Speakers and Panelists Bios - ID Theft Summit Site

P.K. Agarwal was appointed Director of the Department of Technology Services on September 28, 2005. As its first director, he has shaped the State’s Information Technology (IT) operations center, with an annual budget of $260 million and 765 employees, into an efficient and innovative service provider
of choice.

Agarwal is well-known as the ex-CIO of the California Franchise Tax Board, where he was responsible for many technological innovations in the State. He has extensive experience both the public and private sectors, including a stint at EDS in the “Ross Perot” days. He has a national reputation of being an innovator and one who understands the direction in which technology is headed. He combines his knowledge of public policy, global economy, and information technology to provide thought-provoking insights into the shape of things to come. He speaks to private and public sector executives both nationally and internationally.

In 1999, Agarwal chaired the National Electronic Commerce Coordinating Council that spearheaded the use of Internet in government. He has also served as the president of the national association of state CIO’s. In 1996, he made a landmark presentation on behalf of all 50 states to the National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council, which included CEOs from a number of Fortune 500 high-tech and entertainment companies.

Debbie Castanon
Privacy Specialist
California Office of Privacy Protection

Debbie Castanon serves as a Privacy Specialist in the California Office of Privacy Protection (COPP). Created by legislation in 2001, the first-in-the-nation Office is a resource and advocate on identity theft and other privacy issues. In addition to providing information and education for consumers, the Office also publishes privacy practice recommendations for business and other organizations.

Castanon has more than 25 years of experience in public service working for both State Government and the University of California at Davis. Her background gives her an understanding of the technological uses of personal information that have become a significant privacy concern.

James X. Dempsey
Policy Director
Center for Democracy & Technology

Jim Dempsey joined the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) in 1997. He currently serves as Policy Director; he served as Executive Director from 2003 to 2005. While at CDT, he has focused on Internet privacy and national security issues. He coordinates the Digital Privacy and Security Working Group, a forum of more than 50 computer and communications companies, trade associations, and public interest organizations. He also leads CDT's international project, the Global Internet Policy Initiative (GIPI).

Prior to joining CDT, Dempsey served as Deputy Director of the Center for National Security Studies and as special counsel to the National Security Archive.

Dempsey has authored many articles for law reviews and other journals on privacy and Internet policy, including, "Commercial Data and National Security," 72 G. W. L. Rev. 1459 (2004), and "Communications Privacy in the Digital Age," 8 Albany L.J Sci. & Tech 65 (1997). He also co-authored Terrorism & the Constitution: Sacrificing Civil Liberties in the Name of National Security (New Press, Third edition, 2006).

Dempsey is a member of the Industry Advisory Board for the National Counter-Terrorism Center, the National Strategic Policy Council on Cyber and Electronic Crime of the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, and the Steering Committee of the ANSI-BBB Identity Theft Prevention and Identity Management Standards Panel. He was a member of the Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security in the Information Age from 2004 to 2006. In 2005, he served on the Transportation Security Administration's Secure Flight Working Group.

Michelle Dennedy
Chief Privacy Officer
Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Michelle Dennedy is Chief Privacy Officer for Sun Microsystems, Inc. Michelle is responsible for the continued development and implementation of Sun’s data privacy policies and practices, working across Sun’s business groups to drive the company’s continued data privacy excellence. Data privacy is a cornerstone of Sun’s approach to compliance with complex, demanding regulations including Sarbanes-Oxley, the EU Directive, and California State Senate Bills, as well as escalating policy and process-oriented requirements being imposed globally. Michelle also works with Sun’s product development teams and partners to deliver best-practice privacy-enabling products and services.

Michelle co-founded Sun’s internal Privacy Council, an organization that includes and engages with stakeholders from across the company and is dedicated to promoting and promulgating a cohesive practice throughout the organization to protect Sun’s relationships with its customers and employees. Leveraging her persuasion skills honed in law practice and courtroom litigation, Michelle is a sought-after and provocative public speaker, evangelizing new approaches and business justifications for soundly-defined, transparent privacy policies and systems that protect healthy, safe global businesses.

Michelle has a JD from Fordham University School of Law and a BS degree with university honors from Ohio State University.

