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Isabelle Vereecken

Head of the Secretariat, European Data Protection Board

GDPRInternational data transfersEU data protection cooperation

Education and early research

Isabelle Vereecken studied law at the Université catholique de Louvain and holds a postgraduate degree in law and management of information technologies from the University of Namur[1][2]. She began her career as a researcher at the CRID, the Computer and Law Research Centre of the University of Namur, working on data protection, intellectual property rights and e-commerce[1]. At the university she specialised in European research projects[2].

She has worked in the field of data protection since 2002, with experience in both the private and the public sector[2].

Belgian Data Protection Authority and the GDPR

Vereecken spent 10 years as a legal adviser at the Belgian Data Protection Authority[1]. In that role she was responsible for international data transfers and regularly contributed to the work of the Article 29 Working Party[1]. She also worked on many binding corporate rules and contractual policies with multinational companies and law firms[2].

She followed the negotiation of the General Data Protection Regulation closely[1]. She was seconded to the European Commission while it worked on the proposal, and later acted as an expert supporting the Belgian government during the negotiations[1].

Setting up the EDPB Secretariat

After the Belgian authority, Vereecken moved to the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), where she oversaw preparations for the European Data Protection Board[2]. She led the implementation work at the EDPS to get the Board running, coordinating consultation with national regulators and institutional stakeholders up to its launch on 25 May 2018[2].

She then became head of the EDPB Secretariat and built it from the ground up[1]. The Secretariat is based in Brussels and gives analytical, administrative and logistical support to the Board[3]. Its work includes drafting, translating and publishing the Board's opinions, binding decisions and other texts, providing IT tools for communication among EDPB members, and organising the Board's meetings[3]. It is made up of sectors for litigation and international affairs, legal affairs for cooperation and enforcement, information and communications, administrative matters, and IT[3].

Secretariat staff are employed by the EDPS but work under the instructions of the Chair of the EDPB, under a memorandum of understanding between the two bodies[3]. The EU's official directory, dated 1 November 2026, lists Vereecken as head of unit of the EDPB Secretariat[4].

Conference appearances

In October 2018, five months after the GDPR took effect, she spoke at the 40th International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners in Brussels in a session on the GDPR's first months[2]. She was also a speaker at IoT Week 2019 in Aarhus[5].

At the EDPS's 20th anniversary summit in June 2024 she took part in a session titled 20 years of data protection. What next?[1]. She has appeared at the CPDP conference in Brussels on a panel about digital regulatory reform, from the Digital Omnibus to digital sovereignty[6]. She also spoke on a CPDP panel titled Breaking silos: How DPOs work better together[7]. CPDP's speaker page describes the Board's goal as ensuring consistent application and enforcement of data protection law across the European Economic Area[7].

Known for

Sources

  1. European Data Protection Supervisor, 20th anniversary summit: speaker page, June 2024 — checked 6 Nov 2026
  2. 40th International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners (ICDPPC): speaker page, October 2018 — checked 6 Nov 2026
  3. European Data Protection Board: EDPB Secretariat — checked 6 Nov 2026
  4. EU Whoiswho, official directory of the European Union: European Data Protection Supervisor (PDF), 1 November 2026 — checked 6 Nov 2026
  5. IoT Week 2019 Aarhus: speaker page — checked 6 Nov 2026
  6. CPDP conference: speaker page (Digital regulatory reform panel) — checked 6 Nov 2026
  7. CPDP conference: speaker page (Breaking silos panel) — checked 6 Nov 2026
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