Scott Taylor

As HP’s chief privacy officer, Scott Taylor and his team work with our business groups, regions, and corporate functions to integrate privacy and data protection into our processes, products, and services.

Scott has been with HP for 23 years, gaining experience with the company while still in college and joining full time after graduation. Having majored in biochemistry and public relations, he forged an early career as a marketer who could speak the language of science. After establishing HP’s first direct marketing efforts, from 1994 to 2006, he led the team that launched our Internet presence.

This role made Scott acutely aware of how much personal data was collected online, so his transition to chief privacy officer in 2006 felt natural. He’s continually motivated by the potential his work has to make a difference for the typical person. “It’s great to lead a program that impacts people’s lives every day,” says Scott. “One of our industry’s greatest challenges is to ensure personal data remains secure while providing more and better services. This requires putting privacy and data protection at the heart of all we do, so customers understand and have real choices about how their data is used.”

To accomplish this, Scott and his team have created a holistic privacy accountability model that ensures the people handling data are accountable and their practices transparent. One tangible example is the deployment of HP’s Privacy Advisor tool, which employees use daily to put the company’s privacy policies into practice.

This approach is influencing regulatory models around the world, and Scott believes other companies should develop similar mechanisms for privacy protection, working closely with non-governmental partners and regulators. He’s optimistic that this will happen, as consumers demand higher standards and some companies’ high-profile missteps focus media attention on privacy. Importantly, Scott sees that leadership in this area provides competitive advantage: “Customers increasingly care about what happens to their data, and seek companies they can trust to protect them from financial and personal harm.”