Paul Martino is vice president and senior policy counsel at the National Retail Federation. He is responsible for developing and implementing federal legislative and regulatory advocacy efforts on a range of ecommerce and consumer protection policy issues, most notably, data privacy and security.
With more than 25 years of industry, government and legal experience, Martino is known as a leading industry strategist and lobbyist on a range of Internet, telecommunications and technology policy issues. He has been featured on television as a consumer data privacy expert and as a speaker on privacy and data security issues at events hosted by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, BritishAmerican Business, the Silicon Valley Association of General Counsels, the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology (BCLT), the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) and the American Bar Association (ABA).
Before joining NRF, Martino co-chaired the privacy and data security practice of Alston & Bird LLP, a leading national law firm, where he represented businesses, trade associations and coalitions before Congress, federal departments and independent agencies on issues affecting data privacy, cybersecurity, ecommerce, telecommunications, financial services and intellectual property. Martino was named a national leader in privacy and data security law every year from 2008 to 2014 (while in private practice) by the chief publication ranking American business lawyers, Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business.
Prior to joining Alston & Bird in 2005, Martino served for four years as a principal advisor to Chairman John McCain and the lead counsel on Internet, technology and privacy issues for the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. He came to the Senate after spending seven years advising startup and newly public technology companies on corporate and transactional matters in Silicon Valley, where he was a business and technology associate with the law firms of Gunderson Dettmer and Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison.
Martino graduated with honors from Georgetown University with a bachelor’s degree in government and a concentration in American government. He earned his law degree at the University of California, Berkeley.