Heroes In Our Midst

By Christopher Buse, Audit and Security Leader and Former CISO for the State of Minnesota
June 18, 2020

We are living in unprecedented times; times when many people are stepping up to the plate to keep our businesses, government, and citizens safe. As a former government security leader, I saw firsthand the vital role that cyber security professionals play in protecting our critical infrastructure. Cyber security professionals often work long hours, collectively and creatively solving complex and dynamic problems.  We are blessed to have these heroes in our midst. 

It bothered me that the important work of cyber security professionals went unrecognized. Therefore, as part of the Cyber Security Summit, I helped create the Visionary Leadership Award program, The Morries™. Since it takes a wide array of talent to protect our nation’s technology assets, we recognize Chief Information Security Officers and the leaders of various cyber security technical disciplines.  The Summit also gives awards to college professors, who play a key role in filling the future talent pipeline.  We even provide awards to organizations who play particularly significant cyber functions, such as the Center for Internet Security.  We built the Visionary Leadership Award program on the premise that it takes an ecosystem to protect our nation from cyber threats; which is why we recognize leaders of all the interconnected components.

Visionary Leadership Awards come with no monetary consideration.  What makes them special is that a team of judges select winners from a large pool of nominations, submitted by peers through the Cyber Security Summit website.  We also invite the winners to a special Visionary Leadership Award dinner, where we present them with a commemorative plaque and give them a chance to speak about their work.  We all have cyber security heroes in our midst.  I encourage you to say thank you to these talented professionals by nominating them for a Visionary Leadership Award now through July 17.