Team size: Three

What has been the number one challenge that has impacted you over the past year?

The main challenge our privacy team has faced is working through the effects of the pandemic. Despite the travel and budget restrictions, we have continued to remotely implement our PVH privacy strategy and guidelines in all regions. We have gained and maintained the trust of leadership virtually, while working with our business partners to ensure understanding across the board and implementing new processes and procedures. Our expertise, resilience and influential skills led us to continue coaching and nurturing a positive, ethically driven, and consumer-centric data privacy program according to our PVH business goals.

Additionally, we have been working cross-functionally on several significant privacy projects in the eCommerce space. Our team has shown an ability to influence the broader PVH data governance strategy even remotely. We have also shown our ability to predict trends – Calvin Klein’s privacy commitment was introduced three years ago, and data minimisation was a company priority even before the laws in some regions made it mandatory.

Do you have an example of a time when you have come up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works that did not result in a large expense?

Last year, we looked within teams to identify who would be interested to work on privacy related projects. This helped to identify and develop existing talent within the legal team and allow for stretch assignments to help realise the potential of our existing pool of lawyers. We also reviewed our internal processes to determine what could be simplified from a privacy review operational perspective and empowered our business teams to be more accountable by designing easily understandable playbooks and toolkits. By constantly looking for ways to improve the process, we reduced spending and enhanced the overall privacy awareness within the organisation.

Our team has also begun to utilise Microsoft Teams to work on documents together in real time, and across time zones. Additionally, to streamline our efforts, we have been working on compiling global guidance documents to address common questions and concerns we receive.

What would you say are the unique qualities required to be successful as an in-house lawyer in your industry?    

The privacy world is very fluid, and our area of expertise spans all parts of our business. As an in-house privacy lawyer for a retail company like PVH, we are well positioned to understand legal risks and determine our company’s risk tolerance. By liaising with the various stakeholders in an effective manner, my team and I are truly adding value by anticipating trends that truly impact our industry. We must balance legal requirements with business needs and understand complex technical arrangements while doing so.