Executive Committee

Ventsislav Karadjov
Chairman
Bulgarian Commission for Personal Data Protection

Ventsislav Karadjov has been Chairman of the Bulgarian Commission for Personal Data Protection since April 2014. After two terms as Vice-Chair of the Article 29 Working Party, he was elected unanimously for Deputy Chair of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) in May 2018.Mr Karadjov is a graduate of Sofia University’s Faculty of Law and holds a Master’s degree in Law, with specialization in Public Jurisdiction.He began his career as a legal adviser and Programme Director at the Transparency International, Bulgarian chapter. He has also held various senior legal and management positions on projects concerning anti-corruption and the creation of functioning democratic institutions for international institutions such as the European Commission, the US Agency for International Development, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and the UN Development Programme. Throughout his career Mr Karadjov has worked as advisor to the Minister for Internal Affairs in the field of international public security activities and anti-corruption and Chief Expert Associate to the 41^st and 42^nd National Assembly on matters related to the control of security services, special surveillance devices and access to data retained by public security bodies.Until his election as CPDP Chairman, Ventsislav Karadjov was a member of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Bulgaria.Mr Karadjov has been awarded as “Jurist of the Year” 2018.

Omar Seghrouchni is the current president of Moroccan DPA (CNDP), and the leader of “governance of transformations’’. He is born in 1962, in Rabat, married and has two children.

He graduated from the Mohammedia School of Engineering in 1986 as an Electrical and Industrial Automatic Engineer. In 1987, he obtained a DEA in Mathematics and Automation from the University Paris IX – Dauphine and Ecole des Mines of Paris. He had also a Master degree in Diplomacy and Strategy ECSR and a Master in Economic Intelligence at the School of Economic Warfare in Paris.

He began his career in 1988, in France, as a research engineer at the National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation (INRIA), before directing the Laboratory of Real Time Computer Science at the Higher Institute of Electronics in Paris (ISEP). Since 1998, Mr. Seghrouchni held several positions of responsibility and management in large firms and companies in the field of consulting and information systems architecture. He piloted several major digital transformation projects, in both the private and public sectors, in France and in Morocco.

As Information Commissioner for the Bailiwick of Jersey, Paul is accountable for the overall leadership of the Jersey Office of the Information Commissioner (JOIC), the independent Authority responsible for overseeing the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018, Data Protection Authority (Jersey) Law 2018 and the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

Paul has extensive experience in the regulatory and law enforcement environment. He held the position of Jersey’s Deputy Information Commissioner from 2004 to 2021 and was Acting Jersey Information Commissioner between January and August 2018. Previously, Paul worked at the Jersey Financial Services Commission and as a police officer with the States of Jersey Police.

Paul holds a BA (Hons) degree in Social Policy & Criminology and an ICSA Certificate in Offshore Finance and Administration. He is a member of the International Association of Privacy Practitioners, the Institute of Directors (Jersey) and The Open University Alumni Association. He is also involved in charitable work, most notably as a Governor for local charity, Holidays for Heroes Jersey, which provides holidays in Jersey for mentally and physically injured servicemen and women.

Paul has served as Chair of the Global Privacy Assembly Data Sharing Working Group since May 2022 and was elected to the Executive Committee at the 44^th Annual Meeting held during October 2022.

Lori Baker

Vice President, Legal & Director of Data Protection, DIFC

An experienced attorney with expertise in data protection and regulatory compliance, as well as broad practice in commercial contracting. She is qualified in both the USA (in the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania) and the UK, and is a Fellow of Information Privacy as certified by the International Association of Privacy Professionals. Lori now provides data protection and security strategy and support in one of the leading financial centres in the MEASA region, while in her own time she writes and speaks on various data protection and compliance topics.

Prior to relocating to Dubai in 2016, Lori was based in London, UK for 10 years, having worked most recently for Fieldfisher LLP in the technology and outsourcing team as a senior privacy and cybersecurity associate. She held in-house roles as Senior Compliance and Privacy Counsel at Dun & Bradstreet, Head of Ethics and Compliance at Orange Business Services and Global Regulatory/Privacy Specialist at BT Global Services. Lori attended DeSales University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in politics with a minor in philosophy, followed by Widener University School of Law (the Delaware Law School), where she was awarded a Juris Doctor with an emphasis in international business transactions. While at Widener, Lori enrolled in the Geneva International Law Institute, directed by instructors from the WTO, the UN and other international organisations.

Pansy Tlakula

Advocate Pansy Tlakula is the Chairperson of the Information Regulator of South Africa. She studied law at the University of the Witwatersrand before completing her master’s in law at Harvard. She has held several influential positions.

