The CISO of the Year Award is designed to honor the most outstanding Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of the year. It highlights those who excel not only 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 wider IT landscape. This thorough award process consists of two phases: 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 Madelein van der Hout of the Security & Risk team of the consultancy Forrester. 

The nomination

In this phase, the careers and work of the top three contestants from the pre-nomination phase are researched by Lokke Moerel (Global Expert, New Technologies & Cyber). 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 present and engage in an open and honest discourse. After this meeting, the jury will determine the winner of the award. Chair of the jury Aart Jochem (CISO of the central government) will present the award winner at the annual CISODAY.