AWO - Key Persons
Aarnima is part of AWO's data protection compliance team and focuses on data protection compliance, legal research, and analysis of case law and data protection authority decisions.
Aldo supports the delivery of AWO's data protection services to clients from a range of sectors, including but not limited to commercial clients, non-profit organisations and international humanitarian actors.
- Advising public policy clients and parliamentarians on the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, Online Safety Act, and reforms to the Investigatory Powers Act. As well as giving evidence to the Public Bill Committee for the DPDI Bill, Alex has drafted amendments tabled by parliamentarians and drafted keynote reports on AI regulation for thinktanks the Ada Lovelace Institute and Connected by Data.
Alex is a solicitor delivering advisory and contentious work related to data rights and issues around modern technology.
Amna supports the delivery of our data protection advisory services, focussing on regulatory compliance.
Amna is an experienced data protection lawyer (CIPP/E), who has worked in large law firms across Australia, the Middle East and the UK, with a focus on the EU and UK data protection regimes. She has a particular interest in internet policy and digital ethics and has worked on a range of projects advocating for online safety for children. Amna was most recently seconded as the DPO for The Wellcome Trust.
Amna is also a freelance content creator, having made documentaries and written feature pieces on identity, hate speech online and other social issues for the Guardian, HuffPost, i-D, the Smith Journal and Converse.
Aparna leads AWO's algorithm governance workstream and oversees research projects focused on emerging technologies, including AI.
She has served on the Program Committee for ACM FAccT (the ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency) and is a member of RealML, a collaborative expert workshop investigating the social impacts of algorithmic systems.
Aparna has a background in policy and data science. Previously, she held roles with the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project's data team; Google DeepMind's Ethics and Society team; LIRNEasia, a leading Sri Lankan think tank; and Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.
She holds a B.A. in English and an M.S. in Management Science and Engineering, both from Stanford University.
Aparna leads development of the Strategic Research and Insight team, and manages algorithm governance and research projects.
Ben Hayes - Chief Strategy Officer
Ben oversees our business development, finances and compliance. He is an international data protection law and policy expert specialised in the protection of vulnerable data subjects, new technologies, challenging processing environments and applied ethics.
Cassie provides litigation services to our clients on data protection and data rights.
Cassie previously trained and worked with corporate law firm William Fry and with Irish Life as a solicitor on its GDPR Readiness Project. Cassie holds two first class-honours undergraduate degrees from the National University of Ireland, Galway, as well as a first-class honours LLM in International Human Rights Law from the Irish Centre for Human Rights (ICHR). She has completed placements with the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), Oxfam Ireland, and the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in South Africa, among others.
As part of the ICHR's Human Rights Law Clinic, Cassie worked on the My Data Rights project, an online resource to help survivors of historical and institutional abuses in Ireland use the GDPR to access their personal data. Cassie continues to work closely with Dr Maeve O'Rourke and the Clinic to try to help historical abuse survivors secure access to their information. Cassie is also a member of Article Eight Advocacy, a not-for-profit advocating for data subject rights in Ireland.
Cassie was born in London and grew up in Galway, Ireland.
Job Titles:
- Business Operations Manager
- Finance
Charlotte manages the accounts, payments and financial planning across our operations and business services as well as key aspects of business development, maintaining both financial and administrative relationships with our clients.
Previously Charlotte worked in practice preparing accounting and taxation compliance documents for clients of varying sizes and industries. Charlotte then established her own business, providing accountancy services to over 100 SMEs and acting as in-house Finance Manager for a range of small companies, including several companies where she managed the budget and timelines of various projects and grants. Charlotte ensures that all financial areas of a business are well-organised and regulatory compliant, and that financial information is available in a timely and relevant manner.
Charlotte has a BA (Hons) in Accounting and Finance. She is an ICAEW Chartered Accountant and a member of the Institute of Legal Finances.
Charlotte manages the accounts, payroll, payments and financial planning across our operations and business services.
