Dan Essig

Experience

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  American Rivers

  May 2013 - Aug 2013

  Legal Intern, General Counsel's Office

  As an intern in the Office of the General Counsel, I helped the General Counsel review contracts, support the organization on grants and other projects, and carry out the day-to-day legal work of a national nonprofit organization.

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  Morrison & Foerster LLP

  May 2014 - Aug 2014

  Summer Associate

  I supported senior attorneys on corporate law and litigation, including mergers and acquisitions, commercial contracts litigation, and employment law matters.

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  U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

  Sept 2014 - Nov 2014

  Honors Intern, Office of General Counsel

  I supported the Office of the General Counsel on a variety of projects by researching legal issues involved in proposed enforcement actions and distilling key findings for OGC attorneys.

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  Morrison & Foerster LLP

  Nov 2015 - Jun 2016

  Associate, Corporate Practice Group

  I worked as an associate attorney supporting the corporate practice group. I supported multiple M&A transactions, corporate financing, corporate formation transactions, transactional due diligence, researched and analyzed securities issues, and communicated legal and transactional issues to clients. I was also involved in the firm's pro bono practice, and I helped several nonprofit organizations develop policies and complete corporate transactions.

• 

  Gartner

  Jun 2016 - now

  As a Senior Director of Advisory, I help Gartner's clients make progress on privacy initiatives by advising them on a range of topics including privacy strategy, program structure, risk management, and information governance. I also lead virtual events for our clients and for their organizations, and have presented on privacy trends and best practices in events for senior executives and in organization-wide learning sessions. As a Team Manager, I manage a team of four Advisors who advise General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officers, and Chief Audit Executives on a range of priorities. I also drive progress on Gartner's business priorities by working with peers to advance critical initiatives. Show less I am a trusted advisor to legal, compliance, and privacy leaders who are building or improving privacy programs at their organizations. I speak daily with General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officers, Chief Privacy Officers, and their teams to help them leverage Gartner's research and insight to make critical decisions and improve their privacy programs. Each year, I speak with hundreds of legal and compliance leaders at leading organizations across the globe, and I advise them on building and maintaining a privacy compliance program.I also contribute to Gartner research and content by partnering with our analysts and researchers to develop new material. This research helps our clients make key decisions and take action on their goals by providing benchmarking, tactical templates, and insightful research. Finally, I help develop Gartner's internal advisory talent by leading learning and development sessions and coaching peers. Show less In this role, I spoke annually with hundreds of legal and compliance leaders, and I advised them on building and maintaining a privacy compliance program. I specialized in supporting privacy leaders on privacy program management, global privacy program development, compliance with emerging regulations like GDPR, CCPA, and CPRA, and implementation of key risk processes like DPIAs & PIAs. I've helped hundreds of clients build and improve privacy and information governance programs through one-on-one advisory calls, through facilitated half-day and full-day workshops, and through written research and advice. I also provided advice on related topics like information and data governance, AI governance, and third-party risk management. I've presented risk assessment results, case studies and research, and benchmarking and diagnostic reports to functional leaders including CEOs and other C-level executives at midsized and large organizations. I also helped develop Gartner's privacy content by leading webinars and other written and presentation-based deliverables. Show less In this role, I performed research and advisory responsibilities, with a primary focus on data privacy and information risk issues. I advised legal, compliance, and privacy professionals on effective data privacy program design, including specific aspects of data mapping, privacy policy development, privacy impact assessment implementation, training and business integration, and GDPR compliance. In my research and product creation duties as part of this role, I led the development and delivery of white papers, tools, webinars, and other products to assist our clients in resolving key legal, compliance, and privacy program challenges. Show less I created actionable tools and resources to help clients understand and implement best practices in their own departments. I led several successful product creation initiatives, including the program’s first “virtual cohort” webinar series. The series was designed to give clients step-by-step guidance on implementing an effective records management program, and achieved record client attendance for our program. I also spoke with legal, compliance, and privacy professionals and advised them on a broad range of topics. For example, I delivered numerous functional maturity diagnostic reports, advising clients on gaps in their current programs and on next-steps to prioritize from among those gaps and make improvements. I also delivered both comprehensive enterprise-wise risk assessment results and more targeted legal and compliance risk assessment results, helping executives prioritize and understand top risks faced by their organizations, report on those top risks to board members, and create mitigation plans. This role included the opportunity to present to clients’ leadership teams as a whole, including the CEO and CFO of a major technology company. Show less

  • Senior Director & Team Manager, Advisory

    Jan 2024 - now

  • Senior Director, Advisory

    Oct 2023 - Jan 2024

  • Director, Advisory

    Mar 2020 - Oct 2023

  • Sr Principal, Advisory

    Apr 2018 - Mar 2020

  • Research Consultant, CEB Compliance & Legal Leadership Council for Midsized Companies

    Mar 2018 - Apr 2018

  • Senior Research Analyst, CEB Compliance & Legal Leadership Council for Midsized Companies

    Jun 2016 - Mar 2018