PAW NSW 2019 Keynote & Panel Bios
Privacy Awareness Week NSW 2019
Keynote Speaker & Panel Event – Speaker Biographies
Keynote Speaker
Ms Sheila FitzPatrick
Global data privacy expert and President & Founder, FitzPatrick & Associates
Sheila FitzPatrick is one of the world’s leading experts in data privacy laws in over 160 countries, providing expertise and hands-on experience in the areas of global data protection compliance, data sovereignty, cybersecurity regulations and obligations and data breach compliance.
Sheila is President and Founder of FitzPatrick & Associates, a strategic global data privacy and protection compliance consulting firm. She has more than 38 years’ experience in global data privacy, data protection and sovereignty compliance. In addition to working closely with the US Government, Council of the European Union and country-specific data protection authorities in Europe, Asia/Pacific and The Americas, she also works with National Works Councils, European Works Councils and Law Enforcement Agencies.
Sheila has been recognized by Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) around the world for her depth of comprehension and commitment to data protection laws. She speaks regularly at global conferences and panel discussions and publishes many articles focused on data privacy, cybersecurity and cloud computing.
Sheila is one of the foremost experts on the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and was identified as one of the 2017 EMEA 50 recipients, an honour bestowed on the 50 most influential people in EMEA. Sheila was also honoured as one of Silicon Valley’s Women of Influence 2017.
Sheila works with numerous multinational companies (including Fortune 500 companies) providing an extensive array of data privacy and sovereignty services, including acting as their outside global Data Governance expert and Chief Privacy Officer/Data Protection Officer and/or as their Data Privacy Compliance Project Manager. She is responsible for developing, managing and implementing worldwide data privacy compliance programs, including but not limited to, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), China’s Cybersecurity Act, and Japan’s Act on the Protection of Personal Information, that includes responsibility for compliance with global laws related to data protection, data sovereignty, cybersecurity, data breach notification, cloud computing and records management. She sits on many customer internal corporate councils and committees including their Data Privacy Advisory Boards. Sheila also works with corporate legal, finance and HR departments, as well as sales, marketing, and product development teams to help position data privacy compliance as a competitive advantage.
Sheila holds positions on many external councils and is currently the Vice-Chair of CompTIA’s Privacy and Cybersecurity Committees and is actively involved in their Big Data and Cloud Computing Subcommittees. Sheila holds strategic seats on “by invitation only” committees including the European Union Data Protection Advisory Council, the Asia Pacific Data Protection Framework Advisory Board, the Latin American Data Privacy Forum, the Canadian PIPEDA Advisory Board, and the Pacific Rim Privacy and Cybersecurity Advisory Group.
Sheila was appointed to the Board of Directors of Truata, one of Europe’s first data trusts based in Dublin, Ireland, in August 2018. Trūata was founded in 2018 by Mastercard and IBM to help organizations conduct analytics in full compliance with the European Union GDPR.
Sheila also sits on the Board of Directors of the Western Region National Kidney Foundation (NKF) and is Chairperson of the nominating committee.
Sheila holds a BA degree from Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, CA and a law degree (LLM) from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.
Panel Discussion
Chair: Ms Samantha Gavel, NSW Privacy Commissioner
Read more about the NSW Privacy Commissioner
The panel will discuss the challenges and opportunities for privacy protection as government makes increasing use of digital service delivery to improve outcomes for citizens.
Dr Ian Oppermann
CEO and Chief Data Scientist, NSW Data Analytics Centre
Ian Oppermann has over 20 years’ experience in the ICT sector and has led organisations with more than 300 people, delivering products and outcomes that have impacted hundreds of millions of people globally. He has held senior management roles in Europe and Australia as Director for Radio Access Performance at Nokia, Global Head of Sales Partnering (network software) at Nokia Siemens Networks, and Divisional Chief and Flagship Director at CSIRO.
Ian is a thought leader in the area of the digital economy and is a regular speaker on “Big Data”, broadband enabled services and the impact of technology on society. He has contributed to six books and co-authored more than 120 papers that have been cited more than 3200 times. Ian has an MBA from the University of London and a Doctor of Philosophy in Mobile Telecommunications from Sydney University. Ian is a Fellow of the Institute of Engineers Australia, a Fellow of the IEEE, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, a Senior Member of the Australian Computer Society, and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Mr Peter Leonard
Principal, Data Synergies and Professor of Practice at UNSW Business School
Peter Leonard is a data, content and technology business consultant and lawyer advising data-driven business and government agencies. Peter is principal of Data Synergies and a Professor of Practice at UNSW Business School (Information Systems and Business and Taxation Law). Peter chairs the IoTAA’s Data Access, Use and Privacy work stream, the Law Society of New South Wales’ Privacy and Data Committee and the Australian Computer Society’s Artificial Intelligence and Ethics Technical Committee. He serves on a number of corporate and advisory boards, including of the NSW Data Analytics Centre. Peter was a founding partner of Gilbert + Tobin, now a large Australian law firm. Following his retirement as a partner in 2017 he continues to assist Gilbert + Tobin as a consultant.
Ms Kate Watts
Deputy General Counsel - Regulatory & Employment, Transport for NSW
Kate is responsible for the privacy function at Transport for NSW, where she is Deputy General Counsel, Regulatory. Topically, this involves oversight of privacy issues associated with the Opal travel data and the safety camera network. Kate is a member of the Privacy and Data Committee of the NSW Law Society, and led the successful appeal in the recent Waters case for Transport. Prior to joining Transport, Kate worked for twenty-five years in private practice as special counsel and partner at Minter Ellison and Gilbert + Tobin.
