J. Trevor Hughes

1. Trevor Hughes is the president and CEO of the International Association of Privacy Professionals, the professional home for privacy, AI governance, and digital responsibility worldwide. With more than 80,000 members across over 150 countries, the association provides training, certification, publications, research, events, and networking opportunities to address the increasing need for professionals to manage the intersections of data, technology, and humanity. An experienced attorney in privacy, technology, and marketing law, Hughes has built his career in the evolving field of data privacy and digital policy.

Before leading the International Association of Privacy Professionals, Hughes served as in-house counsel at a large insurance company, where he was responsible for early e-commerce implementations. He later became director of privacy at a dotcom, a role that led to the founding of the association. Hughes also served as executive director of the Network Advertising Initiative, an online privacy trade association, and the Email Sender and Provider Coalition, a group focused on email policy and practices. He is a member of the first class of Certified Information Privacy Professionals and co-author, with D. Reed Freeman Jr., of "Privacy Law in Marketing."

Hughes has contributed to the development of federal privacy legislation, the CAN-SPAM Act, state privacy laws, AI policy, and Federal Trade Commission regulations. He has provided testimony before the U.S. Congress Commerce Committee, the Senate Commerce Committee, the Federal Trade Commission, the Home Affairs Committee of the British Parliament, and the EU Parliament on issues related to privacy, surveillance, spam, and privacy-sensitive technologies. His insights have appeared in media outlets such as The New York Times, TechCrunch, and Wired.

Hughes is recognized as a digital policy expert and frequently speaks at events including SXSW, RSA Conference, TEDx, and the Global Privacy Assembly. His engagements have included ICA Live: Africa, the World Bank Group Data Privacy Day, the FIFA Global Compliance Summit, and the Mobile World Congress Ministerial Programme. His keynote addresses encourage critical thinking about the relationship between technology, governance, and human responsibility. Hughes holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a Juris Doctor from the University of Maine School of Law, where he serves as an adjunct professor and member of the Law Foundation Board.