Before this, he served as New Zealand’s Privacy Commissioner for eight years, building an international reputation in data protection and privacy, including chairing the now Global Privacy Assembly. 

He also worked in a range of roles including as a policy advisor to the NZ Government, a lawyer for over 20 years in the public and private sector, and even had a stint as a mountaineer.

John’s vision and mission is for the ICO to be a regulator that empowers people to share information for personal and public benefit, and for organisations to use information to invest and innovate in the digital economy safely.

As a whole economy regulator responding to emerging cross border data protection issues, John’s laser focussed on delivering better, quicker and impactful regulatory interventions in AI and biometrics, children’s privacy and AdTech and online tracking.

John’s motto: “We spend once at the centre prompting savings for thousands of businesses across the economy.”