RGP, a multinational business consulting firm, today announced, the speaking engagement of Lynn Rohland, RGP Managing Consultant, Data Solutions Security and Privacy, at the Evolve Conference being held on September 20, 2017 at Hotel Palomar, in Washington, DC.

“Not since the passage of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) more than 20 years ago, have we seen such a comprehensive, framework-driven, regulation focused on data privacy practices,” said Rohland when speaking of the European Union's (EU) passage of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The regulation, which goes into effect May 25, 2018, compels companies that collect and/or process personal data of EU residents to assess their operational risks and demonstrate practices that comply with the new law. A major tenant of GDPR is empowering individuals with extensive rights on the use and handling of their data by businesses. According to Rohland, “organizations that adopt and implement a data subject-centric approach towards GDPR compliance, exhibited by a cultural shift in personal data rights, stand to be the most successful. Such an approach will go a long way towards building consumer trust, tightening vendor requirements, and lessening EU regulators’ and Data Protection Authorities’ (DPAs) scrutiny which in turn, should equate to a competitive edge in the marketplace.”

Rohland notes that “because small and mid-market companies may already be resource-constrained, some might deem GDPR compliance to be cost-prohibitive or unrealistic to implement. However, a thoughtful - often innovative - and incremental plan towards compliance can be achieved without excessive costs, but to do so will require full cross-organizational support at the highest levels. Moreover, now that GDPR is transitioning greater control to EU residents over their data and imposing stiffer penalties, a lack of attention in managing the risks and compliance associated with that data could prove costly if businesses rely on old habits.”

About Lynn Rohland

Lynn Rohland, a certified information privacy professional, walks RGP’s clients through the nuances of GDPR requirements and helps them to assess the impacts on their business operations while planning and executing a risk management and compliance strategy.

About RGP

RGP is a multinational business consulting firm that helps leaders execute internal initiatives. Partnering with business leaders, we drive internal change across all parts of a global enterprise – accounting; finance; governance, risk and compliance management; corporate advisory, strategic communications and restructuring; information management; human capital; supply chain management; and legal and regulatory.

RGP was founded in 1996 within a Big Four accounting firm. Today, RGP is a subsidiary of a publicly traded company, Resources Connection, Inc. (NASDAQ: RECN), with over 3,300 professionals, annually serving over 1,800 clients around the world from 67 practice offices.

Headquartered in Irvine, California, RGP has served 87 of the Fortune 100 companies. Visit www.rgp.com/global-offices to find the office nearest you. (RECN-M)