Google’s Chief Privacy Officer is leaving the company

Keith Enright, Chief Privacy Officer at Google, is leaving the company to try his luck elsewhere. Google confirms Enright will not be replaced and his exit is part of a new company strategy.

On his LinkedIn page Enright writes he’s feeling lucky. “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.” He also praises his coworkers for all their efforts and achievements over the years.

Google’s spokesperson Jenn Crider confirms that Enright is leaving his post. “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,” she reassures in a statement to Forbes.

Enright will remain at the company until September. It remains a mystery what his next endeavour is going to be.

Google enlisted Enright 13 years ago to work at the legal and privacy department. In 2018, he was appointed as Chief Privacy Officer. In that role he testified before the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on consumer data policies.

One of the things he said before the Senate Committee was: “We acknowledge that we have made mistakes in the past, from which we have learned, and improved our robust privacy program.”

Restructuring Google’s policy and privacy teams

Enright’s departure is part of a broader restructuring of Google’s policy and privacy teams. Privacy policies should no longer be the responsibility of a single office, but rather individual product and engineering teams. More people will have to collaborate with specialized teams in legislation and privacy for better compliance.

Google’s restructuring also means that Enright will not be replaced, the company confirms.

“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,” Crider says on the matter.

Enright is not the only high-placed employee to say goodbye to Google. After 15 years, Matthew Bye, head of competition law at Google, will also be leaving the company.