Stewart Dresner
Stewart graduated from Lancaster University in Politics and Marketing. His early career included consumer research and working for The Economist as a business journalist where he wrote on privacy laws and honed his skills as an investigator and writer. Following campaigning for a UK Freedom of Information (FoI) Act at the Consumers Association, Stewart made an independent trip to the USA and Canada, interviewing consumer advocates, politicians and journalists on FoI and privacy legislation. He independently launched the Privacy Laws & Business Newsletter in 1987, followed by PL&B’s first international conference. Starting in 1982, Stewart has attended more DPA International Conferences than anyone. He is delighted to organise, together with PL&B Reports Editor, Laura Linkomies, this year’s opening session: Privacy law developments in the Caribbean Community.
Laura Linkomies
Laura Linkomies is Editor of Privacy Laws & Business UK and International Reports. 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 and marketing. 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, and as freelance journalist. Laura’s articles have been published in several Finnish magazines in the past, and she is also an experienced PR consultant, translator (English-Finnish) and an intermediate tennis player.
Laura Linkomies
Laura Linkomies is Editor of Privacy Laws & Business UK and International Reports. 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 and marketing. 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, and as freelance journalist. Laura’s articles have been published in several Finnish magazines in the past, and she is also an experienced PR consultant, translator (English-Finnish) and an intermediate tennis player.
Patricia Kosseim
Patricia Kosseim brings to her role as Commissioner significant experience and a wealth of knowledge in the areas of privacy and access law, having worked in public, private and health sectors, and across various jurisdictions. Previously, Patricia was counsel in Osler's Privacy and Data Management Group and served for more than a decade as senior general counsel and director general at the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. She has held executive positions at Genome Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and has taught part-time at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. Patricia obtained her business and law degrees from McGill University, and a Master’s Degree in Medical Law and Ethics from King’s College, University of London, UK. Patricia is a member of the Law Society of Ontario and the Barreau du Quebec, and is fluently bilingual in English and French.
Claudia Berg
Claudia is the General Counsel for the Information Commissioner’s Office. She heads up the ICO’s Legal Service and provides strategic legal advice to the Commissioner, the ICO’s Executive Team and Management Board. Claudia joined the ICO in April 2021 from the Competition & Markets 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. Prior to the CMA, Claudia worked at Linklaters London, advising clients on all aspects of EU and UK competition law. Claudia is a dual-qualified Solicitor in England & Wales and Germany. She holds a Maîtrise en droit from the University of Paris 1 (Panthéon-Sorbonne) and a Master’s degree from King’s College London.
Vivienne Artz
Vivienne is a board director and advisor, strategic consultant and expert on data and privacy, financial crime and inclusion & diversity issues, with over twenty years experience in the financial services sector. Her current roles include Data Strategy and Privacy Policy Advisor to CIPL, Director of Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation and Freegold Ventures, Board Advisor to Privacy Culture, Vice Chair of PICCASO and founder of the PICCASO Privacy Awards, Expert Advisor to GSS-Rose Limited, Chair of the Global Coalition to Fight Financial Crime Privacy Committee, Honorary Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Securities & Investment, and independent advisor to the UK International Data Transfers Expert Council. Vivienne also advises a range of innovative, fast growth technology companies, is an expert advisor to New Financial, and Chapter co-lead of the City of London Vision for Growth: a roadmap to prosperity initiative. Vivienne is Patron of Women in Finance Rwanda, and is on the Advisory Board of Women in Banking and Finance UK, having been President and CEO from 2017-2020. Vivienne is a an exceptional gender champion and leader and was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours in 2021 for services to financial services and gender diversity.
