Mary Pothos

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Booking.com

Chief Privacy Officer

Mary Pothos is Booking.com's Chief Privacy Officer. Established in 1996 in Amsterdam, Booking.com has grown from a small Dutch start-up to the third largest e-commerce company in the world. With a mission to empower people to experience the world, Booking.com invests in digital technology that helps take the friction out of travel. Mary is responsible for developing Booking's legal and regulatory position with regard to data protection legislation across the globe, in alignment with Booking’s business strategy and external regulatory requirements.



Prior to joining Booking.com, Mary was the Head of Privacy (EMEA) and European Data Protection Officer of Marsh and McLennan Inc (MMC) where she was responsible for overseeing the successful approval of MMC's Binding Corporate Rules, the delivery of the MMC GDPR project and the enhancement of their data protection program and accountability approach. She also contributed to the European Data Protection Law & Practice on the subject of "Accountability Requirements".



Previously, she worked as senior in-house counsel for Santander UK and for Visa Europe Inc. Mary began her career in the UK with the London law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.



Mary's current interests lie in the future development of privacy policy, regulation, and oversight. She has closely followed developments over recent years, particularly the connection between ever-increasing technological advances and data dependence, which brings new challenges for privacy practitioners on how to commercially compete and, at the same time, remain compliant.



Mary is a graduate of the University of Adelaide and Charles Darwin University, Australia, where she gained a Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Bachelor of Law (LLB) and is a dual-qualified lawyer in Australia and England & Wales.  

 

Contributions by Mary Pothos

  • Member of European Advisory Board 2020 - 2021
  • European Data Protection, Second Edition
    Author