Data Protection Conference

After completing a passion project in 2009, writing and directing Wales’s first online drama series (before Netflix was a thing) James saw the light and moved into tech. Aged 29, he developed a successful B2B IT infrastructure and cybersecurity sales management career. Then, alongside training to be a yoga and meditation teacher, in 2016 he moved into data protection consultancy. After helping to build a consultancy practice and some of the earliest practical applications of the EU GDPR into hundreds of organisations he moved to in-house specialist for the largest global psychometric testing firm, undergoing a 50 billion datapoint AWS migration. Following this he became DPO for government backed research centres within the What Works Network where he also implemented the first non-governmental research dataset into the UK Office for National Statistics. In 2023, James was moved to play his part to help improve the country further by becoming the Data Protection Officer for The Labour Party.

Owen Rowland is the Deputy Director, Head of Data Protection Policy in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). His key responsibilities include:

• – passage and implementation of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill;
• – further development of UK data protection policy; and
• – sponsorship of the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Previously, in the Strategic Centre for Organised Crime in the Home Office, he was responsible for Economic and Cyber Crime.

Owen’s other roles over 30 years within Whitehall and the European Commission were comprised of a range of crime, policing and national security posts, including:

• Led Design of the National Crime Agency;
• Head of Drug Strategy;
• Secretary to the Chilcot Review of Use of Intercept Material as Evidence;
• Established the first UK civil Counter-Terrorism Science and Innovation Programme; and
• Led European Commission accession negotiations on Justice and Home Affairs with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Kate Collocott is the founder of Data Driven Legal, a boutique legal practice focused on providing practical data protection and AI governance advice. Before this, Kate was the Global Data Protection Officer for Royal Caribbean Group, a multinational organisation listed on the New York Stock Exchange, a role which gave Kate exposure to all areas of data protection compliance. This experience and perspective means that Kate knows what kind of advice inhouse colleagues want and need. Clients value the combination of Kate’s legal expertise and her practical experience in rolling out effective compliance programs. Her knowledge, approachable nature and reliability mean that clients think of Data Driven Legal as an extension of their own inhouse teams.

Will is Head of Policy and Communications at Publishers’ Licensing Services (PLS). He joined PLS in December 2021 after working in Westminster for 6 years as a researcher for Andrew Bingham MP and for former Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Rt Hon John Whittingdale OBE MP.

Will’s main responsibilities are to engage with members of both houses in parliament on issues affecting copyright and licensing, to respond to relevant government consultations on behalf of PLS and ensure that PLS and mandating PLS publishers are updated on policy issues.

Will is a member of the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers and represents PLS at meetings of the British Copyright Council and Alliance for IP, as well as various publishing industry policy groups, and the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO). Additionally, Will is responsible for the coordination and delivery of PLS’ external relations strategy.

Dr Naman Goel is the Senior Policy Advisor – AI Policy and Governance at the Tony Blair Institute in London. Naman’s work focuses on the development of trustworthy and human-centric AI systems. Naman earned a Ph.D. at the School of Computer and Communication Sciences, EPFL in Switzerland. He earlier studied Computer Science and Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi. Further information about Naman and his work is available at his website: https://goelnaman.github.io/.

Dr Bertie Müller is PGT Programme Director for Computer Science in the Computational Foundry at Swansea University. He is also Chair of the Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour (AISB).

Bertie holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Hamburg, Germany. Before moving to Wales, he worked at Durham University. Throughout his academic career he has collaborated with industrial partners. His main research interests are in resource and location modelling, multi-agent programming, and intelligent systems. He regularly presents at international conferences and has publications in highly-acclaimed international journals and conference proceedings. Emphasis in his current work is on ethical design of technology and on making AI work for humanity, as well as the role of AI in Cyber Security.

Chris is the CEO of the Data and Marketing Association. He has over 35 years of experience in Europe, the USA and Asia/Pacific including senior roles at agencies, brands and marketing technology companies.

Chris launched his career in Los Angeles in TV Production before joining Young & Rubicam NY in 1982. His 12 years at Y&R included 5 years in Asia, from 1989, initially as regional account director for Dentsu Young & Rubicam (DY&R) and then as General Manager of Wunderman Hong Kong before founding the Wunderman office in Singapore in 1992. Chris moved to London in 1994 as European media and sourcing director for Franklin Mint and created his own on-line catalogue company (Living Heritage) in 1998. From 2000 to 2009, Chris developed Emailvision (now Smartfocus) into Europe’s leading email service provider (ESP) in his dual roles of Chief Operating Officer and UK Managing Director.

In addition to his commercial activity, Chris has taken a lead in industry issues including legislation, best practice and education. His industry roles include being Co-Chair of FEDMA, Chair of the JIC Mail board, and seats on the boards of the Advertising Association, Asbof and CAP.

Claire is Head of Privacy and Data Protection Officer at the Bank of England, leading a team of privacy professionals, advising the organisation on complex privacy matters and monitoring compliance. She is a qualified privacy practitioner (ISEB, CIPM, CIPP/E) with over 25 years’ experience in the UK and internationally in the fields of privacy and data protection, information rights and records management.  Claire has held specialist roles at the Ministry of Justice, the World Health Organization and the Bank for International Settlements in Switzerland.  She is passionate about information governance and how organisations can leverage value from their information assets and also has a particular interest in privacy education and training.

After completing a passion project in 2009, writing and directing Wales’s first online drama series (before Netflix was a thing) James saw the light and moved into tech. Aged 29, he developed a successful B2B IT infrastructure and cybersecurity sales management career. Then, alongside training to be a yoga and meditation teacher, in 2016 he moved into data protection consultancy. After helping to build a consultancy practice and some of the earliest practical applications of the EU GDPR into hundreds of organisations he moved to in-house specialist for the largest global psychometric testing firm, undergoing a 50 billion datapoint AWS migration. Following this he became DPO for government backed research centres within the What Works Network where he also implemented the first non-governmental research dataset into the UK Office for National Statistics. In 2023, James was moved to play his part to help improve the country further by becoming the Data Protection Officer for The Labour Party.