Kate Donovan
Instructor
National Notary Association

Boston-born Kate Donovan earned a bachelor's degree in Advertising from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and a law degree from Western New England College School of Law, where she was a member of the Law Review. She was admitted to both the Massachusetts and California Bar. After years of practice as a litigation attorney, Donovan graduated from the Trial Advocacy Project and volunteered as a prosecutor with the Inglewood City Attorney's Office. At this time, she serves as a national seminar instructor for the National Notary Association with special expertise in Notary law and identity screening techniques.

Christine M. Frye, CIPP
Executive Vice President
Chief Privacy Officer
Countrywide Financial Corporation

Christine M. Frye is Executive Vice President and Chief Privacy Officer for Countrywide Financial Corporation, (NYSE:CFC), a diversified financial services provider and member of the S&P 500, Forbes 2000 and Fortune 500.

Frye leads Countrywide's privacy organization and is responsible for guiding its privacy strategy, policy, and standard creation across the enterprise, ensuring that business strategies incorporate the company's ongoing commitment to the protection of privacy and personal information and comply with legislative requirements.

Frye joined Countrywide in November 2002. Prior to that, she held the position of Chief Privacy Officer for Experian's eMarketing Services Group. Prior to Experian, Frye was Chief Privacy Officer at 24/7 Media, where she was responsible for directing company education on privacy, maintaining global company-wide privacy policies and enhancing operating procedures to ensure compliance.

Frye is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP). She is a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), the Conference Board Council of Chief Privacy Officers, the Identity Theft Assistance Center (ITAC) Operations Committee, an initiative of the Financial Services Roundtable and BITS, the Direct Marketing Association's Safe Harbor Program Committee, and serves as co-chair of the Direct Marketing Association's Data Steward Council. She has previously served on the industry boards of the Responsible Electronic Communications Alliance and the Network Advertising Initiative.

Ron Gabrielson
Deputy of Internal Affairs
Geek Squad

Ron Gabrielson is a Deputy of Internal Affairs with the Geek Squad, a 24-hour computer support task force. He has spent the past five years as part of the Geek Squad, fixing thousands of computers, consoling victims of computer viruses and hardware failures, recovering lost data, speaking to groups about computer safety, handling media events, and training in new recruits.

In 2006, Gabrielson performed Internet safety presentations all around the country in partnership with Microsoft, iSAFE and NetSmartz as part of the GetNetSafe Tour. He was one of the S.W.A.T. trainers in the Geek Squad, and in 2004, he helped roll out Geek Squad to all Best Buy locations in the United States. His personable, down-to-earth approach to practical applications of Internet safety and security have helped countless numbers of clients learn to stop being afraid of their computers-and how to use them safely and with confidence.

Beth Givens
Executive Director
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse

Beth Givens is founder and director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a nonprofit consumer information and advocacy program established in 1992 and located in San Diego, California. She authored and edited the Clearinghouses' online Fact Sheet series, and is author of The Privacy Rights Handbook: How to Take Control of Your Personal Information (Avon, 1997) and co-author of Privacy Piracy: A Guide to Protecting Yourself from Identity Theft (1999). Givens contributed the encyclopedia entries on identity theft for World Book Encyclopedia (2004), Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment (2002), and the Encyclopedia of Privacy (2006). She also contributed a chapter on consumer and privacy rights to the 2005 book, RFID: Applications, Security and Privacy.

Givens represents the interests of consumers in public policy proceedings at both state and federal levels. Her contributions to legislative hearings, regulatory workshops, and public policy conferences are found in the Speeches & Testimony section of the Clearinghouses' Web site.

She has participated in numerous taskforces and commissions, including the California Office of Privacy Protection Advisory Committee, Partnership to Promote Good Human Resources (HR) Privacy & Security Practices (IHRM), California Secretary of State's Voter Privacy Task Force, TRUSTe Wireless Advisory Committee, U.S. Decennial Census Advisory Committee, Justice Management Institute's Advisory Committee on Electronic Access to Court Records, and the California Judicial Council's Subcommittee on Privacy and Access.

Reece Hirsch
Partner
Sonnenschein, Nath and Rosenthal

W. Reece Hirsch is a partner in the San Francisco office of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP whose practice focuses upon privacy and data security issues. He represents a wide range of organizations, including health plans, insurers, retailers and financial institutions, with respect to state, federal and international privacy and security laws and regulations. Mr. Hirsch advises clients regarding the development and implementation of security and privacy compliance programs, security breach notification, spam, use of Social Security numbers, medical privacy and financial privacy. Mr. Hirsch has special expertise with respect to recent and pending California privacy legislation, as well as healthcare-specific measures such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 ("HIPAA") and insurance privacy regulations.

