Throughout the past decade, I have had the chance to view ISACA from several different vantage points: as a risk management professional, as an ISACA board director and chair, and now in my current role as interim CEO.
While I have had a deep respect for the ISACA professional community during all of those periods, my current viewpoint has been especially encouraging. I’m only a little more than a month into my time as interim CEO, but already, it’s been enlightening to interact with so many staff and community members who are so passionate about this organization and its potential. I see this role as an opportunity to create greater accountability at the organization as well as to enable the organization to move forward in order to be even more impactful in the future.
As we move deeper into 2023, there is much for our community to celebrate and anticipate. Here are a few areas that I consider to be especially promising for the year ahead:
Delivering on our digital trust vision
Over the past year, ISACA made great initial progress in identifying digital trust as a key driver of success in our modern world. We are emphasizing that digital trust goes beyond cybersecurity – a key premise underpinning the resources and tools we are developing in support of our digital trust initiative. Chief among these resources is our Digital Trust Ecosystem Framework, an important investment for our professional community about which you will hear more as the year goes along.
All of the disciplines that are well-known to ISACA professionals – audit, risk, privacy, security, governance – have key parts to play in achieving digital trust. Understanding best practices for managing and protecting data is another area that needs more attention, especially in the US and in some other parts of the world. As ISACA’s digital trust knowledge resources continue to grow in 2023, we will further distinguish ourselves as the global digital trust leader.
Enhanced global presence
ISACA is a community of lifelong learners, and we’re all at our best when we’re willing to listen to and learn. Having relocated multiple times over my life and career – including years spent living on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean – ISACA’s global reach resonates deeply with me. Living in different regions has helped me approach the world with an open mind. Everyone’s world is bigger when you open yourself up to other people, ideas, and cultures, and ISACA’s network of 225 chapters around the world positions us to deliver an exchange of ideas and knowledge that is perfectly suited to today’s largely borderless digital economy.
We have made major gains in recent months to further build our global presence, including opening our first European office and building new collaborations such as a multiyear partnership with the Caterpillar Foundation and CEAP to train high school students in Brazil. Going forward, we will place even stronger emphasis on our global presence, including our advocacy team building significant relationships with governments around the world.
Growing our community
ISACA finished 2022 with more than 169,000 members, having added more than 33,000 new members during the year. That is good news, and I am excited to not only see our community continue to grow, but to help ensure we provide value to our members in new and meaningful ways.
One encouraging recent development has been the addition of the ISACA Mentorship Program, which in its early months last year already attracted more than 1,800 participants representing 115 countries. That’s a great start and we hope that more members will sign up to participate as mentoring has been shown to improve the ISACA experience for younger members. The ISACA community has so much to offer one another in sharing career experiences and best practices, so as this program continues to gain traction, this will be a great way for the community to connect and strengthen the digital trust fields. Similarly, the Engage platform is an excellent way for our community to share knowledge, and the revamped design and activity feed will make connecting more enjoyable for our community members.
In 2022, ISACA surpassed 300,000 certifications issued all-time for our professional community. That is a great milestone, and we recognize how much our learning community relies on us for the career-elevating credentials we provide. It is so important that we continuously examine our credentialing programs and make sure each one is as valuable and relevant as our professional community expects so that they can meet the many challenges digital trust professionals encounter in their roles.
Challenging assumptions
As I wrote in an #IamISACA feature a few years ago, I like to challenge assumptions and make the most of opportunities that come my way. I have no doubt that for the reasons mentioned above, and others, there is tremendous opportunity for the ISACA community to make great strides in the coming year.
I look forward to working with our passionate global community to turn those opportunities into successful action in the months ahead.
