Microsoft is committed to complying with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), because privacy is a fundamental human right. In addition, Microsoft is committed to providing technology solutions to help our customers meet their GDPR needs.
This week, Microsoft has taken another important step on our GDPR compliance journey. Microsoft has appointed Steve May as our European Data Protection Officer (DPO).
Steve brings over two decades of engineering experience at Microsoft to his new role. He currently serves as a privacy leader in our Windows and Devices Group. Before that, he worked on many of our company’s products and services, from servers to phones and devices teams, to Windows Analytics.
In recent years, Steve developed a passion for privacy and data protection and has been instrumental in implementing privacy by design in complex technical situations across our platforms. He has also been engaging with various external stakeholders to provide transparency in our practices and bring valuable insights back into the company. This will serve him well in his work as the DPO representing our customers’ data protection needs and rights in assessing Microsoft’s data processing in an ongoing basis, as well as supporting our ongoing engagement with European regulators relating to data protection matters.
Steve will report to Brendon Lynch, Microsoft’s chief privacy officer, and will be located in Dublin, Ireland. He will join our ongoing, cross-company efforts to finalize our GDPR readiness as we approach May 25, the date the GDPR goes into effect, and beyond.