Merri Beth Lavagnino is a passionate privacy professional who had the honor of serving as the first Chief Privacy Officer for Indiana University. She also served as an Executive Director of Compliance and Privacy at Indiana University Health, as well as in various information technology, privacy, compliance, policy, and risk roles at Yale University, the University of Vermont, the University of Illinois, and the Big Ten Academic Alliance.

In addition to her Bachelor of Education and Master of Library Science degrees, she is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US), Certified Information Privacy Technologist (CIPT), Certified Compliance & Ethics Professional (CCEP), and Certified in Healthcare Compliance (CHC).

Merri Beth enjoys contributing to the profession through speaking, teaching, writing, and service activities. Currently, she is a part-time privacy and compliance consultant while she cares full-time for her 93-year-old father.