President, Stewart Room
Stewart is Global Head of Data Protection, Privacy and Cyber Security at DWF. He is a dual qualified barrister and solicitor with nearly 30 years' experience. Since 2001 he has practised exclusively in the fields of Data Protection, Privacy and Cyber Security, most recently as the global leader of the legal services business in a Big 4 accountancy firm and the joint global leader of the multi-disciplinary data protection business.
He is recognised by the legal directories as one of the country’s leading lawyers in these areas, having acted in many high-profile cases and written or co-authored a number of influential textbooks.
In 2017 he was invited to give evidence to Parliament on the impact of the EU data protection regime on Brexit. He is also a past winner of the Financial Times Legal Innovator of the Year award, co-founder of The Cyber Security Challenge UK and President of the National Association of Data Protection Officers.
Chair, Jonathan Baines, Mishcon de Reya LLP
Jon Baines is Data Protection Advisor for the law firm Mishcon de Reya, having previously worked in the public sector in information rights. Jon blogs on information rights at www.informationrightsandwrongs.com
Treasurer, Richard Gardner
Richard has retired from active information governance service after a distinguished career in mostly public sector organisations.
Secretary, Martin Gibson
Information Government Professional and NADPO member since 1992 originally in the public sector and latterly also in the private sector.
Digital Officer, Michael Doherty
Michael had a thirty-year career as a police officer then took up information governance as a second career. He worked for a police force and on secondment to the Home Office on a national intelligence project before moving on to the NHS, where he became the Information Governance Manager for one of the largest hospitals groups in England and Wales. He retired in 2019 and was elected to the NADPO Digital Officer post the same year.
Events Officer, Merle Gering
Merle is the longest-serving member of the NADPO Executive, organising our conferences and AGMs.