The CISO of the Year Award is designed to honor the most outstanding Chief Information Security Officer of the year. It highlights those who excel not just in their technical skills but also in leadership and in effectively communicating complex security challenges to business and boardroom leaders. 

The award criteria focus on these key performance areas to ensure that nominees demonstrate both strategic insight and technical proficiency.

The process

The CISO of the Year Award follows the detailed criteria and methodology developed over the past twenty years for the CIO of the Year Award in collaboration with multiple stakeholders from the IT world. This thorough award process comprises two parts: pre-nomination and nomination.

The pre-nomination

The jury selects the top nominees based on a comprehensive assessment and extensive interview, evaluated and ranked by the executive search and leadership advisory firm Amrop and the consultancy firm Gartner. 

The nomination

In this phase, the careers and work of the top three contestants are researched by Lokke Moerel (professor of Global IT Law at Tilburg University). In addition, Amrop conducts a personal leadership assessment, followed by a validation consultation between Rob Beijleveld (co-founder of the CISO community) and the CEO of the nominee's organization. 

Lastly, the jury will meet with the nominees, who are expected to hold a presentation and engage in an open and honest discourse. After this meeting, the jury will determine the winner. Chair of the jury Martijn de Hamer (CISO of the central government) will present the award at the annual CISODAY.