MY CAREER IN SIX SPOTLIGHT

MIGAN MEGARDICHIAN

 Leader, Privacy and Senior Legal Counsel

Interac

Sharing her career journey by answering the six questions below.

Who or what has been your biggest source of inspiration throughout your career?

Dr. Ann Cavoukian. As former Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, she pioneered the Privacy by Design Framework, demonstrating how proactive, thoughtful privacy can be embedded directly into systems and technologies. With a PhD in psychology, she uniquely bridged human behaviour and privacy, showing how interdisciplinary thinking can drive meaningful innovation. Her work has had a lasting global impact, including influencing the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and has shaped how I think about building privacy into organizations from the ground up.

Would you say your success is primarily due to luck or hard work?

My success is rooted in hard work, which enabled me to seize opportunities when luck came my way. While chance certainly played a role, it was consistent effort and preparation that made those moments meaningful and enabled sustained success.

What is the driving force behind your career aspirations?

Creating impact at scale. My commitment to representation and public service led me to become a Toronto City Councillor, where I made history as the first Armenian-Canadian to hold this role. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I became Toronto Public Library’s first Innovator in Residence for data privacy. I taught privacy to the public and mentored aspiring professionals looking to break into the field. In addition, as a contributing author to the Canadian privacy textbook published by the International Association of Privacy Professionals, I took the opportunity to highlight Indigenous privacy and data sovereignty.

If given the chance to do one thing differently in your career, what would it be and why?

I would have added Computer Science to my undergraduate studies. And I would have asked “What’s the best that can happen?” more often.

What was your most favourite job/role and why?

My favourite role is the one I currently hold at Interac. It perfectly aligns with my commitment to driving impact at scale. At this unprecedented moment in Canada’s history, I’m proud to contribute to leading our country toward digital prosperity – for Canadians, by Canadians.

Do you have a favourite motto or quote that guides your professional life?

Let’s flip this, I have one least favourite – “A jack of all trades is a master of none.” I believe in building competencies across diverse domains and using the connections between them as a true competitive advantage. Interdisciplinary range is a form of mastery, and the ability to integrate insights across fields is one of the most powerful skills one can cultivate.