IAPP Data Protection Intensive: UK 2024

Bojana Bellamy is the president of Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP's Centre for Information Policy Leadership (CIPL), a preeminent global information policy think tank located in Washington DC, London 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. With more than 25 years of experience and deep knowledge of global data privacy and cybersecurity law, compliance and policy, Bojana has a record in designing strategy, and building and managing data privacy compliance programs. She was one of 20 privacy experts to participate in the transatlantic ‘Privacy Bridge Project’ from 2014-2015 that sought to develop practical solutions to bridge the gap between European and U.S. privacy regimes. Bojana was also the recipient of the 2019 International Association of Privacy Professionals’ (IAPP) Vanguard Award, which recognizes privacy professionals for outstanding leadership, knowledge and creativity in the field of privacy and data protection.

Currently, Bojana sits on a number of industry and regulatory advisory boards and panels. She was recently selected as a member of the Global Privacy Assembly Reference Panel. She participates in many industry groups and is a regular speaker at international privacy, data and cybersecurity conferences.

Prior to joining CIPL, Bojana served for 12 years as the global director of data privacy at Accenture.

Lord Clement-Jones was made CBE for political services in 1988 and life peer in 1998. Until July 2004 he was the Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson and thereafter until 2010 Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on Culture, Media and Sport, in the House of Lords. He is the current Liberal Democrat House of Lords spokesperson for Science Innovation and Technology. He is the former Chair of the House of Lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence which sat from 2017-18 and Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on AI. He is a founding member of the OECD Parliamentary Group on AI and former consultant of the Council of Europe’s Ad-hoc Committee on AI (CAHAI). He has most recently been appointed a member of the Industry and Regulation Committee and a member of the Special Inquiry Committee on AI Weapons Systems. He is a former member of the House of Lords Select Committees on Communications (2011-15) the Built Environment (2015-16) and Risk Assessment and Planning (2020-21). He is a former member of the Joint Committee on the Draft Online Safety Bill (2021-22). He is Deputy-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on China and Vice-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Music; The Future of Work; Digital Regulation and Responsibility; Ticket Abuse; Performers Alliance; Writers; Ovarian Cancer; PICTFOR; and Indonesia. He is a Consultant on AI Policy and Regulation of global law firm DLA Piper where previous positions held included London Managing Partner (2011-16), Head of UK Government Affairs, Chair of its China and Middle East Desks, International Business Relations Partner and Co-Chair of Global Government Relations. He is Chair of Trust Alliance Group (formerly Ombudsman Services), the not for profit, independent ombudsman providing dispute resolution for communications, energy, property and copyright industries. He is Chair of Council of Queen Mary University of London. He is an Ambassador for ACID (Anti-Copying in Design). He is President of Ambitious about Autism, an autism education charity and school for children with autism and other communication disorders. Full details at: https://www.lordclementjones.org/

Elizabeth Denham CBE, joined Baker McKenzie as International Consultant, Data and Tech in 2022. She has over 15 years' experience as a data protection regulator in four jurisdictions. She was most recently the Information Commissioner for the UK (2016-2021) . During her tenure in the UK she also chaired the Global Privacy Assembly, which brings together more than 130 data protection authorities around the world - the premier global forum for data protection. She is recognized as a leader in enabling responsible data use by government and the commercial sector, and for implementing the GDPR into UK law. She tackled some of the most complex issues facing the digital economy, including the use of data in political campaigns, the use of live facial recognition technologies in the commercial and police sectors, and the transparent and fair use of analytics and AI. She is passionate about the protection of children online, ethical and accountable use of health data, and supporting companies to embed data protection and security into their services and offerings. Elizabeth was honoured in the Queen's 2019 Honours list a CBE for services to protecting personal privacy of UK citizens.

Michelle Donelan was appointed secretary of state for science, innovation and technology on 7 February 2023. She was previously appointed secretary of state for digital, culture, media and Sport from 6 September 2022 to 7 February 2023.

John Edwards began as U.K. Information Commissioner 4 January, 2022.

Edwards, who joins on a five year term, spent the past eight years as New Zealand Privacy Commissioner, and before that worked as a barrister. He succeeds Elizabeth Denham, CBE, whose term as U.K. Information Commissioner ended last year.

Edwards’ appointment comes at the start of a busy time for information rights in the UK. The ICO will be actively engaging with the government over the proposed reforms to the Data Protection Act and introduction of the Online Safety Bill, as well as strengthening links with other digital regulators. The ICO will also continue to prioritise its work to protect children online, through the Age Appropriate Design Code, which has already prompted international tech companies to make changes to better respect children’s rights online.

Edwards was educated in New Plymouth, New Zealand and achieved a bachelor of laws and masters in public policy at the University of Wellington.

He worked as a solicitor and barrister for more than 14 years, including time as a policy adviser to the New Zealand Prime Minister and Cabinet around Freedom of Information.

From February 2014 to December 2021, he was New Zealand Privacy Commissioner. During that time, he chaired the International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners (now known as the Global Privacy Assembly), and was a member of the OECD’s Informal Group of Experts on Children in the Digital Environment.

Joe Jones serves as the director of research and insights for the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). Leading the research and insights team, he provides strategic direction and contributes to the development of practical content for privacy professionals on privacy law and policy, data protection management, and privacy technology and engineering. This work includes engaging with privacy leaders from industry, government, academia and civil society as he keeps IAPP members informed on data protection developments around the world.

Previously, Jones served as the deputy director for international data transfers with the U.K. government, where he led the team responsible for policies relating to the free and secure flow of data internationally. This included work on data ‘adequacy,’ alternative transfer mechanisms, and multilateral initiatives that promote the trusted exchange of data across borders. Other prior roles include serving as the U.K. government’s deputy head of digital trade policy and working in the private sector as a lawyer on data privacy issues with Covington & Burling LLP .

Jones has been globally recognized as a leader in privacy law and policy. In 2022, Politico named him as the fourth most influential ‘rulemaker’ in Europe as well as the digital policy ‘Wonk of the week’ in September of 2021.

He has led dozens of U.K. government diplomatic delegations or missions, holds over 200 public and private speaking credits on data protection and transfers, and has contributed frequently to academic and professional publications, including the National Law Review. Jones holds a law degree from the University of Oxford. he can be found on Twitter at @JoeGTJones

Max Schrems is the honorary chairman and founder of noyb, a privacy enforcement platform that brings data protection cases to the courts under the EU General Data Protection Regulation. Schrems first came to notoriety as an Austrian law student who filed a complaint to the Irish Data Commissioner that Facebook Ireland was illegally sharing his personal data with the U.S. government, following the revelations of Edward Snowden. The case, known as "The Schrems case" or "Schrems I," eventually led to the invalidation of the Safe Harbor data-transfer agreement between the EU and U.S. Schrems later amended his complaint against Facebook Ireland with the Irish Data Protection Commission after Facebook switched its transfer mechanism from Safe Harbor to standard contractual clauses, leading to a new referral to the CJEU implicating both standard contractual clauses and the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework. On July 16, 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union invalidated Privacy Shield and placed additional requirements for companies using standard contractual clauses to third countries outside the EU.