Google’s Head of Privacy Set To Depart With No Replacement on the Cards

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Google’s parent company Alphabet said that Keith Enright, the tech giant’s chief privacy officer, will depart from the company this fall, following a 13-year run with them, and there are no plans to replace him. This announcement comes as the company restructures its teams leading privacy and compliance.

Two insiders revealed that staff learned about Enright’s departure last month. One source told Forbes that the news surprised employees, as Enright was a highly regarded leader who guided Google’s privacy team during intense scrutiny from lawmakers, regulators, and courts over its data practices.

Enright took on the role of Google’s privacy chief in September 2018, coinciding with an intense governmental examination of the company’s privacy practices.

In a post on LinkedIn, Enright wrote, “After over 13 years at Google, I’m ready for a change, and will be moving on this fall, taking all that I’ve learned and trying something new.”

Also leaving the company is Matthew Bye, Google’s head of competition law, who will depart after 15 years with the company. This departure coincides with a crucial period for Google regarding antitrust issues. In May, the company concluded closing arguments in a landmark competition trial initiated by the Department of Justice concerning Google’s agreements with device manufacturers that direct users to Google search.

Google’s representative Jenn Crider announced that Enright and Bye will step down from their roles later this year, and there are no plans to appoint successors.

Crider said, in a statement, “We regularly evolve our legal, regulatory and compliance work as we launch and run innovative services that comply with a growing number of intersecting obligations and expectations. Our latest changes will increase the number of people working on regulatory compliance across the company.” She added, “We’ll continue to establish and maintain advanced privacy and data protection controls for our services, with input from our dedicated legal and product privacy teams, as well as hundreds of people across the company.”