25 leaders, 25 moments at 25 years: Jules Polonetsky

As the IAPP came into its own as a global professional organization, the role of the modern chief privacy officer was beginning to be defined at major multinational companies, according to President and CEO J. Trevor Hughes, CIPP.

Since then, the CPO position has become commonplace in thousands of multinational organizations. Hughes said, among key thought leaders in digital policy during the IAPP's existence, only a few are near-universally recognized on a first-name basis.

One such individual, Hughes said, is Jules.

In 2000, current Future of Privacy Forum CEO and IAPP Board of Directors founding member Jules Polonetsky, CIPP/US, was hired as one of the first CPOs when he joined the advertising technology firm DoubleClick before it was ultimately acquired by Google. He then went on to work as the vice president for consumer advocacy at AOL until 2008, when he left to join FPF.

Hughes called Polonetsky a "remarkable leader in our field," not only for his contributions to the IAPP but to the larger global privacy community at large as well. "Through complex and challenging policy debates that have consumed us for the past 20 years, he has been a steady and trusted voice," Hughes said.

From the jump at FPF, Polonetsky said he wanted to develop a space "for the senior leaders in privacy to collaborate, learn from each other and develop best practices."

"My goal at FPF was to provide a pragmatic, centrist viewpoint to privacy debates, optimistic?about data use and supporting the utility of data by helping put responsible safeguards in place," Polonetsky said.

Since the early years of the IAPP, Polonetsky said he viewed the organization as a "big tent and platform that has provided a stage for the broad?privacy community."

"The IAPP has helped create the professionalism of this field, defining the skill sets needed, training now a second generation of skilled experts to guide organizations operating?in an increasingly complex?environment," he said. "As the data world becomes rapidly more complex, the IAPP is leading the way in exploring the skills needed to manage the complexity."

When the IAPP was formed, Polonetsky was serving as a commissioner at the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs and was tasked with ensuring all consumer advertising and sales complied with consumer protection laws. Before his tenure as commissioner, Polonetsky served as an elected New York Assembly member from 1994-97, and worked for then-U.S. Reps. Steve Solarz, D-N.Y., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., respectively, from 1990-92 and 1992-93.

Polonetsky said while working for the Congressmen and serving in state government, he witnessed the policy conversations surrounding technology go from "geeky insider conversations between technologists, advocates and lawyers," to front and center in virtually all public policy issues facing society.

"Today the stakes are global?leadership, the future of democracy, the shape of our workforce, the future of healthcare, the economy, rules for Big Tech and small, human autonomy and more," he said. "Every major social issue is played out with tech and data as an intermediary."

Between his work at FPF and in the private sector, Polonetsky has assisted in drafting codes of conduct, data protection best practices and data privacy legislation around the globe.

In 2023, Polonetsky received the IAPP Leadership Award, which recognizes an "individual or organization who demonstrates an ongoing commitment to furthering privacy policy, promoting recognition of privacy issues and advancing the growth and visibility of the profession."

He said the recognition from his peers and the broader privacy community was a "tremendous honor, unlike any other."