Board Profiles
Please click on the link below to find out more about the purpose and role of each Commissioner.
Amerdeep Somal: (Chief Commissioner)
Amerdeep Somal is Chief Commissioner at the Data & Marketing Commission. She is the Complaints Commissioner to the Financial Regulators (Bank of England, FCA and PRA), Judge of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal and on the Board of the PHSO (Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman). Amerdeep is also incoming Chair of the Law Society of England and Wales from 1st January 2024.
Amerdeep was formerly the Independent Assessor to the Financial Ombudsman Service and Board member at the General Medical Council. She is a former founding Commissioner at the Independent Police Complaints Commission, has held a number of Board roles and her earlier career was as a senior civil servant.
Robert Bond: (industry member)
Robert is a Solicitor, Notary Public, Chartered IT Professional and Compliance & Ethics Professional. Robert has over 40 years’ experience in the fields of IT, e-commerce, computer games, media and publishing, data protection, information security and cyber risks.
Robert is Head of the Examination Board for the Practitioner Certificate in Data Protection, Past President of the Board of the Society for Corporate Compliance & Ethics, Chairman of the Data Protection Network, a Director of South West Grid for Learning, a Deputy Vice President of the Notaries’ Society, a founder member of the Advisory Group on the Governance of Data and AI to the United Nations, a Fellow of the Society of Advanced Legal Studies and a Companion of the British Computer Society.
Gilbert Hill (industry member)
Gilbert is a privacy technologist, entrepreneur and speaker. He was previously CEO at Tapmydata, a VC-funded Web3 startup building wallets for data control and portability. Gilbert advises brands, boards and crypto projects on data strategy and execution as a NED, and he is a Founding Member of the Data Privacy Protocol Alliance.
After a career in Finance, as MD of a London digital agency Gilbert grew fascinated by the relationship between data, digital marketing and regulation, founding Optanon, a pioneering software product in the PrivTech sector, and Cookiepedia, knowledge base for consumer tracking on the Web. These businesses were acquired by OneTrust and he led the deal, migration of legacy clients, team and technology while establishing new operational units across Europe.
On a voluntary basis, Gilbert is Fellow and Senior Tutor on Privacy & Ethics at the Institute of Data & Marketing, and a regular contributor to events and media in the UK and internationally.
Quinton Quayle: (independent member)
Quinton has sat on a number of boards, with a focus on regulation, health and the legal sector. He currently serves as Non-Executive Director of Cottsway Housing Association and is a Chair/Panel Member of High Speed 2’s “Need to Sell” Panel. He also serves as a Public Interest Observer at the Chartered Institute of Taxation.
Quinton is a fluent Thai speaker and currently advises several companies with investments in Thailand, including Prudential, Thai Beverages and Gurin Energy.
Prior to joining the private sector, Quinton was a member of the Diplomatic Service and served as British Ambassador to Romania and to Thailand.
Kate Staples: (independent member)
Kate was the General Counsel & Secretary to the CAA until December 2021, holding the role for over 11 years. Kate was also a Trustee of the Air Travel Trust, of the CAA’s pension scheme, and company secretary to the CAA’s two subsidiaries: ASSI Ltd and CAA International Ltd. In February 2023 she took up the role of Director of Governance and Legal Services at the Care Quality Commission.
Before joining the CAA, Kate worked at the Dept for Transport, primarily advising on aviation matters, with a short stint in one of the railways teams. Kate did not start off as a public lawyer; in her early career she specialised in high value construction and engineering disputes at a leading City practice.
Kate enjoys the arts, travel, developing her photography skills and following the fluctuating fortunes of Liverpool FC.