Mr. Hirsch is a member of the editorial advisory boards of BNA's Health Law Reporter, Healthcare Informatics, HIPAA Security Compliance Insider, Report on Patient Privacy and Internet Healthcare Strategies. He is a contributing author of the HIPAA Patient Privacy Compliance Guide (Atlantic Information Services) and the California Patient Privacy Manual (California Healthcare Association). Mr. Hirsch is listed in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business 2005, 2006 and 2007. He received his J.D. from the University of Southern California and a B.S. degree from Northwestern University. Mr. Hirsch can be reached at (415) 882-5040 or rhirsch@sonnenschein.com.

Chris Jay Hoofnagle
Senior Staff Attorney
Samuelson Law, Technology, and Public Policy Clinic, Boalt Hall

Chris Jay Hoofnagle is senior staff attorney to the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic and senior fellow with the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology. His focus is consumer privacy law; he is nationally recognized as an expert in information privacy law. He has testified before the United States Congress and the California Senate and Assembly on Social Security number privacy and credit transactions.

Hoofnagle was the author of an amicus brief in Remsburg v. Docusearch, a case in which the Supreme Court of New Hampshire held that private investigators have a duty to exercise reasonable care toward individuals being investigated, and that individuals may bring common law privacy claims against investigators who acquire personal information through deception. He also authored an amicus brief in Kehoe
v. Fidelity Federal Bank and Trust, in which the 11th Circuit held that individuals do not need to demonstrate harm to collect monetary damages from invasions of privacy. The decision in this case resulted in a $50 million settlement, including direct payments to thousands of affected plaintiffs. The decision also makes it economically viable for individuals to vindicate privacy rights in court.

Hoofnagle is admitted to practice law in California and the District of Columbia.

Michelle Jun
Staff Attorney
Consumers Union

Michelle Jun is a Staff Attorney/Campaign Organizer for Financial Privacy Now (FPN), a project of Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports (r) magazine. FPN works with numerous local allies, legislators, and individual activists across the nation to bring stronger financial privacy and identity theft protections to consumers. Jun initially came to Consumers Union as part of the Community Health Assets Project team, providing assistance to community advocates and regulators to ensure the preservation of community health assets resulting from the sale of nonprofit hospitals.
Jun has worked with a number of legal aid agencies, advocating on behalf of immigrants and survivors of domestic violence.

J. Clark Kelso
Chief Information Officer
State of California

Professor J. Clark Kelso serves as Governor Schwarzenegger’s Special Advisor on Information Technology and Chief Information Officer for the State of California. As Chief Information Officer, he is responsible for providing State leadership on information technology policy and for working collaboratively with other information technology leaders throughout state government.

Kelso has held several other leadership positions in California government. He currently sits as the Governor’s designee to and Chair of the California Earthquake Authority. He has previously served as Acting Director of the Department of General Services, Acting Director of the Department of Information Technology, Acting Insurance Commissioner, and Scholar-in-Residence at the California Administrative Office of the Courts. He is the Director of the Capital Center for Government Law and Policy at the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law.

Kelso earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Illinois and a juris doctorate degree from Columbia Law School. He was a law clerk to Judge Anthony M. Kennedy on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal.

Larry Magid
Syndicated Columnist
SafeKids.com

Larry Magid's SafeKids.com is quite possibly the best-known Internet safety resource in the world. The site contains a range of resources on Internet safety for parents and children, including rules, advice, and contracts for family Internet use.

He is, first and foremost, a journalist and commentator on technology matters. He serves as on-air technology analyst for CBS News and has been a syndicated technology columnist for more than two decades. He is currently a contributor to the New York Times, and his technology reports can be heard several times a week on CBS network and affiliate stations throughout the United States.

Fran Maier
Executive Director and President
TRUSTe

Fran Maier serves as Executive Director and President of TRUSTe, the leading brand in online privacy. She possesses more than 15 years of experience building consumer brands and enhancing consumer trust.

