A new executive position has joined the administrative suite: the chief privacy officer.
The CPO's rise to prominence is a relatively new phenomenon, but is seen as becoming more common and lucrative, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Here are four things to know about the role of the chief privacy officer.
1. The International Association of Privacy Professionals conducted a survey of 1,305 executives and found the average base salary for CPOs is $152,136. Additionally, the average salary of the "highest echelon" of privacy officers, such as those in the C-suite, totaled $177,382.
2. The higher number of privacy executives parallels the growing premium on data privacy worldwide. WSJ highlights new data protection rules in Europe that tighten restrictions on what companies can do with users' data.
3. Additionally, the IAPP has experienced significant growth in membership, signaling in and of itself a rise in privacy experts. From 2000 to 2012, IAPP gathered 10,000 members. In the past three years, however, the organization has more than doubled its membership to 24,000 members worldwide, according to Sam Pfeifle, IAPP’s publication's director.
4. Though privacy experts fall pretty evenly split 50-50 between men and women professionals, the WSJ reports a pay gap persists: Female privacy professionals earned approximately $5,000 less per year than male privacy professionals.
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