TUESDAY, 13 JANUARY 2015 – The Information Accountability Foundation and Peter Cullen announce an affiliation between the parties to launch a new initiative that will expand the work the Foundation is doing on Information Accountability 2.0. Cullen will serve as Executive Strategist for Policy Innovation and will lead the Foundation’s work in developing a Holistic Governance Policy Model, an essential building block for the Foundation’s next generation of research on accountability—Information Accountability 2.0. The project will further the Foundation’s mission of collaborative, implementable policy innovation and will broaden current multi-stakeholder participation.

The Holistic Governance Policy Model will examine internal governance/public policy mechanisms to achieve more effective data use and protection. The project will draw upon the expertise of data protection regulators, government officials, civil society representatives, and privacy professionals. The work will also assess new ways for organizations to demonstrate that scalable public policy models can be implemented through accountable governance systems. The project is part of the Foundation’s Information Accountability 2.0 research, which focuses on processes increasingly mandated by law, fair practice, and the marketplace, such as the balancing process required by legitimate interests and privacy by design.

“Peter Cullen’s appointment shows a strong commitment to the future of information policy for the Foundation,” said Marty Abrams, Foundation Executive Director. “Ubiquitous observation and advanced analytics are the current and future environment for human endeavours, and policy must both encourage beneficial use of data while assuring fairness. Peter’s thought leadership will assure the Foundation is on the policy cutting edge.”

“Collaboration between Peter and Marty will lead to an exponential growth in pathways to a more holistic information policy,” said Board Chair Scott Taylor. “The result will be better data protection and next generational governance models for effective, responsible and answerable data use.”

“The goals for data protection are clear, however, our public policy frameworks and accountable organization governance systems must match the complexity and robustness of current and future data application,” said, Peter Cullen. “How the next generation policy models will be implementable will be key. The Foundation is the right place to do this work.”

About Peter Cullen:
Peter provides strategic leadership to organizations, helping them leverage information use to achieve business value and differentiation, as well as advance their reputation and image. He brings over two decades of expertise in corporate governance, privacy and risk management as well as extensive background in building sound organizational practices. He also currently serves as the CEO of Global Information Governance Solutions, a boutique consulting firm providing strategic advisory services to organizations. His distinguished career includes work as General Manager for Trustworthy Computing and Chief Privacy Strategist at Microsoft Corp. There, he led the development and implementation of programs that bolstered the trustworthiness of Microsoft® products, services, processes and systems worldwide. In 2003, Peter was honoured with the International Association of Privacy Professionals’ (IAPP) Vanguard Award for Privacy Innovation for his contributions to the privacy profession. Peter holds an MBA with distinction from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.

About the Foundation:
The Information Accountability Foundation is a non-profit research and educational organization founded to integrate accountability and data stewardship as key components of information policy, innovation, and effective enforcement. The Foundation’s stated mission is to further accountability-based information governance through active consultations and research, in collaboration with governments, enforcement agencies, business, and civil society so that data protection may be effective in facilitating information driven innovation while protecting individuals’ rights to privacy and autonomy.