Amelia Vance, a globally recognized expert in child and student privacy, is the founder and president of Public Interest Privacy Consulting, LLC. In that role, she advises government agencies, policymakers, companies, and other organizations on legal protections and actionable best practices to ensure the responsible use of child and student data. Amelia is also an adjunct professor at Penn State Law and Co-Chair of the Federal Education Privacy Coalition with AASA, the School Superintendents Association. She is a regular speaker at privacy and education conferences in the U.S. and abroad, has testified before Congress and several state legislatures, and has presented at events hosted by the U.S. Department of Education and the Federal Trade Commission.

Amelia has co-authored several resources on child and student privacy, including “Student Privacy’s History of Unintended Consequences” (co-written with Casey Waughn) in the Seton Hall Legislative Journal; Teaching privacy and ethical guardrails for the AI imperative in education” (co-written with Evan Selinger) for the New South Wales Department of Education in Australia; “The Privacy and Equity Implications of Using Self-Harm Monitoring Technologies: Recommendations for Schools” (co-written with Sara Collins, Jasmine Park, Anisha Reddy, and Yasamin Sharifi) and “FAQs: Disclosing Student Health Information During the COVID-19 Pandemic” (co-written with Anisha Reddy). Amelia was previously part of the New York State Education Department Data Privacy Advisory Council and the Maryland Student Data Privacy Council, and currently serves in the OECD expert group currently drafting guidance for the new Recommendation on Children in the Digital Environment. She is regularly cited in the press, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, Vice News, Marketplace, AP, NBC News, USA Today, Politico, The Atlantic, Slate, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Vox, The Tampa Bay Times, The 74 Million, and Education Week.

Amelia previously served as the vice president of youth and education privacy at the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF), where she advised and convened policymakers, academics, companies, and schools on child and student privacy laws and best practices and authored numerous resources, most of which are available on the website Student Privacy Compass. Amelia came to FPF after serving as the Director of Education Data and Technology at the National Association of State Boards of Education. In that capacity, she provided technical assistance to over 30 states and wrote the reports “Policymaking on Education Data Privacy: Lessons Learned” and “School Surveillance: The Consequences for Equity and Privacy.” Prior to that role, she was a legal fellow at the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Family Equality Council, an intern at the White House, the State Department, and the Office of Congressman Sander Levin, and a Field Organizer for the 2008 Obama campaign.

Her research interests include the unintended consequences of privacy legislation; balancing child privacy with free expression and access to opportunities; how to communicate about privacy, data use, and data sharing in education; and how to build privacy guardrails around school safety measures and surveillance.

Amelia is a member of the Virginia State Bar and the International Association of Privacy Professionals. Amelia received her J.D. from William & Mary Law School and her bachelor’s degree from McDaniel College. Connect with her on Twitter @ameliaivance.