IAPP Hits 50,000 Members Marking Milestone for Organization and Growth of Privacy Profession
WASHINGTON, D.C. MAY 2, 2019 –The International Association of Privacy Professionals announced today that the organization has surpassed 50,000 members globally, nearly doubling its growth in the last two years.
The IAPP has seen consistent member growth in its 19 years of existence. The organization added 15,000 members from 2000 to 2004, jumped to 20,000 in 2015 and then reached 30,000 by 2017. To date, there are members in over 120 countries with 14 Country Leaders, 140 regional KnowledgeNet chapters around the world. This year, the IAPP will hold over 400 meetings between conferences, trainings, and networking chapter events. The privacy industry is vastly changing but the IAPP’s approach will remain what it's known for: preparing members with the knowledge and resources needed to do their jobs successfully.
Kalinda Raina, Head of Global Privacy at LinkedIn and the chair of the IAPP board of directors, believes the organization’s best trait is its ability to stay ahead in terms of supporting members’ needs.
“IAPP has been on the cutting edge of recognizing what the people in the privacy profession need to succeed while spreading awareness through the world,” Raina said. “Now, most companies, if not the vast majority, are at a place where they need a privacy professional, which really wasn’t true even five or 10 years ago. The fact that the organization has been able to navigate the explosive growth of this issue is truly extraordinary.”
IAPP President and CEO, Trevor Hughes, credited the organization’s original framework and its contributors, past and present, for providing a foundation that allowed it to succeed.
“We recognize that the privacy profession is one that represents the guardians of trust in the digital economy. That is a function that will only get bigger on a 5-, 10- and 20-year horizon,” Hughes said. “We look at growth and the future of the IAPP not as what we can turn around and make profitable quickly, but a much longer view of the growth of our profession being necessary to extract the very best of benefits from the digital economy while managing, mitigating and reducing the other harms and consequences. That’s a really big job and a really important one. It’s something that gets me into the office looking forward to the work every single day.”
About the IAPP
The International Association of Privacy Professionals is the largest and most comprehensive global information privacy community and resource. Founded in 2000, the IAPP is a not-for-profit organization that helps define, promote and improve the privacy profession globally. More information about the IAPP is available at iapp.org.