Privacy Policy
Effective Date: January 1, 2023
This policy applies to Improving Corporate Services, LLC, and its affiliated companies (collectively “Improving”).
Improving understands that your privacy is important to you and is committed to safeguarding the confidentiality and privacy of personal information entrusted to it.
This Privacy Policy describes how Improving handles and protects your personal information in connection with the hosting of this website, and the provision of the diverse business Improving offers through its offices in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
Scope of this Policy
This policy applies to personal information which is collected and/or used by Improving in the course of performing its business activities.
For residents of the European Economic Area, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom (EEA+), Brazil or other jurisdiction that has adopted the GDPR or similar rules should see the corresponding section of this policy for rights which may exist for you.
California residents should also review the section of this policy addressing their rights.
When we provide Services to clients, we sometimes handle personal information as a processor (for example, the hosting of client data). This means that we process the information solely on the instructions of our clients, who retain control of the information. Therefore, if our use of your personal information is not covered by this policy, you may need to contact the client (and controller) on whose behalf the processing of your information is carried out.
Your Acceptance
In respect to personal information collected via this and other Improving websites, as well as data brokers in connection with marketing activities, your continued use of these websites or receipt of communications constitutes your understanding of, and agreement to, the practices described in this Privacy Policy and elsewhere on the websites as well as any subsequent updates.
When Do We Collect Personal Information?
We collect information about you if:
You use this (or any other Improving) website (the “Websites”);
you inquire about, or engage Improving to provide its Services (either in a personal capacity, or as a representative for your employer or client);
the use of your personal information is reasonably necessary to provide our Services (in these circumstances, your personal information may be disclosed to us by our client who may, for example, be your employer or service provider, or we may obtain your personal information from a range of public or subscription sources, directly from you, or from your associates or persons known to you);
you apply for a position with Improving;
you voluntarily provide it to us through a contact form on our website;
you attend an Improving hosted or sponsored event or webinar;
you contact us with any other inquiry, complaint or notice.
What Types of Personal Information are Collected and What Do We Use it For?
The following is a summary of the types of personal information we collect, and the purposes for which that information is used.
Website Users
Improving collects your name, address, e-mail address, telephone number and any other personally identifiable information which you voluntarily provide when you submit an inquiry through any "Contact Us" or similar forms. Improving also collects other background information about you in connection with career-related inquiries that you submit through its website.
The Websites collect standard Internet log information including your IP address, browser type and language, device type, access times and referring website addresses. In certain instances, Improving may use IP addresses to help identify you when Improving feels, in its sole discretion, that it is necessary to enforce compliance with this Privacy Policy, to protect its services, websites, systems, information, employees, business partners, subsidiaries, affiliates, users, customers or others, or when required by law or for law enforcement purposes.
Improving's Former, Current, and Prospective Clients
If you submit an inquiry to Improving about our Services (either over the website, or by emailing, telephoning, or meeting with one of our colleagues), then we will process information such as your name, job title and contact information in order to respond to your inquiry.
If you attend an Improving event or webinar, or if you associate with an Improving colleague at, for example, an industry event, then Improving may collect basic personal information, such as contact details, which you voluntarily provide (for example, by filling in a form or handing over a business card) in order to facilitate your participation in the event, and for the management of our relationship with you as an actual or prospective client.
If you or the organization you are associated with becomes an Improving client, then we may process your personal information in order to:
Carry out "Know Your Client" checks and screening prior to starting a new engagement (as well as basic contact information, this may mean processing compliance-related information such as proof of your identity, information about your professional background, history of directorships and, in some circumstance, details of any criminal convictions or adverse media coverage);
- carry out background checks for the purposes of complying with anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws;
- carry out client communication, service, billing and administration;
- deal with client complaints; and
- administer claims.
- taking account of applicable marketing laws, we also process personal information about our clients (former, current and prospective) in order to:
- send our clients newsletters, know-how, promotional material and other informational or marketing communications;
- invite our clients to events (and arrange and administer those events).
Marketing
Improving may send you information related to its services, products, and events that we believe are of interest to you. This information may be sent by post or via email. If at any point you no longer prefer to receive marketing communications from Improving you can (i) unsubscribe from Improving communications sent by email using a link provided in marketing emails sent from Improving; or (ii) contact us to exercise your right to prevent all forms of marketing (both post and email).
