Anne Gardner Named Chief Privacy Officer at Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield

Anne Gardner, chief privacy officer at Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield (Provided)

Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield has promoted Anne Gardner to chief privacy officer. She will now lead the company-wide information privacy program.

In her new role, Gardner will oversee HIPAA compliance, company-wide privacy policies and procedures, impact and risk assessments and data protection.

In addition, Gardner will represent the legal department in overseeing AI-related assets, participate as a member of the Responsible AI Council and the AI Steering Committee, and assist business owners with drafting business associate agreements and data use agreements. She will also continue to assist in contract drafting, negotiation and litigation support.

Gardner joined the Arkansas Blue Cross legal department in 2024, after serving 25 years as a federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Arkansas. She also worked with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs in data privacy and integrated justice information systems.

She has authored four publications on information privacy and the 4th Amendment, including a Justice Information Privacy Guideline for the Vice President’s 2002 Global Criminal Justice Advisory Committee, and received three national and two regional awards for Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking prosecutions.

Gardner attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison and the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America. She also earned a designation as a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US) from the International Association of Privacy Professionals.