When Colin Lane (MBA ’22) applied to the Risk Management and Insurance MBA program, I remember thinking that he had a penchant for academic work considering his Phi Beta Kappa achievement as an undergrad, and his becoming a member of Order of the Coif (cum laude) after his JD degree. His background in providing legal services for incarcerated people, working for a federal judge, and representing school districts was interesting to our admission committee. Considering those experiences and several other academic awards, Colin was offered a seat in the MBA program beginning in Fall 2020.
Colin’s first year in the MBA program was delivered entirely online because of the COVID-19 pandemic. “I liked learning via that style,” he reflected. “I thrived with the lectures. Collaborative work was more difficult using online tools, yet it was attainable. Learning online prepared me well for the workplace because most of my teams have not been centrally located.”
During that first year, Colin was quick to learn his project assistant role as a Venture Manager with the Creative Destruction Lab. He was introduced to AmFam Ventures, which offered him a summer Innovation Internship. His success as an intern led to a full-time offer to join American Family Insurance’s Leadership Development Program after graduating. There Colin used his legal, analytical, and strategic talents while rotating across different teams including Auto Litigation, Property – High Damage Review, and Enterprise Compliance. These roles helped Colin learn and think about the work that excited him, which was eventually narrowed to data privacy.
Currently, Colin is a Privacy Compliance Consultant at TruStage. His work has an AI focus and uses both his legal and risk backgrounds. He stated, “Data privacy is really one of the central concerns companies, and society as a whole, are facing when it comes to advances and applications of AI. I enjoy being at the forefront of a lot of that work building something new.” Colin indicated that the MBA course in cyber risk focused on data privacy, which prompted his interest in the topic. Further, he suggested that every person should learn more about data privacy to thrive in this increasingly complex digital world. His enthusiasm for the topic is wide and deep.
Colin’s yearning for learning does not center just on his professional life. He works remotely, so his non-working hours intentionally involve no screen time. A long-time drummer, to the delight of his wife, he learned to use a volume-controlled digital drum set. He has taught himself guitar and is discovering different places to walk his dog. What will he pursue next? Whatever it is, we know he will continue to learn and impact both those around him and the data privacy space in extremely positive ways.