigation phase, drafts decisions, researches various topics of data protection and privacy, and advises in European and international working groups in various areas of data protection.
Prior to joining the Litigation Chamber, she worked as a qualified lawyer and researcher in international public law, for international organisations and in academia. She also taught intellectual property and electronic contracts law at a higher education level.
Simeon Thornton is a Director at the Competition and Markets Authority, where he has led a number of high-profile projects relating to competition in digital markets, focussing on the role of large online platforms. These include: the market study into online platforms and digital advertising; the recently-launched study into mobile ecosystems; the antitrust investigation into Google’s Privacy Sandbox proposals to withdraw support for third party cookies on its Chrome browser; and policy work with the Information Commissioner’s Office on the interaction between privacy and competition.
Simeon was previously chief economist and director of analysis at the Department for Energy and Climate Change, where he led a team of over 100 economists, statisticians, social and operational researchers. In previous roles he was responsible for climate change economic analysis at Defra, led market studies at the OFT and was a senior consultant at the economics consultancy NERA, specialising in energy market regulation and restructuring.
John Whittingdale was appointed Minister of State for Media and Data in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 14 February 2020.
He previously served as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport from May 2015 until 14 July 2016. He was elected Conservative MP for Maldon in 1992.
Stewart graduated from the University of Lancaster in Politics and Marketing. In 1975 Stewart initiated research on Open Government at the UK Consumers’ Association. He then made an independent trip to the USA and Canada, meeting consumer advocates, politicians and journalists researching Freedom of Information (FoI) and privacy legislation. He had articles published in The Geographical Magazine, in 1977 on the use of the FoI Act by the Navajo Tribe of Arizona, and The Times in 1978 on the use of the FoI Act to improve car safety. In May 1980, the Outer Circle Policy Unit published his Open Government: Lessons from America. His career included consumer research and working for The Economist as a business journalist where he wrote occasionally on privacy laws and honed his skills as an investigator and writer.
He launched the Privacy Laws & Business Newsletter in February 1987. In October 1988 he organised PL&B’s first international conference. Stewart co-founded and chaired the UK’s Data Protection Forum, and has spoken at conferences around the world. He lives and works in Pinner, has a beautiful wife, who wrote this, and 3 adult sons.
Laura oversees the whole editorial process from researching, commissioning and managing freelancers to writing about a wide range of legislative and management issues within privacy, data protection and freedom of information. She also assists in conference planning marketing, public relations, and PL&B GDPR Roundtables. Laura joined PL&B as Associate Editor in 1997 for PL&B International Report, and launched the UK Report in 2000. Before joining PL&B, she worked at the UK Information Commissioner's Office as a European Secretariat Officer facilitating co-operation with European Union national Data Protection Commissioners. Laura has also worked as freelance business content writer for Thomson Reuters, and written for several publications in Finland. She is fluent in English and Finnish, and has a working knowledge of Swedish, Italian and German.
Valerie is a qualified solicitor and throughout her legal career has specialised in data protection matters as well as IT and intellectual property law. Having qualified as a solicitor at Clifford Chance, Valerie went on to work in the in-house legal department of the Royal Mail Group plc where she was the principal data protection adviser.
Valerie now works with Privacy Laws & Business in a wide range of roles: as a consultant advising large and small businesses in the public and private sector on data protection compliance - she advises on all aspects of data protection and freedom of information, including data related projects, internal business policies and procedures and advising on proposed new legislation; speaking at conferences; providing training; is available for assignments working in-house to cover for staff absences.
Helena is an experienced Lawyer, Data Protection Officer, Public Speaker and Coach. Having worked with over 150 businesses and other organisations through implementation of the GDPR, she has established a compliance framework and assists organisations with data mapping, Legitimate Interest Assessments, Data Protection Impact Assessments and Records of Processing Activities – all necessary to demonstrate accountability, and transparency as required by the Information Commissioner and other regulators. As well as advising major corporates and start-up businesses on how to comply with the law, Helena has a great deal of experience advising and defending clients who are being investigated by the Information Commissioner or who have suffered a data breach. Helena is bilingual in French and English and is experienced in discussing an organisation's data privacy and commercial issues in plain language relevant to each context - in short, she speaks your language, is engaged, builds connections and makes life easy. Her extensive background in commercial law, as a barrister, solicitor, in-house counsel and partner in a national top 20 law firm makes her a safe pair of hands and an exceptional advisor, coach and mentor.