Sohaib Syeed Ahmed
Assistant Vice President, Information Security
First National Financial
Sohaib Syeed Ahmed is a security governance practitioner with over 10 years of global IT experience. He is currently working for a financial services company as the Head of Information Security. Sohaib has experience developing, planning and implementing security frameworks that have helped his organization build a security function from the ground up.
Learn more about leaders in the Toronto CISO community here.
Give us a brief overview of the path that led to your current role.
I started my career in consulting in the IT governance domain. I realized that you cannot have governance without security, and once I got my foot in the door, I became sucked into the security wonderland.
What is one of your guiding leadership principles?
I believe in maintaining integrity in the work we do on a daily basis. Do not lose focus of your end goal - to keep the organization secure.
With disruption being a key theme of the past year, where do you see your role as a CISO going in the next 1-2 years?
Risk Management, and responding to the relevant threats of Ransomware.
What advice would you give to someone just starting out in the role as a CISO?
Continue to manage and maintain a security framework, and do not lose focus on the information security strategy and how it drives your tactical and operational agendas. I strongly believe that each domain of security needs to be treated like a program with its own resources, objectives, outcomes and measurements.
Tell us 3 fun facts about yourself.
- I am a semi-professional table tennis player.
- I am an active person and love outdoor sports like running, cycling, tennis, golf, etc.
- I moved to Canada a month before the pandemic, so technically I've lived and experienced Toronto for only 1 month, February 2020.
What is the value of joining an Evanta community?
I am able to engage with like minded and similar Information Security leaders in my geography and industry.
Evanta Governing Body members share their insights and leadership perspectives to shape the agendas and topics that address the top priorities impacting business leaders today.
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