Caitlin Fennessy
Caitlin Fennessy is Vice President and Chief Knowledge Officer at the International Association of Privacy Professionals, where she guides the strategic development of IAPP research, publications, communications, programming and external affairs. Caitlin is a recognized privacy expert, serving as an inaugural member of the UK International Data Transfers Expert Council, on the German Marshall Global Task Force to Promote Trusted Sharing of Data and on the Future of Privacy Forum Advisory Board. She speaks and leads frequent public discussions on the practical impacts of privacy developments around the world. Prior to joining the IAPP, Caitlin was the Privacy Shield Director at the U.S. International Trade Administration, where she spent ten years working on international privacy and cross-border data flow policy issues. Caitlin also served as an adjunct professor of international privacy law at the University of Maine School of Law and University of New Hampshire School of Law. Caitlin has a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton University and a bachelor’s degree in social policy from Northwestern University.
Brenda Leong
Brenda Leong is a partner at BNH.AI, a boutique law firm uniquely founded by a partnership between lawyers and data scientists, dedicated entirely to developing policies and practices around AI governance, including applying model risk management frameworks, performing model audits, and creating de-identification architecture and certification, along with designing and automating AI policies and procedures. Previously, Brenda was senior counsel and director of AI and ethics at the Future of Privacy Forum, where she oversaw the development and analysis of AI and ML resources. She is a recognized expert on the responsible use of biometrics and digital identity, with a focus on facial recognition, facial analysis, and emerging issues around voice-operated systems. Prior to her work at FPF, Brenda served in the US Air Force. She is a 2014 graduate of George Mason University School of Law.Previously, Vivienne was a Managing Director and Chief Privacy Officer at the London Stock Exchange Group, Refinitiv and Thomson Reuters, leading the Privacy Office and overseeing global privacy strategy and practice across 190 countries. Vivienne was global Head of Privacy Legal at Citibank where she worked for 17 years, after practicing as a lawyer in London. Vivienne is Patron of Women in Finance Rwanda, and is on the Advisory Board of Women in Banking and Finance UK, having been President and CEO from 2017-2020. Vivienne is a an exceptional gender champion and leader and was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours in 2021 for services to financial services and gender diversity.
J. Trevor Hughes
As President and CEO of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), J. Trevor Hughes leads the world’s largest association of privacy professionals, which promotes, defines and supports the privacy profession globally. Trevor is widely recognized as a leading privacy expert, appearing at SXSW, RSA and other privacy and technology events. He has contributed to media outlets such as the New York Times, TechCrunch and WIRED and has provided testimony on issues of privacy, surveillance and privacy-sensitive technologies before the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, British Parliament and more. A native of Canada, Trevor previously served as the executive director of the Network Advertising Initiative and the Email Sender and Provider Coalition. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and his Juris Doctor from the University Of Maine School Of Law, where he is also an adjunct professor and member of the Law Foundation Board. He can be found on Twitter at @JTrevorHughes.
Michael McEvoy
Michael McEvoy was appointed to a six-year term as Information and Privacy Commissioner for BC by unanimous motion of the Legislative Assembly in 2018. Immediately prior to his appointment he helped lead the Information Commissioner’s Office of the United Kingdom’s investigation into Cambridge Analytica and Facebook. Commissioner McEvoy joined the OIPC in 2007, adjudicating more than 50 inquiries under provincial access and privacy law before his appointment as Deputy Commissioner in 2013. He was a public school trustee for 12 years, a role that included two terms as President of the British Columbia School Trustees' Association and one as President of the Canadian School Boards' Association. He has chaired Greater Victoria’s United Way campaign and presently serves on the board of the Victoria Conservatory of Music. He obtained a Juris Doctorate from the University of Manitoba in 1985 and a Bachelor of Arts in 1980 from the University of Winnipeg. Commissioner McEvoy has been a member of the Law Society of British Columbia since 1986.
Bojana Bellamy
Bojana is the President of Hunton Andrews Kurth’ Centre for Information Policy Leadership (CIPL), a preeminent global privacy and data policy think tank in 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 privacy and responsible data use. In 2019 Bojana received the IAPP Vanguard Award, which recognizes privacy professionals for outstanding leadership, knowledge and creativity. 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.
