Featured Contributors

Jason R Baron serves as Of Counsel in the IG and eDiscovery Group at Drinker, Biddle & Reath LLP, and is co-chair of the Information Governance Initiative. Previously he served twelve years at the Justice Department, including as lead trial counsel in landmark litigation over the preservation of White House email, followed by thirteen years as the first appointed Director of Litigation at the National Archives and Records Administration. He may be contacted at [email protected]

Susan Bennett is a leading Information Governance expert and an international privacy lawyer, based in Sydney, Australia.  Susan holds a Master of Law and a Master of Business Administration, and is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/E). She is also Chair of the Sedona WG6 APAC Committee and a Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia.  She may be reached at [email protected]

Monica Crocker is the Group Records Coordinator for Wells Fargo’s Wealth & Investment Management business. In her role, she mitigates the risk associated with electronic and physical records. She is a frequent speaker at eDiscovey, AIIM and ARMA conferences and has authored many articles. Monica has earned the CRM and CPMP designations and in 2019 she was inducted into the AIIM Company of Fellows. She may be reached at [email protected]

George Firican is an award-winning Data Governance & Business Intelligence leader. He has expertise in data management and information quality. His background includes experience with the full project life-cycle of web and application development.  He may be reached at [email protected]

Dr. Patricia C. Franks is the Coordinator for the Master of Archives and Records Administration Degree in the School of Information at San Jose State University. She is a Certified Archivist, Certified Records Manager, and Information Governance Professional, as well as a member of ARMA International’s Company of Fellows. Among her numerous publications, Franks is author of Records and Information Management (2013, 2018). She may be reached at [email protected]

John Isaza, Esq., FAI heads the Information Governance & Records Management Practice at Rimon Law Firm in Orange County, California. John is CEO and co-founder of Information Governance Solutions LLC, which was recently acquired by Access. Mr. Isaza is internationally recognized in the fields of IG, as well as RIM. He is one of the country’s foremost experts on RIM issues. He can be reached at [email protected]

Richard Kessler is a director in the Cyber Services Practice at KPMG. He specializes in IG, Data Governance and Operational Risk Control. He is part of the strategy and Governance Pillar with a specific focus on Enterprise Data, IG and Privacy. He may be reached at [email protected]

Doug Laney leads Caserta’s Data and Analytics Strategy Practice and is the author of the Best-Selling Book: Infonomics: How to Monetize, Manage, and Measure Information as an Asset for Competitive Advantage,” which features the Information Valuation Models he developed. He also is a visiting professor at the University of Illinois Gies School of Business and a three-time Gartner Thought Leadership Award Recipient. He may be reached at [email protected]

Victoria Lemieux, BA, MAS, PHD, CISSP, is an associated professor of Archival Science at the iSchool and Lead of the Blockchain Research Cluster, Blockchain@UBC at the University of British Columbia – Canada’s largest and most diverse research cluster devoted to blockchain technology. She can be reached at [email protected]

Heidi Maher is an attorney and IG specialist who has helped hundreds of organizations move from theory to practice. Presently, she is the Sr. Director of Privacy and Compliance at Epiq. Previously she was the Executive Director of the Compliance, Governance and Oversight Council. Before moving into the commercial space, Heidi was a felony prosecutor, civil litigator, an assistant state attorney general and the public information officer for a large environmental agency. She may be reached at [email protected]

Justine M. Phillips, Esq. is a Partner in Sheppard Mullin’s San Diego Office in both Cybersecurity and Labor & Employment Practice Groups. Justine takes a practical and mindful approach to assist her clients in every aspect of cybersecurity from data identification through destruction, complex litigation, and privacy/security by design. She can be reached at [email protected]

Bud Porter-Roth has been an independent consultant for 20 years and is the Founder and Principal Consultant for Porter-Roth Associates (PRA), which provides a broad range of consulting services to users and vendors of ECM technologies. Bud is a frequent speaker and writer. He can be reached at [email protected]

Teresa Schoch is a Privacy Attorney at Axiom. She has a diverse background in Law, Privacy, Security, Electronic Records Management, Information Management, Content Management, Corporate Risk Management, Regulatory Compliance, Search Methodology, Strategic Planning, Ethics, Change Management and Information Risk Management. She may be reached at [email protected]

Robert S. (Bob) Seiner is well-recognized and respected in the information asset management industry (covering data, information, content, and knowledge management) for his tremendous commitment to collecting, recording, sharing his experience, and transferring how-to knowledge about successful practices. Seiner is known as the creator and implementer of the Non-Invasive Data Governance™ approach that has been recognized and adopted as a practical, less-threatening and successful alternative to traditional data governance methods for organizations world-wide. He may be reached at [email protected]

George Socha is a Managing Director in BDO’s Forensic Technology Services Practice. Named an “e-Discovery Trailblazer” by the American Lawyer, he assists corporate, law firm and government clients with all facets of electronic discovery, including Information Governance, as an expert witness and consultant. He can be reached at [email protected]

Christopher Surdak, J.D., is an industry-recognized expert in mobility, social media and analytics, big data, information security, regulatory compliance, artificial intelligence and cloud computing with over 25 years of experience. He is currently an Executive Partner at Gartner. He is the author of several books, including the upcoming, Care and Feeding of Bots which is a guide to the use of AI, Machine Learning and Robotics in the business world. He can be reached at [email protected]

Ken Withers is the Deputy Executive Director of The Sedona Conference. Since 1989, he has published several widely-distributed papers on electronic discovery, hosted a popular website on electronic discovery and electronic records management issues, and given presentations at more than 300 conferences and workshops for legal, records management, and industry audiences. From 1999 through 2005, he was a Senior Education Attorney at the Federal Judicial Center in Washington D.C., where he developed Internet-based distance learning programs for the federal judiciary concentrating on issues of technology and the administration of justice. Ken also contributed to several well-known FJC publications, including the Manual for Complex Litigation, Fourth Edition (2004), Effective Use of Courtroom Technology (2001), and the Civil Litigation Management Manual (2001).  He may be reached at [email protected]

Andrew Ysasi, MS, CRM, FIP, CIPM, CIPP, CISM, PMP, IGP is the Vice President of Advocacy at VRC and President of IG Guru™, a news organization to ensure relevant IG news is shared with the IG community. He has volunteered with ARMA, the ICRM, worked as an adjunct professor and founded a career consulting practice – Admovio®. Andrew has spoken across the United States and contributed to ARMA’s Information Governance Body of Knowledge (IGBOK) and Record Management Core Competencies 2nd ed. He may be reached at [email protected]