(ISC)2 has announced the winners of its 14th annual US Government Information Security Leadership Awards (GISLA) program.
The winners, announced during a gathering of government cybersecurity executives at the GISLA Gala in Washington, DC, were determined by a judging committee of senior cybersecurity experts from (ISC)2’s US Government Advisory Council (USGAC). They assessed individual and team achievements of a select group of nominees and awarded GISLAs in seven distinct categories.
The 2017 GISLA recipients are as follows:
Technology Improvement – Individual Category: Daniel Holmes, senior information technician operations engineer, US Army
Process/Policy Improvement – Individual Category: Matt Shabat, director of performance management, Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Workforce Improvement – Individual Category: Barbara Smith, information security director, Pacific District, Department of Veterans Affairs
Up-and-Coming Information Security Professional – Individual Category: Michael Rocha, IT specialist, DHS
Community Awareness – Team Category: Hemant Baidwan, branch chief, Executive Business Management, DHS
Most Valuable Industry Partner (MVIP) – Team Category: Parham Eftekhari and James Scott, co-founders and senior fellows, Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology
F. Lynn McNulty Tribute Award: Brig. Gen. (ret.) Gregory Touhill, CISSP, former Federal Chief Information Security Officer
“The GISLA Gala is the one night of the year when we can shift our focus from what is going wrong in cybersecurity to what is going right,” said Dan Waddell, managing director, North America Region, director of US government affairs, (ISC)² and chair of the (ISC)2 USGAC. “This year’s GISLA finalists went above and beyond to stabilize the government’s cybersecurity efforts and to continue its advancement during an inherently challenging presidential election and transition.”