Since Maier joined TRUSTe in 2001, the independent nonprofit has expanded to include consumer choice from Web sites to e-mail to downloadable software. During that time, TRUSTe has strengthened its monitoring and dispute resolution platforms, expanded its influence and certified more than 2,000 Web sites. Maier has spoken to audiences across the country about the issues of privacy, security, and trust. She has appeared before the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Commerce, and has testified before the United States House of Representative's Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection. TRUSTe has experienced consistent annual double-digit growth under her leadership.

As a co-founder of Match.com, Maier established credibility, safety, and trust in the online dating arena, making Match.com the leading online dating site. In executive marketing roles at Women.com and Kmart's BlueLight.com subsidiary, she established new start-up online brands and brought blue chip offline brands onto the Internet. She is also well-known for her expertise in online privacy, online marketing best practices, and marketing to women.

Joanne McNabb, CIPP/G
Chief
California Office of Privacy Protection

Joanne McNabb serves as Chief of the California Office of Privacy Protection (COPP), in the Department of Consumer Affairs. Created by legislation and opened in 2001, the first-in-the-nation Office is a resource and advocate on identity theft and other privacy issues. In addition to providing information and education for consumers, the Office also publishes privacy practice recommendations for business and other organizations.

McNabb is a Certified Information Privacy Professional and is co-chair of the International Association of Privacy Professionals' Government Working Group. She also serves on the Privacy Advisory Committee to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Prior to her position at COPP, McNabb had over 20 years of experience in public affairs and marketing, in both the public and private sectors, including five years with an international marketing company in France. Her background in marketing includes an understanding of the commercial uses of personal information that have become a significant privacy concern.

McNabb attended Occidental College and holds a master's degree in Medieval Literature from the University of California, Davis.

Colleen Pedroza
State Information Security Officer
State of California

Colleen Pedroza has been in State service for many years and has a strong background in information security. She served as the California Highway Patrol's Information Security Administrator, and, most recently, as the California Department of Education's Information Security Officer. She has worked in the field of information technology for more than 20 years and in management for the past eight years. She holds a bachelor's degree in information systems. Her background also includes efforts in operational recovery planning, risk management, project management, and training. She accepted her current position of State Information Security Officer in August 2006.

Dr. Larry Ponemon
Chairman
Ponemon Institute

Larry Ponemon is the Chairman and Founder of the Ponemon Institute, a research "think tank" dedicated to advancing privacy and data protection practices. He is considered a pioneer in privacy auditing and the Responsible Information Management (RIM) framework.

In addition to Institute activities, Dr. Ponemon is an adjunct professor for ethics and privacy at Carnegie Mellon University's CIO Institute. He is a founding board member of the Unisys Corporation's Security Leadership Institute.

He consults with leading multinational organizations on global privacy management programs, and has extensive knowledge of regulatory frameworks for managing privacy and data security including financial services, health care, pharmaceutical, telecom and Internet. Ponemon was appointed to the Advisory Committee for Online Access & Security for the United States Federal Trade Commission. He was recently appointed by the White House to the Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee for the Department of Homeland Security. He was also an appointed to two California State taskforces on privacy and data security laws.

Dr. Ponemon is column editor for Computerworld, CSO Magazine, BNA and other leading publications. He is a frequent commentator on privacy and business ethics for various media outlets, including, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post and U.S. News & World Report.

Rapid Enforcement and Allied Computer Team (REACT) Task Force

REACT was established in 1997 by the State Department of Justice, in response to both public and industry concerns over the spread of new types of crime directly tied to our increasingly computer-oriented economy and widespread use of the Internet. High tech companies and industry councils provide specialized training, liaison personnel and internal support for task force investigations.

By creating a multi-jurisdictional team that combines resources and specific investigative skills, along with federal jurisdiction to conduct investigations across state and international lines, and a close working partnership with the high tech industry, REACT has been able to arrest and prosecute a wide range of criminal offenders and provide a more effective level of service to local communities and the high tech business community.

Timothy Reiniger
Executive Director
National Notary Association

Prior to assuming his role as Executive Director of the National Notary Association in Los Angeles, Tim Reiniger practiced law in Manchester, NH. While there, he also served three terms on the Board of Mayor and Alderman. He is a graduate of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and the University of Michigan Law School, and is a member of the state bar associations of both New Hampshire and California.

Peter Scheer
Executive Director
California First Amendment Coalition

Since June 2004 Scheer has been Executive Director of the California First Amendment Coalition, a nonprofit public interest organization committed to free speech and open-government rights.