Advocate Tlakula was appointed in 2005 as member of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR). She served the ACHRC for 12 years, until November 2017. She held the mandates of Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information, Chairperson of the Working Group on Specific Issues related to the work of the African Commission, and, between 2015 and 2017, she served as Chairperson of the ACHRC. In January 2020 she started her four-year tenure as a member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Haksoo Ko is currently serving as Chairperson of Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC), a ministerial-level government agency overseeing data policy and practice. Under his leadership, the PIPC formulates and executes Korea’s national strategy for data privacy, and enforces related regulations.
Mr. Ko is a preeminent scholar in legal and regulatory issues related to data privacy and artificial intelligence (AI). He became Chairperson of the PIPC in October 2022. In October 2023, he was appointed as a member of the UN High-level Advisory Body on AI, where he is involved in the effort to address the issue of international governance of AI.
Prior to his appointment at the PIPC in 2022, Mr. Ko was a Professor of Law at Seoul National University (currently on leave). He has conducted extensive research in areas encompassing law, economics, and technology. Throughout his academic career, he was actively engaged with the public sector, as well as the private sector, often playing an advisory role in formulating policies, particularly in the technological, financial, and medical fields.
He served as President of Asian Law and Economics Association; President of Korean Association for AI and Law; Co-director of SNU AI Policy Initiative; and Associate Director of SNU AI Institute, among others.
Mr. Ko holds a B.A. in Economics from Seoul National University and received both J.D. and Ph.D. (Economics) degrees from Columbia University in New York.

In June 2011, he was appointed as Commissioner at the Institute for Transparency and Access to Public Information of the State of Baja California. On January 2013, he was elected Coordinator of the North Regional Assembly of the Mexican Conference for Access to Public Information and was a member of the Technical Panel of Experts convened by the former Federal Institute for Access to Information and Data Protection, which aimed the creation of a draft on the General Regulatory Law of Section A of Article 6 of the Mexican Constitution, on transparency and access to information.

From June 2014 to November 2020, he was appointed as Secretary for Access to Information and he is currently the President Commissioner at the National Institute for Transparency, Access to Information, and Personal Data Protection (INAI), since December 2023.

He has also been a lecturer on transparency and access to information in many courses, programmes, and workshops, as well as lecturer and panellist in both national and international events since 2009.

Mr. Alcalá holds an LLM in Law and Amparo, and he completed several Seminars in Constitutional Law, Amparo, Insolvency and Procedural Law.

Blanca Lilia Ibarra Cadena

Ms. Ibarra Cadena has been a Commissioner at the National Institute for Transparency, Access to Information and Personal Data Protection since 2018.

She has served as Director of the Documentation Centre at the Coordination of Information, Documentation and Transparency of the Federal Electoral Tribunal in Mexico. She was President of the Transparency Commission of the Municipality of Puebla and President Commissioner of the Commission for Access to Public Information and Personal Data Protection of the State of Puebla.

Ms. Ibarra Cadena has had a 30-year career in media, including as Director General of the Television Channel of the Mexican Congress. She was also President of the Network of Educational and Cultural Radio and Television Broadcasters of Mexico, and member of the Editorial Board of the Mexican State-owned News Agency (Notimex), among others.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in Communication and Journalism, and an M.A in Public Administration.

From 2015 to November 2020, Ms. Del Río Venegas served as Commissioner of the Zacatecan Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data (IZAI) and from 2016 to 2018 she served as the first President Commissioner of IZAI.

Ms Del Río Venegas was Coordinator in Commissions of the National Transparency System: Information Technology Commission and National Transparency Platform, Accountability Commission and Open Government and Proactive Transparency Commission, and coordinated the preparatory work for the first Law of Access to Public Information of the State of Zacatecas and promoted its reform. She launched the INFOMEX Zacatecas System, the first technological tool to expand and guarantee the right of access to information in the state.

She contributed to the reform of the Mexican Constitution´s Art 6th, through the Guadalajara Declaration, to establish access to public information as a fundamental right.

She holds a Degree in Business Administration from the Technological Institute of Zacatecas, an M.A in Administration from the Autonomous University of Zacatecas and a Ph.D in Public Administration from the International Institute of Law and the State in coordination with the Autonomous University of Zacatecas.

Ms. Román Vergara is currently a Commissioner of INAI for the 2019 – 2026 period.

In 2013, she was appointed Commissioner of the Institute of Transparency, Access to Public Information and Protection of Personal Data of the State of Mexico and its Municipalities, where a year later, she was elected as the President Commissioner, a position she held until 2017. From November 2015 to November 2016, she was the first Coordinator of the System of Supervisory Bodies of the Federative Entities of the National System of Transparency, Access to Public Information and Protection of Personal Data. In 2018, she was the Technical Secretary of the Executive Secretariat of the Anticorruption System of the State of Mexico and its Municipalities

She holds a Law Degree from the Universidad del Estado de México’s Law School, an LLM in Corporate Law from Universidad Anahuac Law School and a Ph. D in Law from the Centre for Postgraduate Studies in Law.