Biometrics Institute appoints new board of directors and re-confirms its focus on building trust in biometrics in 2015

The Biometrics Institute announced its newly elected board of directors, which includes representatives from Immigration New Zealand, the FBI, Spanish Ceca Bank and UK Home Office.

Arron Baker of Immigration New Zealand has been re-elected as Biometrics Institute’s chairman and director.

He will oversee the board of directors, which is comprised of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection’s Paul Cross, Salmat Speech Solutions GM Brett Feldon, the FBI’s Jim Loudermilk, Australia Attorney Generals Department’s Andrew Rice, Cognitec Systems’ Juergen Pampus, telecommunication engineer Santago Uriel Arias, Border Force (Border Systems)’s Glen Wimbury, and Synaptics’ Art Stewart.

“I was honored to be re-elected as Chairperson and Director on the Board and believe the work of the Institute is more vital now than ever as biometrics spreads into every aspect of citizens lives, ” said Baker . “We need to keep responsibility, privacy and security at the heart of biometric developments and build real trust and confidence amongst citizens and consumers. There are some exciting opportunities ahead of us and our focus for the coming year is the development of a Trust Mark for biometric products and services to help reassure the public of the responsible use of biometrics.”

The Biometrics Institute has already scheduled events from March 2015 through October 2015 which will address issues regarding trust, data protection, identity management and customer authentication, including the next member meeting in Washington DC, the 3rd Identities at the Borders Seminar in the Netherlands, the Biometrics Institute Asia-Pacific Conference in Sydney, a Digital Identities and Authentication Seminar in Wellington, and the Biometrics 2015 show in London.

The organization’s board of directors will also participate in training and special networking events in the coming months.

“We are appearing in UK Parliament on November 26 to provide evidence for an inquiry into the potential use and collection of biometric data and whether regulations in this emerging field are adequate,” said Isabelle Moeller, CEO of the Biometrics Institute. “The Biometrics Institute has made a submission which focuses on the Biometrics Institute Privacy Guideline, a best-practice guide for biometrics and data protection issues. It is a busy time for us servicing our now 175 member organisations representing 600 individuals and 24 countries.”

Previously reported, the Biometrics Institute is currently working on a program that it says will reassure the public of the responsible use of biometrics, and will make privacy compliance more transparent and easier to understand.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  Biometrics Institute  |  Board of Directors  |  Isabelle Moeller  |  privacy  |  Trust Mark