Donna assists in organising and streamlining our finance functions by providing organisational bookkeeping and administrative support for new business development work.
Donna has worked in finance roles for over 15 years, with a broad range of knowledge across all aspects of finance, including accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, VAT returns, reporting and general bookkeeping.
Donna has training in finance and business administration and holds her AAT Level 4 Diploma in Accounting.
Eric Kind - Managing Director
Eric oversees our mission and purpose, operations, resources and infrastructure. He is a legal and public policy expert in technology, society and human rights, with particularly deep expertise on surveillance technology law and practice.
Esme provides technology, policy and legal research, analysis, and project management support to the Strategic Research and Insight (SRI) team. She works on a number of different issue areas including algorithm governance (AI Act, responsible AI, generative AI), platform regulation (Digital Services Act, Online Safety Act) and data protection. She works for a range of clients including non-profits, philanthropy, government, business, humanitarian organisations and academia.
She also leads our Algorithm Governance Roundup, a monthly newsletter sharing technical and regulatory developments, interviews with international stakeholders and standard-setters, publications, and opportunities related to the governance of AI.
Esme holds a Master of Laws from the London School of Economics with distinction, and a first-class BA (Hons.) in Law from the University of Cambridge. She previously volunteered with a civil liberties NGO, where her research focused on the intersection of technology and human rights and included issues related to platform regulation, data protection, and public sector use of predictive systems.
Esme provides technology and policy research, analysis, report writing and project management support to the Strategic Research and Insight (SRI) team.
Job Titles:
- People Operations Coordinator
Jo provides support across all aspects of our People strategy and assisst with general operational delivery through scheduling and meeting management support.
Jo has spent 20 years in a business support function, mainly in the technology arena. In her previous role as Resource Manager, she was responsible for assembling project teams to deliver major infrastructure projects in the public and private sector. She enjoys finding efficiencies in work to simplify working practises, and free up time for bigger picture items. She has a degree in Sociology from Warwick University.
Laureline provides legal and policy analysis on a range of issues at the intersection of technology and data rights.
Mahdi provides research, analysis, report writing, document drafting and project management support to facilitate the delivery of AWO's data protection consultancy client services and projects.
Mahdi holds an LLB (Hons) from Lancaster University and a Masters in Professional Legal Practice from the University of Law. Mahdi has also obtained the Information Privacy Professional for Europe Certificate (CIPP/E), and is a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), and the founder of The Cyber Solicitor, a law and technology blog.
Maria-Elena supports the delivery of data protection services and projects to AWO clients across a range of sectors, in particular humanitarian and non-profit.
Maria-Elena has worked for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) as their Senior Data Protection Officer and previously for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as their Data Protection Officer for Europe and Central Asia. She has a long field experience in the humanitarian sector, that lead her to work on and coordinate a variety of programmes, including visits to detainees, support to families of missing persons, the protection of civilian population and the reuniting former child soldiers with their families. This work included postings to Gaza and the West Bank, Uganda, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Central African Republic, Libya and India. From Brussels, she represented the ICRC before the Council of Europe, the EU/EDPS and several Data Protection Authorities on a range of data protection issues. In her earlier days, Maria-Elena worked on EU-funded international cooperation projects and, before, held several legal positions.
Maria-Elena holds a Master's degree in Law and an Advanced Diploma in Comparative Law. She is currently studying Privacy Management with the European Centre on Privacy and Cybersecurity (ECPC) at Maastricht University, Belgium.
Mathias oversees our public policy work. He is a legal and public policy expert in information technology law, digital rights and emerging technologies, with a focus on EU-law.
Mathias previously worked as a strategic advisor for the Mozilla Foundation and Luminate, where he advised both organisations on their campaigning and public policy strategies related to countering online disinformation, ad tech and online content regulation.
Prior to that, he worked for five years in the European Parliament on a wide range of digital policy issues, including the EU's copyright reform, online content regulation, the EU cybersecurity Act, digital trade chapters of trade agreements, and the recast of the EU's export control regime of dual use items.
