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Ms Falk was appointed Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner in August 2018. She leads the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) in fulfilling its functions across privacy, freedom of information and government information management.

Ms Falk is a member of the National Data Advisory Council, and sits on the Executive Committee of the Global Privacy Assembly (GPA), formerly known as the International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners (ICDPPC). She chairs the GPA’s Strategic Direction Sub-Committee and is co-chair of its Digital Citizen and Consumer Working Group.

Ms Falk has held senior positions in the OAIC since 2012. She served as Deputy Commissioner from 2016 and acting Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner from March 2018.

Over the past decade Ms Falk has worked extensively with Australian Government agencies, across the private sector and internationally, at the forefront of addressing regulatory challenges and opportunities presented by rapidly evolving technology and potential uses of data. Ms Falk’s experience extends across industries and subject matter, including data breach prevention and management, data sharing, credit reporting, digital health and access to information.

Ms Falk was admitted as a legal practitioner to the Supreme Court of NSW in 1998 and holds an Honours Degree of Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Arts from Monash University, a Graduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Law from Melbourne University and a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice.

Elizabeth Denham was appointed the UK’s Information Commissioner in July 2016 for a five year term, building on her previous experience as Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia and Assistant Privacy Commissioner of Canada. 

Elizabeth is committed to being a firm but fair regulator protecting information rights and supporting innovation and economic growth. She has overseen an expansion of the ICO and has led on pioneering work safeguarding the public including setting standards for children’s privacy and introducing a regulatory sandbox. Her investigation work has focused on complex data ecosystems explaining to the public how and why their personal data is being used. This includes an investigation into mobile phone extraction by police from victims and witnesses of sexual offences, and an investigation into the use of personal data by data brokers in direct marketing.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Elizabeth has led the ICO’s efforts to provide timely, practical advice on complying with data protection while preventing and detecting the spread of the virus. She has provided evidence to parliamentarians and spoken to ministers about finding practical privacy-friendly solutions. 

In December 2020 she was the inaugural recipient of the Society Medal by BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT for her contribution to making digital technology good for society.