Other Uses
We may also collect personal information which you willingly provide for a variety of business purposes, including employment opportunities, partnerships, or any other legitimate business activities.
Finally, if you contact us for any other reason, we will collect basic contact details, as well as any other personal information relevant to the reason for your inquiry, to resolve that inquiry.
What is Our Legal Basis for Collecting Personal Information?
All processing (i.e. use) of your personal information is justified by a "lawful basis" for processing. In the majority of cases, processing will be justified on the basis that:
The processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party, or to take steps (at your request) to enter into a contract (e.g. where you request certain Services as an individual client, or where we help advise your employer or service provider on fulfilling an obligation to you under a contract);
the processing is necessary for us to comply with a relevant legal obligation (e.g. where we are required to collect certain information about our clients for tax or accounting purposes, or where we are required to make disclosures to courts or regulators); or
the processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest (e.g. background checks for anti-money laundering and terrorist financing purposes); or
the processing is in our legitimate interests, subject to due consideration for your interests and fundamental rights (this is the basis we rely upon for the majority of the processing of personal information in connection with the provision of our Services, and also for the purposes of most client onboarding, administration and relationship management activities).
In limited circumstances, we will use your consent as the basis for processing your personal information, for example, where we are required by applicable law to obtain your prior consent in order to send you marketing communications.
Before collecting and/or using any special categories of data (as that term is defined in the GDPR), or criminal record data, we will establish a lawful exemption which will allow us to use that information. This exemption will typically be:
- your explicit consent;
- the establishment, exercise, or defense by us or third parties of legal claims;
- or other uses allowed by applicable law including context-specific exemptions provided for under local laws of EU Member States and other countries implementing the GDPR, such as in relation to the processing of special category data for the purposes of preventing or detecting fraud in relation to instructions from potential clients.
Disclosure of Personal Information to Third Parties
Improving will not disclose your personal information to third parties other than as described in this Privacy Policy unless Improving has your permission or is required or permitted by law. Improving may share such information with its affiliates as necessary to carry out the purposes for which the information was supplied or collected. Similarly, third-party contractors, consultants, and/or vendors engaged by Improving to provide services may have access to your personal information. These third parties will be subject to their own data protection requirements providing the same or greater level of security provided by Improving and in most instances will also have entered into a written agreement with Improving which addresses the protection of your personal information.
Improving may also disclose or transfer your personal information for the purposes of:
- responding to requests from law enforcement agencies, regulators, or courts, or to subpoenas, search warrants or other legal requests;
- the prevention and/or detection of crime;
- establishing legal rights or to investigate or pursue legal claims;
- a merger, acquisition, divestment, or corporate restructuring to which all or part of Improving is subject;
- preventing risk of harm to an individual.
International Hosting and Transfer of Information
Improving is a global organization and may transfer certain personal information collected on its websites across geographical borders to Improving offices, personnel, or third parties located throughout the world. Improving may also store such information in a jurisdiction other than where you are based.
Improving will take appropriate steps to ensure that transfers of personal information are in accordance with applicable law and carefully managed to protect your privacy rights and interests and transfers are limited to countries which are recognized as providing an adequate level of legal protection or where we can be satisfied that alternative arrangements are in place to protect your privacy rights. To this end:
Where we transfer your personal information outside Improving to third parties who help provide us with any of the activities described in this policy, we obtain contractual commitments (such as the Standard Contractual Clauses) from them to protect your personal information.
When we receive requests for information from law enforcement, courts or regulators (who may be based overseas), we carefully validate these requests before any personal information is disclosed.
You have a right to contact us for more information about the safeguards we have put in place (including a copy of relevant contractual commitments) to ensure the adequate protection of your personal information when this is transferred as mentioned above.
Retention of Your Personal Information
Improving retains your personal information for the period of time required for the purposes for which it was collected, any compatible purposes which we subsequently establish, or any new purposes to which you subsequently consent, or to comply with legal, regulatory and Improving policy requirements. This period of time will usually be the period of your, or the relevant client's, relationship or contract with Improving plus a period reflecting the length of time for which legal claims may be made following the termination of such relationship or contract. Some information (such as call recordings, tax records and certain information required to demonstrate regulatory compliance) may need to be kept for longer. Personal information will be kept for a shorter or longer period of time if so required by law or an Improving policy, if the information becomes subject to a legal hold (for example, following a communication from our regulator) or if we have identified through a data protection impact assessment that a different retention period is appropriate.
