Could you tell us a bit about your significant successes in your role?

In my role as associate general counsel in the APAC privacy legal team, I manage a team that is responsible for engaging with privacy regulators across the APAC region. We support the broader Meta business, across all products (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Reality Labs), to navigate the varied and evolving privacy landscape across Asia and the Pacific.

In your opinion, what are the qualities and skills needed to form a strong legal team?

The key elements to form, grow and lead a strong legal team are: (1) finding good people – I always hire people who are smarter than me, naturally curious and enthusiastic; (2) trust and communication – it is essential that teammates, up and down the team, have trust in each other and are confident in communicating (especially difficult information). Challenges understood and met together are much more quickly solved, and it is never a good thing when people are afraid to share bad news.

What is the biggest risk to your industry or organisation and how are you contributing to prepare your organisation for this?

One of the key issues at the moment is the divergence of approaches to regulation of the digital space across the world, and the risk of a splinternet. The nature of technology and innovation is that there is always likely to be some kind of lag between the state of the art and the current legal landscape. My personal view is that principles-based laws (for example the Australian Privacy Act) are best equipped to deal with the potential gaps as they are usually intended to be technology-agnostic by design.

That is not to say that reform is not a good thing. Meta has made a number of submissions in Australia, APAC and across the world, where we think we have some useful insights to provide. Overall, we are keen to see consistency to the extent possible, and to ensure that any reforms are focused on protecting users as well as the integrity of the internet and digital world.

What challenges have you overcome to get to the position you are in today?

I am very fortunate to be in the position I am in today. I love working at the nexus of technology and legal innovation, and particularly in the most dynamic and diverse region in the world. On a personal level the biggest challenges I have faced are to make sure I am keeping up with the pace of change in both technology and regulation – it is not so hard when it is so fascinating, but it can be tricky at times. On a macro level, obviously the world (and no doubt the tech industry) are going through some pretty impactful upheavals. I think the biggest challenges, and therefore opportunities, are yet to come.