Martin Abrams
Chief Policy Innovation Officer, The Information Accountability Foundation

As Chief Policy Innovation Officer at The Information Accountability Foundation, Martin Abrams believes data should serve people. He is currently exploring multi-dimensional proportionality as a means to drive trusted innovation to incorporate the full range of human interests into data protection law fit for the next decade.  Abrams led the Global Accountability Project, which has refined the accountability principle that is part of various data protection laws and guidance documents.   His work on accountability has impacted privacy laws in most regions. He has been a key player in developing such other data protection key concepts as a two-phase approach to advanced analytics, a taxonomy of data based on origin and ethical assessments.  Abrams’ activities are global with projects, dialogs, and seminars in Europe, the Americas, Africa, and the Pacific regions.  Before founding the IAF, Abrams was the co-founder and President of the Centre for Information Policy Leadership at Hunton & Andrews LLP.   

Rick Arney
Co-Author CCPA and CPRA

Rick Arney is a board member of Californians for Consumer Privacy and a co-author of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and Proposition 24 - the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), the most comprehensive and groundbreaking consumer privacy laws in the United States.  In addition to co-authoring both laws, Rick participated in all aspects of campaigning including signature gathering, media (both TV and Radio), finance and campaign strategy.  He has an Economics BA with honors from Stanford and an MBA from Harvard and is a Fulbright Scholar. 

Eric Dang
Counsel, Office of Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins

Eric Dang covers issues relating to the judiciary, including privacy, public safety, and the LGBTQ community.  Eric has been part of the Sacramento Capitol community for over 15 years.  Previously, Eric was staff counsel to the Assembly Judiciary Committee, and was personal staff to then-Assemblywoman Fiona Ma. Eric received his undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley, and received his law degree from UC Hastings College of the Law, San Francisco – now, UC Law San Francisco.  During law school, he was a senior articles editor to the Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly and received a Witkin Award in California civil procedure.  He is a member of the State Bar. 

He is originally from San Diego and is a proud product of refugees.  He lives with his partner Frank in Sacramento.

Brian Duke 
Policy Consultant, Senate Governmental Organization Committee

Brian Duke is a Consultant with the California Senate Governmental Organization Committee.  The Committee's jurisdiction includes State contracting, the creation of new State regulatory agencies, State business operations, and the Office of Emergency Services.  Currently, he is working on a number of proposals in the Capitol regarding the California Cybersecurity Integration Center, the Office of Wildfire Technology Research & Development, the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights: Making Automated Systems Work for the American People, prohibiting high-risk applications on State owned electronic devices, and State use of automated decision systems and AI.

Gerard de Graaf
Senior Envoy for Digital to the U.S. and Head of the E.U. Office in San Francisco

Senior EU Envoy for Digital and Head of the new EU Office in San Francisco, Gerard de Graaf has worked for more than 30 years in the European Commission across a wide range of policy areas. Until his recent appointment, he was director in DG CNECT, responsible for the Digital Services and Digital Markets Acts (DSA/DMA), two landmark pieces of legislation which have been recently adopted in the European Union to keep the Internet safe, protect 

fundamental rights and enhance competition in digital markets. Previously, Gerard de Graaf was responsible, inter alia, for the EU’s telecommunications and audiovisual policy (including copyright), cyber security, ICT standardisation, Startup Europe, ICT and green, and  international relations. He has been co-chairing two of the Trade and Technology (TTC) Council Working Groups, on greentech, and on data governance and technology platforms.

Before joining DG CNECT, he worked in the Secretariat-General of the European Commission, in DG Research and Innovation and in DG Internal Market. From 1997 to 2001, he was trade counsellor at the Commission’s Delegation to the United States in Washington DC. He joined the European Commission in 1991, having worked for the Benelux Economic Union and the Schengen secretariat on free movement within the EU.

Gerard de Graaf is from the Netherlands. He studied Economic Geography and Regional Planning (cum laude) at the Free University in Amsterdam and European Economics and Law (magna cum laude) at the Catholic University Leuven (Belgium). Married with two children, he is an avid sports fan and distance runner.