Cookies
Improving’s websites leverage cookies and similar technology to improve the overall experience for all users. These cookies allow us to monitor activity and understand the frequency of visits to specific content.
Improving may also automatically collect personal information (through the use of Cookies or similar technologies, including your IP address, device identifier, browsing patterns on its websites, click stream data, and HTTP protocol elements) to ensure the effective operation of the website or in order to align the presentation of our Services more closely to your requirements (for example, processing information about your broad geographic location to serve you with a local version of this website). This tracking information is stored in an anonymous, aggregated and non-personal format, and is also used to understand and analyze trends, to administer the websites, and to learn about user behavior on the websites.
Do Not Track
Improving’s websites do not currently respond to any “Do Not Track” or similar signal that some web browsers now support.
Information Security
Improving has reasonable technical safeguards, security policies and procedures in place to protect personal information from unauthorized loss, misuse, alteration, or destruction. Measures we take include placing confidentiality requirements on our staff members and service providers, limiting access to your personal information on a "need to know" basis, and providing training to appropriate Improving personnel. We also maintain comprehensive policies addressing data incident response protocols. Our IT Security Program is audited on a regular basis.
Despite Improving's best efforts, however, security cannot be absolutely guaranteed against all threats.
Your Rights in Jurisdictions Covered by the GDPR and Similar Laws
For residents of the European Economic Area, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom (EEA+), Brazil or other jurisdiction that has adopted the GDPR or similar rules, then, subject to certain exemptions, and dependent on how and why we use it, you have certain rights in relation to your personal information. This section describes those rights specific to these residents.
The Improving entity responsible for your personal information will be the entity that originally collected information from or about you. If you have a direct interaction with Improving (for example, you attend an Improving hosted event), the identity of your controller may be disclosed to you in connection with that interaction. If we process your personal information in the course of providing our Services to clients, your controller will be the Improving entity providing the Services (assuming those Services are provided as a controller, instead of as a processor on behalf of our client). Please note that the contact details for all Improving Entities in respect of data protection or privacy issues are the same, and are as set out below.
What Legal Bases are Relied Upon?
The data subject has freely given consent for their information to be processed for a specific purpose.
Contract: Processing is necessary due to the fulfillment of a contract.
Legal Obligation: Processing is necessary to comply with the United States law and international data laws.
Data Subject Rights
If your personal information is processed by an Improving entity in the EEA+, Brazil or other jurisdiction that has adopted the GDPR or similar rules, then, subject to certain exemptions, and dependent on how and why we use it, you have certain rights in relation to your personal information.
We may ask you for additional information to confirm your identity before disclosing any personal information to you. We reserve the right to charge a fee where permitted by law, for instance if your request is manifestly unfounded or excessive.
You can exercise your rights by contacting us. Subject to legal and other permissible considerations, we will make every reasonable effort to honor your request promptly or inform you if we require further information in order to fulfil your request.
We may not always be able to fully address your request, for example if it would impact the duty of confidentiality we owe to others, or if we are legally entitled to deal with the request in a different way.
Right to Access
You have the right to access personal information which Improving holds about you, together with certain information about how and why your personal information is processed.
Right to Rectification
You have a right to request us to correct your personal information where it is inaccurate or out of date.
Right to be Forgotten (Right to Erasure)
You have the right under certain circumstances to have your personal information erased. Your information can only be erased if it is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, and we have no other legal ground for processing the information.
Right to Restrict Processing
You have the right to restrict the processing of your personal information, but only where:
Its accuracy is contested, to allow us to verify its accuracy; or
the processing is unlawful, but you do not want it erased; or
it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected, but we still need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or
you have exercised the right to object, and verification of overriding grounds is pending.
Right to Data Portability
You have the right to data portability, which requires us to provide personal information to you or another controller in a commonly used, machine-readable format, but only where the processing of that information is based on (i) consent; or (ii) the performance of a contract to which you are a party. Please note that Improving rarely relies upon consent as a legal basis, and the performance of a contract basis will only be relevant to the extent that you, as an individual, are party to a contract with Improving or a client, and our use of your personal information is necessary for the performance of that contract.
Right to Object to Processing
You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information at any time, but only where that processing is based on our legitimate interests. If you raise an objection, we have an opportunity to demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate interests which override your rights and freedoms.
If this section applies to you and you would like to exercise your right to access, review, correct or discuss how your personal information is processed by Improving please contact us at privacy@Improving.com.
