Welcome to Privacy Minds — the podcast from Achieved Compliance that unpacks the complexities, pitfalls, and strategies of data privacy and security in highly regulated global industries.
Whether you work in life sciences, finance, technology, or any sector that handles sensitive information, we’ll help you navigate the ever-changing landscape with clarity and precision.
In each episode, our experts will offer practical insights to help you manage risk, build resilient compliance programs and create secure processes that will set your organization up for success and put your mind at ease.
So, let’s get compliant.
Privacy Minds – Episode 2: The Truth about Privacy Software Solutions
In this episode of Privacy Minds, hosts Melise Blakeslee and Paula Bruening take a critical look at the role of software in managing privacy and compliance. With decades of hands-on experience, they discuss the promises and limitations of available privacy and data protection tools in today’s complex regulatory landscape. Drawing on their experience in developing Achieved Compliance’s proprietary software tool, Melise and Paula share candid insights about:
Melise and Paula also outline steps your organization should take when assessing whether privacy software is right for you, including key questions about your industry, risk exposure, regulatory environment, and available resources.
This episode is a must-listen for privacy officers, compliance professionals, legal advisors or business leaders trying to distinguish the hype from the reality when assessing software tools for privacy compliance.
Welcome to the first episode of Privacy Minds, the podcast where privacy gets practical.
Hosted by Melise Blakeslee, Founder and CEO of Achieved Compliance, and Paula Bruening, Director of Global Privacy Policy, this episode explores how the concept of “risk” in data privacy is evolving in today’s chaotic, uncertain world.
With rapid developments in AI, shifting global regulations and reduced federal support for science and research, organizations now face new complexities in managing legal compliance—they face operational, financial and even criminal risks tied to international data protection.
Melise and Paula dive into the realities organizations must consider today:
The episode also introduces Achieved Compliance’s Global Matrix, a proprietary tool that tracks data privacy requirements and risk exposure across 200+ countries. Paula shares insights from leading this initiative and highlights how organizations can use it to identify risks, increase efficiencies and make more informed decisions about global operations.
Whether you're a DPO, legal counsel or business leader trying to keep pace with rapid national or international changes, this episode offers grounded insights from over 50 years of experience.
MELISE BLAKESLEE, ESQ., CIPP/E
PRINCIPAL, PRESIDENT, CONSULTANT
Melise R. Blakeslee, Esq. is one of the founders of Achieved Compliance Solutions. Since 2016, Achieved has offered a flexible service that designs, implements, and runs global privacy compliance programs and virtual privacy offices, as well as implements third-party privacy solutions. A former capital partner and practice leader at the international, top-tier McDermott Will & Emery, she now serves as an outsourced and fractional Data Protection Officer (DPO) for organizations operating across jurisdictions worldwide. Her teams have built and operated full privacy offices for leading research institutions and academic medical centers, establishing governance, workflows, and systems that scale to complex data environments.
Blakeslee’s approach is to right-size each privacy program—aligning controls with the client’s risk profile, the sensitivity of data processed, company size, available resources, and likely intersections with AI processing and AI governance. Clients get a two-for-one advantage: legal, logical problem-solving paired with an entrepreneur’s focus on sustainable business growth.
Her work spans life sciences, clinical research, fintech, and other regulated sectors. Achieved Compliance has supported 1,000+ health research and clinical studies in 100+ countries and represents clients as an appointed DPO in 20+ jurisdictions, enabling compliant cross-border operations “from Australia to Zimbabwe.” Blakeslee’s experience covers international data transfers, GDPR program design, AI-readiness, and regulator-facing governance.
A career entrepreneur, Blakeslee founded Sequel Technology & IP Law in 2009 to deliver agile, business-focused technology counsel. She is the author of Internet Crimes, Torts & Scams: Investigation & Remedies (Oxford University Press), admitted to the D.C. and New York bars, and holds the CIPP/E credential. She lives in Richmond, Virginia, and is based out of Achieved’s Washington, D.C. office.
PAULA BRUENING
PRINCIPAL, SENIOR DIRECTOR, GLOBAL PRIVACY POLICY
Paula brings 25 years of privacy and data protection policy development and representation expertise to her role at Achieved Compliance. Prior to coming to Achieved Compliance, Paula worked at Intel Corporation, where she was Director of Global Privacy Policy. There she developed and coordinated data protection policy across the company, focusing particularly on the European Union.
Prior to her tenure at Intel, she served as Vice President for Global Policy at the Centre for Information Policy Leadership at Hunton & Williams LLP, a pathfinding privacy and information policy think tank located in Washington, D.C. addressing cross border data flows, emerging technologies, and cybersecurity issues. She was counsel for the Center for Democracy & Technology; Senior Attorney Advisor for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration of the Department of Commerce; and Senior Analyst for the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment. Paula has extensive experience working on information policy issues in developing countries and with international organizations such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and APEC. She is a graduate of John Carroll University and received her law degree from Case Western Reserve University.