Tom Kemp 
Managing Director, Kemp Au Ventures

Tom Kemp is a Silicon Valley-based entrepreneur and investor focused on cybersecurity and privacy. He is the author of the upcoming book Containing Big Tech. Most recently, Tom was the founder and CEO of Centrify, a leading cybersecurity provider that helps 2000+ customers address regulatory requirements such as GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS. For his leadership, Tom was named by Ernst & Young as Finalist for Entrepreneur of the Year in Northern California in 2018. Tom is also currently a seed investor in over 13 startups. Tom is active in public policy around cybersecurity and privacy, including being a Policy Advisor for Californians for Consumer Privacy (“CCP”) and leading the campaign marketing efforts in 2020 to pass California Proposition 24 — the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA). Tom has researched and written extensively on privacy laws on his blog and has been interviewed as an expert in cybersecurity and privacy by Politico, Washington Post, CNBC, Fox News, and others.

Barbara Lawler
President, The Information Accountability Foundation

Barbara Lawler is the President of the Information Accountability Foundation. A three-time CPO, she most recently was VP, Chief Privacy and Data Ethics Officer at Looker Data Sciences, acquired by Google Cloud, where she led strategy, policy and operational practices for the cloud-first data platform. Before Looker, she was the Chief Privacy Officer of Intuit (2006-2017) and Hewlett Packard (2002-2006, pre-split), where she led practical and customer-savvy approaches to privacy, implementation of privacy by design, and ethical data innovation strategies. She is the 2022 IAPP Vanguard Award Recipient and a Westin Emeritus Fellow.

She is a globally recognized privacy leader and speaker, who has an extensive track record in shaping the thinking of U.S. and global policymakers on data policy issues through direct interaction with regulators and policymakers, including delivering formal testimony to both the U.S. House and Senate (twice), IRS, FTC and California State Attorney General’s Office. She holds a CIPM and CIPP/US from the IAPP, and is a graduate of San Jose State University (Business/Advertising). Barb has been Chair of the Ponemon Institute RIM Council and is a Senior Ponemon Fellow. She is a member of the Internet Ethics advisory board to the Santa Clara University Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. A California Bay Area native, she splits her time between Los Gatos and Santa Cruz.

Sean Peisert
Senior Scientist, Berkeley Lab and Adjunct Professor, UC Davis

Dr. Sean Peisert is a senior scientist Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he leads applied research and development in computer security. He is also a full adjunct professor at the University of California, Davis; is also Deputy Director and Co-PI of Trusted CI, the NSF Cybersecurity Center of Excellence; editor-in-chief of IEEE Security & Privacy; a member of the Distinguished Expert Review Panel for the NSA Annual Best Scientific Cybersecurity Paper Competition; a member of the DARPA Information Science and Technology (ISAT) Study Group; past chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Security & Privacy, and is a steering committee member and past general chair of the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy ("Oakland").  He received his Ph.D., Masters, and Bachelors degrees in Computer Science from UC San Diego.
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Darci Sears
Policy Consultant, Office of Speaker Anthony Rendon

Darci Sears is a policy consultant to the Speaker of the California State Assembly. She advises on budget and policy issues related to banking and finance, cannabis, insurance, licensed professions, and privacy.

Jake Snow
Technology and Civil Liberties Attorney, ACLU of Northern California

Jake Snow is a Technology and Civil Liberties Attorney at the ACLU of Northern California, where he works on a variety of issues, including consumer privacy, surveillance, and the preservation of free speech online. At the ACLU, he has worked to bring attention to the harms of facial recognition on communities, brought litigation to protect the constitutional rights of scooter and bike riders, and advocated for strong consumer privacy rights in the California legislature. Before joining the ACLU of Northern California, Jake was a Staff Attorney in the San Francisco office of the Federal Trade Commission. He clerked for Judge Ronald M. Whyte in the Northern District of California and holds a J.D. from Georgetown Law.

Thomas Strohmer
Director, Center for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Research (CeDAR)

Thomas Strohmer is Professor of Mathematics and Director of the Center of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Research at the University of California, Davis. He got his M.S. and Ph.D. in Mathematics in 1991 and 1994 respectively from the University of Vienna, Austria. He spent one year as Erwin-Schroedinger fellow at the Department of Statistics at Stanford University in 1997 before joining the University of California, Davis in 1998. His research interests are in data science, machine learning, applied harmonic analysis, numerical analysis, digital signal processing, and information theory. He is on the editorial board of numerous scientific journals and serves as frequent consultant to industry in the areas of data science, AI, signal processing, and communications engineering.