In addition, under applicable local law you may have the legal right to lodge a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority or local data protection authority.
Important Additional Information for California Residents
This section provides information for California residents, as required under California privacy laws, including the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”). The CCPA generally requires that businesses provide California consumers with information about how we use their personal information, whether collected online or offline, and this document is intended to satisfy that requirement. However, the CCPA notice requirement does not apply where we are providing services to our clients, receive personal data, and use it solely to provide service to a client and function as a “service provider” within the meaning of the CCPA.
In addition, this policy does not apply to information that we collect regarding employees or in the course of providing or receiving business-to-business services.
Under the CCPA, “personal information” is any information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular California resident or household.
California Residents’ Rights
California law grants California residents certain rights and imposes restrictions on particular business practices as set forth below.
Right to Opt-out. California residents have the right to opt out of our sale of their personal information. We do not and will not sell your personal information, except for in the event where Improving assets are involved in merger, acquisition, or divestment activity and your personal information is part of the Improving assets impacted.
Minors. We do not sell personal information about residents who we know are younger than 16 years old.
Notice at Collection. We are required to notify California residents, at or before the point of collection of their personal information, the categories of personal information collected and the purposes for which such information is used.
Verifiable Requests to Delete, and Requests to Know. Subject to certain exceptions, California residents have the right to make the following requests, at no charge, up to twice every 12 months.
Right of Deletion. California residents have the right to request deletion of their personal information that we have collected about them, subject to certain exemptions, and to have such personal information deleted, except where necessary for any of a list of exempt purposes.
Right to Know – Right to a Copy. California residents have the right to request a copy of the specific pieces of personal information that we have collected about them in the prior 12 months and to have this delivered, free of charge, either (a) by mail or (b) electronically in a portable and, to the extent technically feasible, readily useable format that allows the individual to transmit this information to another entity without hindrance.
Right to Know – Right to Information. California residents have the right to request that we provide them certain information about how we have handled their personal information in the prior 12 months, including the:
Categories of personal information collected;
- Categories of sources of personal information;
- Business and/or commercial purposes for collecting and selling their personal information;
- Categories of third parties/with whom we have disclosed or shared their personal information;
- Categories of personal information that we have disclosed or shared with a third party for a business purpose; and
- Categories of third parties to whom the residents’ personal information has been sold and the specific categories of personal information sold to each category of third party.
Submitting Requests. Requests to exercise the right of deletion, right to a copy, and / or the right to information may be submitted to privacy@Improving.com. We will respond to verifiable requests received from California consumers as required by law.
Right to Non-Discrimination and Incentives. The CCPA prohibits discrimination against California residents for exercising their rights under the CCPA and imposes requirements on any financial incentives offered to California residents related to their personal information.
California Privacy Rights under California’s Shine-the-Light Law. Under California’s “Shine the Light” law (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.83), California residents who provide us certain personal information are entitled to request and obtain from us, free of charge, information about the personal information (if any) we have shared with third parties for their own direct marketing use. Such requests may be made once per calendar year for information about any relevant third-party sharing in the prior calendar year. California residents who would like to make such a request may submit a request in writing using the contact information provided below. The request should attest to the fact that the requester is a California resident, and provide a current California address.
Children
Improving’s websites are not intentionally designed for or directed at children under the age of 13. It is Improving’s policy never to knowingly collect or maintain information about anyone under the age of 13, except as part of an engagement to provide professional services.
Privacy Practices of Third Parties
Improving websites may contain links to other sites, including websites maintained by Improving affiliates that are governed by other privacy policies that may differ from this one. Users should review the privacy policy of each website visited before disclosing any personal information. To the extent that Improving provides links to third-party websites, such links do not constitute an endorsement, sponsorship, or recommendation by Improving of the third parties, the third-party websites, or the information contained on those websites, and Improving is not responsible or liable for your use of such third party websites. Where appropriate you should review the privacy policies of any websites or applications before submitting personal information.
Changes to this Policy
By using Improving websites and receiving Improving communications you consent to the collection, use and storage of personal information as described in this Privacy Policy and elsewhere on the websites. Improving reserves the right to make changes to this Privacy Policy from time to time. Improving will update the revision date found at the top of this policy to indicate changes have been made.
Contact Us
If you have questions or concerns regarding this policy or Improving’s personal data processing policies, please contact Improving at: privacy@Improving.com.