The CISO Awards were created to identify and celebrate the amazing work being done around the world by executives dedicated to improving the information security of their respective companies, governments, and organizations. The award finalists and winners are selected and voted on by two committees integral to the success of EC-Council’s CISO program – the CCISO Advisory Board and the CISO Events Board. Finalists and winners are selected via an anonymous judging process without input by EC-Council staff. Finalists for the 2017 awards will be announced every month starting in January 2017 leading up to the announcement of the winners at the CISO Awards Gala in Atlanta, GA on the night of October 8th, 2017. Each finalist will be interviewed on the Global CISO Forum Podcast and featured in an article posted on the CISO website.
2017 Award Winners
CCISO of the Year
Favour Femi-Oyewole

CISO of the Year
Heath Renfrow

Most Improved InfoSec Program
Hemant Dusane

Innovative Project of the Year
Jorge Mario Ochoa Vasquez

Award Categories
CCISO of the Year
This award, available only to EC-Council Certified CISOs (C|CISOs), recognizes an individual’s outstanding work in information security. We will be honoring one C|CISO who has contributed to the information security industry, shown tremendous professional growth and achievement, and has promoted strong, innovative security practices. When submitting your nomination package for this award, please be sure to include a summary of your work and career advancement over the last year, how you have positively impacted the information security industry. Your entry will be evaluated by a panel of highly qualified information security executives, so make sure that what you present will impress your audience.
Nominations are now closed!
CISO of the Year
This award, available only to Information Security Executives (VP, CISO, etc.), recognizes an individual’s outstanding work in information security. We will be honoring one executive who has contributed to the information security industry, shown tremendous professional growth and achievement, and has promoted strong, innovative security practices. When submitting your nomination package for this award, please be sure to include a summary of your work and career advancement over the last year and how you have positively impacted the information security industry. Your entry will be evaluated by a panel of highly qualified information security executives, so make sure that what you present will impress your audience.
Nominations are now closed!
Innovative Security Project of the Year
This award is intended to recognize the most innovative security project of the year. The nomination must include the following details:
- Brief description of the project and its goals
- How the project supported the business/organization by being:
- Cost effective
- Impactful to the business or security operations
- Creative in its use or creation of new models
- Groundbreaking
- Measurable – please include statistics on how the project impacted budget, time, or other measurable indicators.
Nominations are now closed!
Most Improved Information Security Program of the Year
This award is intended to recognize improvements in information security programs that have made use of innovative strategies to bring value quickly to a security program and the overall business/organization’s goals. The nomination must include the following:
- A baseline of the security program before improvements including measurable indicators
- The methods used to improve the program
- Challenges encountered and the solutions implemented to overcome them A thorough analysis of the program after improvements were implemented including measurable indicators
Nominations are now closed!
CISO of the Year
![]() CISO of Microsoft India |
![]() Global Cybersecurity Architect – IBM |
![]() Global Chief Information Security Officer – Netsurion and EventTracker |
![]() Senior Director & Head, Information Security and Risk Management – Edgeverve (Infosys) |
![]() CISO, United States Army Medicine |
![]() Risk and Compliance Leader at IBM |
CCISO of the Year
![]() CISO for Novamedia |
![]() Favour Femi-Oyewole CISO of The Nigerian Stock Exchange |
![]() ISM South Asia Region SSC, IT Manager, BV Pakistan Pvt Ltd |
![]() Global CTO Security, Huawei |
![]() Director IT / CIO for Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam |
![]() Vice President and Chief Security Officer at CDK Global |
![]() Director, Solutions Architecture, Optiv |
![]() CISO of the Las Vegas Sands Corp |
![]() Senior Enterprise Security Architect EMEA at Akamai |
![]() Sr. Director of Information Security for Presidio |
![]() Director of Security and Information Governance at Cooley LLP |
![]() Chief Information Officer and HIPAA Security Officer at St. David’s Foundation |
Innovative Security Project of the Year
![]() Innovative Security Project of the Year finalist |
Most Improved Information Security Program of the Year
![]() Information Security Officer, RAGE Frameworks |
![]() IT Security Manager (ISM) at the Peoples Postcode Lottery |