Charlotte Andrews
Dr. Charlotte Andrews is Head of Cultural Heritage for the Bermuda National Trust. She is responsible for cultural heritage research, management, and interpretation including for the Trust’s archaeological research, museums and collections. She also provides cultural heritage advocacy in the Trust’s role of protecting and promoting Bermuda heritage. A Bermudian, she has worked in the local cultural and heritage sector for 25 years, including as Executive Director of the St. George’s Foundation and as Curator of the now National Museum of Bermuda. She earned her MPhil and PhD in Heritage and Museum Studies from the University of Cambridge, in part by conducting ethnographic research on uses of maritime heritage in Bermuda. She is passionate about Bermuda’s heritage and culture because they are processes embedded throughout people’s lives and are thus central to senses of identity and community.
Ana Karen Cortés Víquez
Ana Karen is Law and Technology International Consultant with an emphasis on Personal Data Protection, Cyberlaw and Digital Violence for international organizations, companies and civil society organizations. She has a Master's degree in General Data Protection Regulation (RGPD) from the Madrid State Distance University and the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD). She has been certified in Cybersecurity by the University of León, Spain and the National Cybersecurity Institute (INCIBE). In addition, she obtained a Postgraduate Degree in Registry and Notarial Law with honorary distinction Cum Laude Probatus from the Latin American University of Science and Technology. In addition to this, she has a degree in Law from the University of Costa Rica. She was National Director of the Costa Rican Residents' Data Protection Agency (PRODHAB) and has served as Coordinator for Latin America of the project “Strategy to combat gender violence on the Internet” of the Program for Social Cohesion in Latin America EUROsocial+. She is digital law specialist for ACCESA.ORG and coordinator of the Women's Network of the Latin American Privacy Association (ALAP) Costa Rica Chapter, and is an active participant in the forum of the Ibero-American Network for Personal Data Protection (RIDP). She has served as a Professor for the School of Collective Communication of the University of Costa Rica and collaborated as a co-editor and advisor on different law projects related to the protection of personal data
Paolo Balboni
Paolo Balboni (PhD) is a Professor of Privacy, Cybersecurity, and IT Contract Law at the European Centre on Privacy and Cybersecurity (ECPC) within the Maastricht University Faculty of Law. His main research focus is Data Protection as a Corporate Social Responsibility, which can be used to help organisations responsibly further their economic targets and at the same time positively contribute to the development of a fair data-centric society. Qualified lawyer specialized in ICT, Privacy & Cybersecurity admitted to the Milan Bar and registered to the Amsterdam Bar. He is a Founding Partner of ICT Legal Consulting (ICTLC), an international law firm, and ICT Cyber Consulting, a company specialized in information/data security. Prof. Dr. Balboni is a Recommended Lawyer ranked by The Legal 500 EMEA 2023 in the areas of Data Privacy and Data Protection and Industry Focus: TMT. He is the Chairman of the European Patent Office (EPO) Data Protection Board, Member of the EUMETSAT Data Protection Supervisory Authority, Member of the Europrivacy Board of Experts, and Member of the European Commission’s Expert Group on B2B data sharing and cloud computing contracts. Prof. Dr. Balboni is also involved in several EU projects including: Knowledge Technologies for Democracy (KT4D - Horizon Europe) which is investigating how democracy and civic participation can be better facilitated in the face of rapidly changing knowledge technologies - such as Artificial Intelligence (AI); ARIEN, a Horizon Europe project which is focused on AI-based tools for discovering and investigating illegal drug production and trafficking: and EMPOWER, a Horizon 2020 project which is creating a Big Data European Platform to Promote Wellbeing and Health in the workplace. Prof. Dr. Balboni furthermore advises governments on national matters concerning cybersecurity and privacy and in 2018, he drafted the national Surinamese Privacy and Data Protection Law. He is the author of the book Trustmarks in E-Commerce: The Value of Web Seals and the Liability of their Providers, and of numerous publications on data protection by design, cloud computing, big data and smart analytics, internet of things, Law Enforcement Agencies’ access to data; intellectual property, contractual and data protection aspects of blockchain technology, and the relationship between privacy/data protection and the use of information in order to fight online-terrorist propaganda, recruitment, and radicalization. Prof. Dr. Balboni has acted as the legal counsel for the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) on several projects. Finally, he co-chairs the Privacy Level Agreement (PLA) Working Group of Cloud Security Alliance.
