Google’s privacy chief making ‘shock’ exit after 13 years with the company

Keith Enright, the chief privacy officer at Google, testifying before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on safeguards for consumer data privacy in Washington, DC.

Google’s chief privacy officer is leaving the company after 13 years, and Google has no plans to replace him.

A Google spokesperson said Keith Enright would remain with the company until the fall. One source told Forbes the announcement of his departure was met with “shock” from employees.

“After over 13 years at Google, I’m ready for a change and will be moving on this fall, taking all that I’ve learned and trying something new,” Enright said in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday. “I’m incredibly proud of the team we built and the work we did to keep billions of people around the world safe and in control.”

Enright leads the global privacy team in crafting and implementing privacy and data policies across Google’s products and services. In 2018, he testified about consumer data privacy to the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, defending Google’s privacy policies while acknowledging the company’s past mistakes.

Google’s head of competition law, Matthew Bye, also leaves after 15 years at the company.

Google confirmed the departures in a statement to BI and has said it isn’t replacing Bye or Enright. A Google spokesperson told Forbes that instead, the company would restructure its policy and privacy work to include multiple teams, reaffirming its commitment to maintaining high standards of privacy and competition law.

“We regularly evolve our legal, regulatory, and compliance work as we launch and run innovative services that comply with a growing number of intersecting obligations and expectations,” a Google spokesperson told BI in a statement. “Our latest changes will increase the number of people working on regulatory compliance across the company.”