Newly created role to increase awareness and understanding of consumer data protection and privacy amongst Europe’s multibillion-Euro one-to-one marketing industry. Acxiom, an enterprise data, analytics and software as a service company, today announces its European Privacy Officer, Dr. Sachiko Scheuing, has been elected to the strategic position of co-chair of FEDMA, the Federation of European Direct and Interactive Marketing Associations. This is the first time that a privacy officer has become chair of a major European trade body. Dr. Scheuing, who previously held the position of vice-president of FEDMA’s legal affairs committee, will oversee the industry’s commitment to focus on data-driven multi-channel marketing and data privacy, while continuing to emphasise the benefits of more traditional forms of direct marketing. Speaking at the organisation’s recent AGM in Brussels, Dr. Scheuing said she will endeavour to put consumer data protection and privacy at the centre of FEDMA’s public affairs, PR and educational activities to support its mission of driving the growth of Europe’s €47bn (Deloitte, 2013) one-to-one marketing industry. “FEDMA is helping to shape the industry with both the interests of consumer data privacy and Europe’s one-to-one marketing organisations in mind,” said Dr. Scheuing. “Data privacy has become the main focus for omnichannel marketing, especially in terms of digital, and this provides a great opportunity to ensure that the best possible standards are guiding the industry. This is something that we value highly at Acxiom with the launch of our new Audience Operating System. Companies are finding new and innovative ways to target customers and we want to ensure that privacy is kept at the heart of their activity.” Acxiom’s Chief Privacy Officer, Jennifer Barrett, added: “Sachiko’s appointment goes a long way towards highlighting Acxiom’s commitment to protecting individuals’ privacy. We’ve been the market leader in terms of data privacy and omnichannel marketing for some time and this is a great opportunity to share our knowledge with the rest of industry and help to guide best practice. Being endorsed by one of Europe’s most powerful trade bodies validates the messages we’ve long been promoting.”