Gehan Gunasekara
Gehan Gunasekara is an Associate Professor in commercial law at the University of Auckland Business School in New Zealand. He has published internationally on data privacy and is a regular commentator in New Zealand media. Gehan was a member of the academic reference committee for the Review of Privacy by the New Zealand Law Commission completed in 2011, advising it on reforming the Privacy Act 1993 prior to its replacement in 2020. He helped establish and was, from 2019 until 2022, Chair of Privacy Foundation New Zealand Inc., a not-for-profit organisation that advocates for protection of the privacy rights of New Zealanders by providing independent, expert and fair public comment on privacy. He is currently researching the implications of data sovereignty from its economic, technological, and indigenous standpoints.
Luiza Jarovsky
Luiza Jarovsky is a lawyer, co-founder of Implement Privacy - where she leads global training programs in privacy & AI - and the author of The Privacy Whisperer newsletter and podcast, a leading publication in the field. 80,000+ people follow her work, and hundreds of privacy & tech leaders have attended her masterclasses. In 2023, Luiza was named by LinkedIn a Top Voice in AI; in 2021, she received a Westin Scholar Award from the IAPP, and in 2020, she was awarded by the President of Israel the “President's Scholarship for Excellence in Science and Innovation” for her Ph.D. research. Before focusing on privacy & AI, she worked as a corporate lawyer, advising entrepreneurs. She published three fiction books and edited the book “Law for Entrepreneurs” (in Portuguese). Originally from Brazil, Luiza graduated in Law from the University of São Paulo, completed her Master's at Tel Aviv University, and is doing her Ph.D. there as well. She speaks English, Portuguese, French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Hebrew and is a proud mother of 3.
Susie Alegre
Dr. Susie Alegre is an international lawyer and adviser with particular expertise on the intersection between emerging technologies and human rights. Called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1997, her career has included work for international organisations including the OSCE, EU in Uganda and the UN as well as civil society organisations including Amnesty International and JUSTICE. She holds judicial and oversight roles domestically and internationally and is currently a member of the Commission for Control of Interpol’s Files with expertise in Data Protection. A senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance and Innovation (CIGI), she is also the Founder Director of the Island Rights Initiative and Founder Director of Alegre International, a consultancy providing advice and thought leadership on tech governance and regulation. Her first book, Freedom to Think (Atlantic Books 2022) was a Financial Times Technology Book of the Year 2022 and her forthcoming book, Human Rights, Robot Wrongs, will be released in May 2024.
Meike Kamp
Commissioner Meike Kamp has served as Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BlnBDI) since 2022. From 2019-2022, she was Legal Officer for Justice, Home Affairs and Sports to the Representative of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen to the Federal Government. She initially joined the BlnBDI in 2010, where she served as Division Head from 2016-2019. From 2005-2010, Commissioner Kamp was affiliated with the Independent State Center for Data Protection in Schleswig-Holstein, where she was Division Head from 2007 on. Commissioner Kamp studied law and legal informatics in Hanover, Göttingen and Stockholm.
Duncan Card
Duncan Card is a Partner at Appleby Bermuda who has over 30 years of international experience providing legal services concerning a broad range of complex commercial transactions in Canada, Bermuda and around the world. His practice includes: technology and innovation – including all IT contracts, Fintech, Insurtech, privacy and data protection, outsourcing transactions, telecommunications, infrastructure and public sector procurement. Duncan is also an ICD.D certified corporate director and has served on numerous corporate boards of directors. Prior to joining Appleby in April 2022, Duncan was recognized as one of Canada’s leading commercial technology lawyers. He holds numerous recognitions, awards and legal rankings over the years, including Chambers Global for IT and Chambers Canada as an ‘Expert Based Abroad’ (Bermuda) for IT. His acclaimed 2021 book on technology transaction best practices is published by Thomson Reuters in London, New York and Toronto.