Yesterday, the California Privacy Protection Agency announced the appointment of Ashkan Soltani as Executive Director. Soltani is tasked with overseeing the Agency’s implementation of the California Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA), as amended by theCalifornia Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (CPRA), as well as enforcement, rulemaking, and other agency operations. Soltani was a key figure in the creation of both of California’s sweeping privacy laws.

Soltani is regarded as an expert in the privacy and security space. He is a Distinguished Fellow at the Georgetown University Law School Institute for Technology Law & Policy and the Center on Privacy and Technology. Previously, he served as Chief Technologist at the Federal Trade Administration and as the White House Chief Technology Officer, where he advised on and helped to shape technology-related public policy. During his time with the FTC, Soltani assisted with the government’s investigations of Google and Facebook. After leaving the FTC, Soltani was engaged as a technology expert by a number of state consumer protection agencies, including being retained in prominent multi-state privacy and data security investigation by state attorneys general targeting large social media and technology companies.

Soltani also serves as a member of EFF’s advisory board, where he has collaborated on a number of efforts related to the government and third-party tracking areas. His research on tracking technologies was the basis for the Wall Street Journal’s award-winning “What They Know” series.