A lawyer and journalist, Scheer was editor and publisher of The Recorder, a daily legal newspaper in San Francisco, and publisher of Legal Times, a Washington D.C.-based weekly on law and lobbying. Scheer practiced appellate law in Washington D.C., both in the U.S. Justice Department and in private practice. A partner in the Washington D.C. firm of Onek, Klein & Farr, and general counsel to the National Security Archive, Scheer has argued appellate cases in most of the federal courts of appeal and in the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 2006, Scheer was named winner of the Eugene S. Pulliam First Amendment Award by the national Sigma Delta Chi Foundation. Also in 2006, Scheer received the James Madison Freedom of Information Award, given by the Society of Professional Journalists in California.

Scheer was founder of callaw.com, a legal news and information site (now part of ALM's law.com), and of yourwall.com, an online fine art photography gallery. Scheer's Op-Ed articles on the First Amendment and other legal and political subjects have appeared in numerous publications, both print and online, including the Sacramento Bee, Slate.com, San Jose Mercury News, Salon.com, Orange County Register, San Francisco Chronicle, the San Diego Union-Tribune, Los Angeles Daily Journal, The Recorder and American Lawyer magazine.

Scott Shipman, CIPP
Chief Privacy Counsel
eBay

Scott R. Shipman serves as Senior Counsel for eBay Inc. Currently, he leads and manages the global privacy practices for customer and employee personal information for all of eBay's entities, subsidiaries, and joint ventures, including Skype, PayPal, Kijiji, Rent.com, and Shopping.com. As part of his responsibilities, he coordinates with eBay's Information Security, Trust and Safety, and Internal Audit groups and provides privacy compliance reports to the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors.

Shipman has first-hand experience with privacy compliance and risk assessments, cross-border data transfers (including the EU), personal information transfers through corporate mergers and acquisitions, GLBA and HIPAA compliance, and many other privacy-related issues. In June 2006, he testified at the House Commerce and Energy Committee's Privacy in the Commercial World II hearings on the need for federal privacy legislation.

He currently teaches International Data Protection at Santa Clara University (SCU) School of Law as a lecturer, serves on the SCU High- Tech Law Advisory Board, and coordinates a legal high-technology internship program at eBay in conjunction with SCU.

Shipman is a board member of the Consumer Privacy Law Forum. He is also a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), a member of the Chief Privacy Officers Council of the Conference Board, and a member of the California State Bar.

Lisa Sotto
Partner
Hunton & Williams, LLP

Lisa J. Sotto is a partner in the New York office of Hunton & Williams, LLP, and heads the firm's Privacy and Information Management Practice. Sotto's practice focuses on privacy, data security, and information management issues. She assists clients in identifying, evaluating, and managing the risks associated with privacy and information security practices of companies and third parties. She also conducts all phases of privacy and data protection assessments and information security policy audits. She advises clients on drafts and negotiates contractual agreements concerning data usage and security and confidentiality, and develops corporate records management programs, including policies, procedures, records retention schedules, and training modules. During the past year, Sotto has assisted clients on more than 40 information security breaches, handling every aspect of the breach event, including preparing individual notification letters, training call center personnel, and negotiating with state and federal regulatory agencies, credit card issuers, and credit reporting agencies.

She serves as Vice Chairperson of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee, which advises the Secretary of DHS and its Chief Privacy Officer on privacy, data integrity, and data interoperability matters. She recently testified before the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Small Business, Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform and Oversight, on "Data Protection and the Consumer: Who Loses When Your Data Takes a Hike?"

Nicole Wong
Associate General Counsel
Google

Nicole Wong is Associate General Counsel for Products and Intellectual Property at Google. Prior to joining Google, she was a partner at the law firm of Perkins Coie, LLP, where she led a team of attorneys specializing in Internet law, including online content regulation, intellectual property, privacy, security, and eCommerce.

In addition to her practice, Wong is a frequent speaker and author on issues related to law and technology. Previously, she served as a co-chair of the Practising Law Institute's Internet Law Institute and as an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco's School of Law where she taught media law. She speaks at national and international conferences regarding Internet issues and, in April 2000, she testified before the House of Representatives regarding the Fourth Amendment and the Internet. She received her law degree and a Master's degree in Journalism from the University of California at Berkeley.