A privacy champion is a designated employee within a department or business unit who promotes privacy awareness, serves as a first point of contact for privacy-related questions, and acts as a liaison between their team and the organisation's Data Protection Officer (DPO) or privacy office. Privacy champions are typically volunteers or appointees who receive additional privacy training beyond the standard awareness programme.
Establishing a network of privacy champions is an effective strategy for scaling privacy governance across large organisations where the central privacy team cannot be involved in every operational decision. Champions help identify new processing activities early, ensure privacy impact assessments are initiated when needed, and embed a privacy-conscious culture within their teams, significantly reducing the risk of compliance gaps at the operational level.