About me.

The things I’ve done (so far…)

For over twenty years, I have helped some of the world’s most admired, innovative and successful companies navigate rapidly changing environments around the world, building trust while maintaining business velocity and advancing product strategy. Over more than a decade at Google, I served on the senior-most leadership teams aligning product strategy with shifting global risks and opportunities. I carried various leadership roles including service as the CEO, Chairman, and as a board director for Google subsidiaries, as a member of Google’s Privacy and Data Protection Steering Committee (whose other members were primarily direct reports to the CEO), and as a member of the Senior Leadership Team of a global department of over 1400 employees spanning Google’s entire portfolio of products and services around the world.

I designed and oversaw the world’s most sophisticated and highly scrutinized privacy and data protection program.

I joined Google in 2011, just after the company had negotiated the Buzz Consent Order with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. That Order required, among other things, that Google implement a comprehensive privacy program, and that it subject this program to an assessment by an external firm every other year for 20 years. One of my first responsibilities at Google was to collaborate with product and engineering leadership to design and implement such a program. The key challenge was designing not only appropriate processes and controls, but also to design the overall structure of the assessment, and negotiating an agreement with an assessor that would result in a work product that met the expectations of the FTC. As important, we needed to minimize drag on launch velocity, enabling the responsible launch of tens of thousands of products and features per year.

Over the years, we worked with various assessors (PriceWaterhouse Coopers, Promontory Financial, and Ernst &Young), and during my 13 years at Google, we always succeeded in delivering a passing report. This was the result of a massive cross-functional effort involving legal, product & engineering, compliance, internal audit, and others.

I’ve distinguished myself as a leading authority on AI Governance and oversight of responsible AI deployment.

I served as a charter member of the IAPP’s AI Governance Center Advisory Board, and was part of inaugural cohort to obtain the Artificial Intelligence Governance Certification (AIGC). I’ve served as a featured speaker at the National Association of Corporate Directors Masterclass on Technology Oversight, focusing on how board directors and senior executives should responsibly navigate the coming wave of technological change. Within Google, I served on the Generative AI Legal SteerCo, helping to assess risks and opportunities and set legal strategy as we brought AI products to market. My teams provided advice and counsel about existing requirements and anticipated changes in the law.

For over a decade, I’ve served as Google’s advocate and spokesperson for privacy and data protection around the world.

Leading teams in the United States, Singapore, the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Spain, Germany and Brussels, I oversaw strategic engagement with regulators and policy makers on landmark issues relating to privacy, data protection and consumer protection, including the right to be forgotten, interpretation and implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation, launching exposure notification during the COVID-19 pandemic, and cases and disputes of unprecedented historic importance. I testified before the United States Senate at a hearing discussing online privacy, helped prepare our CEO for his own testimony, and testified before legislative bodies around the world on Google’s behalf. I served as Google’s first Data Protection Officer under the GDPR, as the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Google Payment Korea, and as a board director of various other foreign subsidiaries. I led teams that resolved cases and disputes in jurisdictions across the United States, Europe and Asia protecting and advocating for stronger protections for individuals while advancing Google’s product strategy and building Google’s brand.

I built a team that served as the gold standard for privacy and data protection for over a decade.

During my tenure with Google, I built a team of 80 lawyers and legal and compliance professionals with unparalleled global expertise in counseling the most novel and complex legal issues of our time. Alumni of our team have moved on to senior leadership roles at leading AI, retail, gaming and software companies. The relationships I’ve formed and the friendships that persist are the legacy of which I’m the most proud.

I’ve served as a board director for private, public and nonprofit companies, focusing on having a material positive impact through thoughtful oversight and engagement.

I served (and continue to serve) on the board of directors of ZoomInfo, helping the team to navigate a wildly successful IPO in the midst of a global pandemic. I am the chair of ZI’s Privacy, Security and Technology Committee, and I serve on the Audit Committee. I also serve on the board of directors of DECODE, a nonprofit operating in collaboration with Berkeley and Stanford, focused on entrepreneurship. I’m a past member of the board of directors of the International Association of Privacy Professionals. I’ve completed coursework on making corporate boards more effective at the Harvard Business School, and completed my National Association of Corporate Directors Directorship Certification.

I advise venture capital and private equity firms, founders, CEOs, board directors and other leaders regarding AI, privacy, risk and compliance, international expansion, and an array of other issues.

I serve on various CXO advisory boards to venture capital firms, sometimes partnering with the firms themselves and sometimes making direct investments into portfolio companies. I’ve advised founders of early-stage startups and CEOs of multi-billion dollar multinational enterprises.

I’m committed to working with the world’s leading educational institutions and professional organizations to develop the next generation of privacy and AI governance leaders.

I’ve been a guest lecturer at Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, The University of California at Berkeley School of Engineering, the Haas School of Business, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and others. I’ve been a featured speaker at major events around the world, including South by Southwest, RSA, and events sponsored by the United Nations, the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, The Center for Information Policy Leadership, the National Association of Corporate Directors, the International Association of Privacy Professionals, and many others.