Privacy, Trust, and the Road Ahead: An Education Week Conversation with Lifetouch CEO Ken Murphy

For nearly a century, Lifetouch has been committed to supporting schools and the communities we serve, continuously evolving our products, services and security practices to set the industry standard.

Our CEO, Ken Murphy, recently sat down with Education Week to discuss Lifetouch’s safety and security protocols following a debunked online conspiracy.

Ken shared the news that the overwhelming majority of schools have continued to partner with Lifetouch for school photography services and reaffirmed the company’s commitment to student privacy and data security. He also shared his vision for the company as we approach our 90th year. Below are a few key highlights from Ken’s interview that reflect our values and the path ahead:

“We have had a long-standing relationship with so many of our district and school partners. We have certain schools that we’ve had the privilege of serving for up to 50 years, and that sort of long-standing tenure doesn’t happen in the absence of trust, and you have to manifest and build that in different ways at different moments in time.”

“Our goal has been to try to make the information as accessible as possible, to try to be as responsive as possible to inquiries, and to try to equip our schools and administrators…with the facts and information that they can share more broadly.”

“We voluntarily submit to an annual security and safety audit that’s conducted by a third party, which analyzes our privacy protections, storage-deletion protocols, the whole nine yards. And, while we comply fully with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, we were the first to voluntarily sign privacy pledges with nearly 30 states that add additional layers of protection and guardrails.”

“The rigor, the depth, and the investment in data privacy and information security have been long-standing at Lifetouch, and that won’t change.”