About the IAPP

Melanie Marks is a recognised figure in the Asia Pacific privacy industry with over fifteen years’ experience in privacy compliance, risk management and strategy and related legal fields.

She serves as an Advisory Board member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) and of Information Governance ANZ. She was the past President of the IAPP-ANZ, under an affiliate agreement with IAPP.

Melanie has established and run privacy governance programs for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and the National eHealth Transition Authority. In these roles, she was accountable for privacy risk management and compliance, serving multiple functions and stakeholder groups internally and externally. At CBA, Melanie was a member of the Digital Protection Group leadership team.

Now, as a principal of elevenM, Melanie works closely with many leading Australian and international brands and government agencies to implement and improve their privacy programs. She is known for pragmatic approach towards managing privacy and associated data governance risks, implementing privacy by design, security and data protection compliance, legal and ethical issues associated with big data, marketing and new technologies, data breach management and reporting and building organisational awareness. Melanie is also an Expert Advisor to LexisNexis on privacy and data protection.

As a corporate lawyer at Minter Ellison and Johnson, Winter & Slattery, Melanie specialized in intellectual property and privacy before moving into applied privacy roles.

Melanie holds undergraduate degrees (BMedia/Law (Hons)) from Macquarie University and a Masters of Industrial Property Law from University of Technology Sydney, as well as a Certificate of Direct Marketing from ADMA. She is a Prince2 Practitioner.