Gartner Expert

Dan Essig

Director, Advisory

Dan Essig advises legal, compliance and privacy leaders on a broad range of topics relating to privacy program development and privacy risk management.

These include privacy program strategic planning, privacy program creation and governance, ongoing GDPR and CCPA compliance and support, data classification and governance, data breach response plan drafting and implementation, policy support and development, budgeting and staffing, training and communications, and other key topics in the privacy space.

Mr. Essig also analyzes and delivers diagnostics for legal, compliance, and privacy leaders, including the Score diagnostic for privacy, privacy risk assessment and the state of the data privacy function. He helps clients run privacy risk assessments to analyze organizational perceptions of top privacy risks and build mitigation strategies around those top risks. He has advised hundreds of midsized and large enterprises on preparing for and complying with the EU's GDPR.

Further, he has advised on compliance and legal topics, including outside counsel management, records management, compliance policy and training support, and legal department strategy.

Previous experience

Previously, Mr. Essig advised clients on a variety of corporate legal matters, including mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, emerging company transactions, technology transactions, and securities and corporate governance.

Professional background

Morrison & Foerster LLP

Associate Attorney

United States Securities and Exchange Commission

Honors Intern

American Rivers, Inc.

Intern, Office of the General Counsel

Areas of coverage

Legal and Compliance Technology and Analytics

Legal Operations and Department Management

Privacy Program Management

Compliance Program Management

Legal and Compliance Risk Management Process

Education

J.D., Magna Cum Laude, Georgetown University Law Center

B.B.A., Summa Cum Laude, Kent State University

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Top Issues That I Help Clients Address

1Privacy program strategy and management

2GDPR, CCPA, CPRA, and US/EU privacy regulatory change, preparedness, and compliance

3Privacy risk assessment and mitigation

4Privacy training and communications

5Information governance