Research Team

VICE PRESIDENT OF RESEARCH AND EDUCATION

Omer Tene

Omer Tene is vice president of research and education at the IAPP where he administers the IAPP Westin Fellowship Program and fosters ties between the industry and academia. Before joining the IAPP, Dr. Tene was vice dean of the College of Management School of Law, Rishon Le Zion, Israel. Dr. Tene is an affiliate scholar at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society; and a senior fellow at the Future of Privacy Forum. He has published extensively in U.S. and European law reviews about big data, online tracking and international privacy law.

Research Director

Rita Heimes

Rita Heimes is Research Director at the International Association of Privacy Professionals. She is an attorney and academic with many years of experience in the fields of privacy, information security, and intellectual property law. In her role at the IAPP, Rita helps to promote the privacy profession through empirical and qualitative research on privacy functions globally as well as though outreach to academic institutions developing the next generation of privacy and security professionals.

Prior to joining the IAPP, Rita was a law professor and academic dean at the University of Maine School of Law, where she directed the Center for Law + Innovation and developed the nation’s first Privacy Pathways program and one of the first intellectual property clinics. Rita remains an active scholar, and still coordinates and teaches in the Information Privacy Summer Institute at Maine Law.

Over her law career, Rita has practiced privacy and intellectual property law with firms in Seattle, Boulder, and Portland (Maine). She received her BA in Journalism from the University of Iowa and her JD from Drake University School of Law.

Westin Fellows

Cobun Keegan

Cobun Keegan is a recent graduate of the University of Colorado Law School, where he served as Executive Editor of the Colorado Technology Law Journal. Named after a creek in West Virginia, Cobun became fascinated with privacy when he realized his unique name made his online presence easily trackable. He earned his undergraduate degree in psychology at Colorado College. This background in human behavior has inspired his interest in the development of privacy norms.

While in law school, Cobun sought a broad range of privacy and communications law perspectives, interning at Hogan Lovells, the Federal Trade Commission, the Colorado Technology Association, and AT&T.

In his spare time, Cobun enjoys exploring the outdoors and taking pictures of his food.

Calli Schroeder

Calli Schroeder is a recent University of Colorado Law School graduate. Her brief stint as a wedding singer led her to wonder if she had violated copyright law, an interest which transitioned to tech law broadly and privacy law specifically. While in law school, Schroeder interned for FTC Commissioner Julie Brill, published an article on consent issues and IRBs in the Colorado Technology Law Journal, served as Lead Student Note Editor on the same, and worked as a student attorney in the Technology Law and Policy Clinic. She developed a focus on consumer protection issues, surveillance, data breaches, and freaking people out at parties.

Originally from Whitefish, Montana, Calli holds an undergraduate degree in Peace Studies from Whitworth University. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling, music, and extensive debates about comic books.

Past Westin Fellows