With privacy concerns reaching an all-time high, Nevada has appointed Casey Quinn as the state’s first chief privacy officer (CPO).
Quinn’s installment as CPO centralizes authority over privacy policies and planning rather than distributing them across multiple leaders, agency staff and legal teams. As CPO, Quinn will lead privacy and data protection efforts for state agencies while simultaneously operating as the top legal adviser for the Governor’s Technology Office (GTO).
Prior to his appointment as CPO, Quinn led a career spanning nearly two decades in the legal sector. Much of that time was spent in private practice for various law firms. Quinn has also served as the senior deputy attorney general for the Complex Litigation Division within Nevada’s Attorney General’s Office, a land agent for the Nevada Division of State Lands and as justice of the peace pro tempore for small claims in Clark County.
The creation of the state’s first CPO role marks the latest step in the state’s efforts to reinforce privacy management and organization. Nevada pushed out a statewide data classification framework earlier this year, establishing a unified method for agencies to sort information and determine how to best handle it.
Nevada’s pivot to enforcing privacy policies follows a growing national trend. A report from the National Association of State Chief Information Officers showed that 31 states have a CPO, nearly doubling from 17 in 2020. Appointing a single executive to manage privacy policy development and institution will play a major role in mitigating data exposure, but many state efforts to protect sensitive information are still in their infancy. States are continuing to build privacy programs, but lack the talent and resources needed to consistently advance solutions.
The change in direction is also a consequence of emerging technologies like AI introducing new threats to privacy. State agencies need secure ways to share information without risking exposure. Quinn will spearhead these protections while determining what information should be collected, who has access to it and best methods for sharing that data safely.
Quinn’s appointment represents just one shakeup in Nevada’s technology leadership. Alongside his installment as CPO, the state also appointed Jared Wilkin and Megan Franklin to the GTO’s leadership team as chief IT manager of the Client Services Division and communications and policy officer, respectively.
Photo courtesy of the State of Nevada
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