Mathias was a Research Fellow at the Centre for Law, Science, Technology and Society at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, where he is still an associate fellow, and the European University Institute in Florence, where he managed and participated in a number of large European research projects that focused on the legal and ethical challenges of the use of new technologies.
Mathias has more than a decade experience working more broadly at the intersection of human rights and security policies. He worked as the main advisor to the UN special Rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism, Prof. Dr. Martin Scheinin for three years, and started his professional career with internships at the Special Procedures Unit of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and at the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva. He also worked as a consultant for a number of organisations, including the Belgian Standing Intelligence Oversight Committee, the European Parliament, and a variety of think tanks and NGOs.
He holds a Ph.D. in European privacy and data protection law from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and has a joint European Masters in Human Rights and Democratization from the European Inter-University Centre in Italy and the University of Hamburg.
Nick supports the delivery of AWO's public policy client services and projects, providing research, report writing and project management support. His areas of expertise are digital advertising, child safety, AI (AI Act, Generative AI), open source, privacy, and platform regulation (Digital Services Act, Digital Markets Act).
Prior to joining AWO in 2022, Nick was an Account Manager at Landmark Public Affairs, where he helped corporate clients navigate the EU's digital policy. Nick also worked as a researcher at the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE), a Brussels-based think tank, and at the United Nations Board of Auditors in New York.
Nick holds a B.Sc. in Sociology from the University of Bath and an M.A. in political economy from King's College London. A Belgian/Italian national, Nick speaks French and English, and has a basic understanding of German and Portuguese.
Ravi Naik - Chief Legal Officer
Job Titles:
- Legal Director
- Member of the Law Society 's Human Rights Committee
Ravi oversees our legal and litigation work. He is a leading solicitor in the field of data protection, data rights, and protecting human rights in a digital age.
Ravi is described in legal directories as "pioneering" and "a leading light in data protection", whose "knowledge in the area is unparalleled". His work has led to numerous awards, including being named the Law Society's Human Rights Lawyer of the Year 2018 - 2019. He is currently a Visiting Fellow at Oxford University's Internet Institute.
Ravi has a prominent litigation practice concerning human rights, data and developing technology, such as agenda setting cases against Cambridge Analytica, Facebook, Google and the online advertising technology industry.
He is a recognised expert on the GDPR, Data Protection Act and related issues such as data breaches, compensation claims, ICO actions, subject access requests, "right to be forgotten" requests and human rights analysis of developing technology. He is also renowned for administrative and public law challenges, as well as regulatory matters. He has successfully litigated at every level, including cases before the Supreme Court and European Courts.
In addition to his legal practice, Ravi is a member of the Law Society's Human Rights Committee, sits on the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, is on the working group of the Ada Lovelace's institute's "rethinking data" programme amongst many other positions and appointments.
He has also delivered numerous keynote speeches on the regulations of developing technology, including in Westminster and Washington DC. Ravi also regularly gives guest lectures and has work published by leading academic institutions, including Harvard University and Oxford University.
Ravi oversees our legal and litigation work. He is a leading solicitor in the field of data protection, data rights, privacy matters and protecting human rights in a digital age.
Job Titles:
- People Operations Manager
Rosie manages our people, governance and compliance processes.
Prior to joining AWO, Rosie worked as the Human Resources and Operations Manager at MomsRising, a U.S.-based non-profit organisation dedicated to achieving family economic security for all mothers, women and families in the United States. Rosie has also worked in HR and Operations roles in various non-profit and academic settings. She is dedicated to applying equity and justice theories of management to ensure her colleagues have the best policies and procedures in place.
Rosie is currently pursuing advanced qualification in Human Resource Management at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow and has previously graduated with a B.A. in Sociology and International Affairs from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. She has achieved her Professional in Human Resources (PHR) qualification from the Human Resources Certification Institute.