By Jennifer L. Saunders

Privacy officers cannot go it alone.

That was a key message shared when U.S. Department of Homeland Security CPO Mary Ellen Callahan, CIPP, and GE Senior Counsel, Information Governance and Chief Privacy Leader Nuala O'Connor Kelly, CIPP, CIPP/G, offered their insights to well over 100 privacy professionals on the ways they’ve found to nurture respect for privacy throughout their organizations during one of the first breakout sessions at the IAPP Privacy Academy on September 30 in Baltimore, MD.

The session’s focus was on meeting the privacy demands of businesses and organizations that must address competing demands, adhere to diverse regulatory requirements and manage multiple international locations and a variety of missions.
Both O’Connor Kelly and Callahan spoke of the importance of people—both within and beyond an organization—who can work with privacy pros to ensure the culture of privacy is sustained across complex organizations.

Callahan explained that, when balancing very diverse missions and keeping privacy constant, the key is to identify those allies, such as chief information and technology officers, who can be a part of the process, noting, “a lot of privacy issues are going to be about new technologies.”

From general counsel to policy offices to business development, connections across the organization are essential to a culture of privacy.

And when it comes to questions from across the organization, Callahan said the answer from CPOs should be to find out what the end goal is and how the privacy pros can help achieve it. Showing the other departments within an organization how privacy can enhance what they do is a key part of the process, both experts noted.

O’Connor Kelly also shared the four principles she focuses on when it comes to building and sustaining privacy: people, policy, process and technology.

Privacy officers should focus on building a team that will sustain, as one person cannot know everything that goes on in an organization the size of the Department of Homeland Security or GE.

Education and spreading the word about privacy are also essential, O’Connor-Kelly said, as is finding people who are passionate about privacy and the organization itself.

When it comes to privacy, she said, “I think we are doing the right thing for the company as well as our customers.”