{"id":5086,"date":"2025-09-29T03:48:40","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T03:48:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cybersecurityinfocus.com\/?p=5086"},"modified":"2025-09-29T03:48:40","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T03:48:40","slug":"cso30-awards-2025-celebrate-australias-top-cybersecurity-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cybersecurityinfocus.com\/?p=5086","title":{"rendered":"CSO30 Awards 2025 celebrate Australia\u2019s top cybersecurity leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Australia\u2019s top\u00a0cybersecurity leaders\u00a0and their teams have been recognised at this year\u2019s\u00a0CSO30 Awards.<\/p>\n

Held in conjunction with the\u00a0CIO50<\/a>, the CSO30 Australia Awards is aligned to Foundry\u2019s global awards program and celebrates the leading individuals and organisations delivering\u00a0cybersecurity initiatives\u00a0that have changed the way the business is protected.<\/p>\n

Along with their\u00a0cybersecurity initiatives, nominees were also evaluated based on how they collaborated with and influenced their stakeholders to improve\u00a0cybersecurity and resilience\u00a0within the enterprise. Judges also assessed their contribution to the wider cybersecurity community beyond their organisations.<\/p>\n

At the gala CSO30 celebration in Sydney last week, two individuals were recognised with Business Value and Leadership awards for outstanding contributions to cybersecurity.<\/p>\n

In the Business Value<\/strong> category, Shaun Martin <\/strong>of Aware Super<\/strong> claimed the top award. Martin was recognised for his proactive, intelligence-led approach as CISO, which has delivered measurable organisational value while protecting the retirement savings of Aware\u2019s members \u2013 including many of society\u2019s carers such as nurses, teachers, police officers, firefighters, and paramedics.<\/p>\n

Keyur Lavingia <\/strong>of Village Roadshow<\/strong> was highly commended in this category. Since joining the organisation, Lavingia has led an integrated cybersecurity transformation that has significantly strengthened operational resilience, compliance maturity, and risk posture.<\/p>\n

In the Leadership<\/strong> category, Manasseh Paradesi<\/strong>, formerly of Tyro Payments, took the top honour. Recognising that organisational resilience depends on sustainable expertise, Paradesi championed stakeholder engagement and implemented comprehensive mentoring programs both internally and across the broader industry.<\/p>\n

Joss Howard <\/strong>of Scyne Advisory<\/strong> was highly commended in this category. During a period of major organisational transformation, Howard built the cyber team from the ground up, with a focus on diversity, capability uplift, and sustainable career pathways.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, an emerging leader was recognised with the 2025 Next CISO Award<\/strong>. Dun\u00e9 Sookloll<\/strong>, Cyber & Information Security Officer at Horizon Power, won this year\u2019s award, with Jumar Pando<\/strong>, Cyber Security Operations Manager at Emeis Cosmetics Pty Ltd (Aesop), also named as a finalist.<\/p>\n

CSO30 Australia Awards 2025 honourees (in alphabetical order):<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hani Arab, Chief Information Officer, Seymour Whyte<\/p>\n

Sameera Bandara, General Manager Cybersecurity \u2013 APAC,Programmed and PERSOL<\/p>\n

Gary Barnden, IT Security Manager, Pacific National<\/p>\n

Nick Bellette, Director \u2013 Information Security and Risk, Custom Fleet<\/p>\n

David Buerckner, Chief Information Security and Risk Officer, Probe Group<\/p>\n

James Court, Chief Security Officer, Cleanaway<\/p>\n

David Geber, General Manager Information Security & Risk, Rest<\/p>\n

Joel Earnshaw, Senior Manager \u2013 Cyber Security, Perenti<\/p>\n

Chris Grisdale, Head of Information Security, hipages Group<\/p>\n

Daryll Holland, Head of Technology and Information Security, Alii Technology Group<\/p>\n

Andrew Hottes, Chief Digital Information Officer, Cranbrook School<\/p>\n

Jocelyn (Joss) Howard, Chief Information Security Officer, Scyne Advisory<\/p>\n

Bob Kombora, Head of IT Operations, Vulcan Steel<\/p>\n

Shane Laffin, Group Chief Information Officer, Dulux Group<\/p>\n

Keyur Lavingia, Head of Security, Village Roadshow<\/p>\n

Chris Mace, Chief Technology Officer, NSW Nurses & Midwives Association<\/p>\n

Shaun Martin, Head of Information Security, Aware Super<\/p>\n

Dan Maslin, Group Chief Information Security Officer, Monash University<\/p>\n

Nathan Morelli, Head of Cyber Security and IT Resilience, SA Power Networks<\/p>\n

Christopher Neal, Group Chief Information Officer, Ramsay Health Care<\/p>\n

Nicole Neil, Head of Information Security, Fresh Clinics<\/p>\n

Laura O\u2019Neill, Head of Advisory & AssuranceFujitsu Australia Limited<\/p>\n

Manasseh Paradesi, former Chief Information Security Officer, Tyro Payments<\/p>\n

Maria Paz, Chief Technology Officer, Epworth Health<\/p>\n

Moet Sela, Technology and Cloud Services Manager, Catholic Healthcare<\/p>\n

Scott Sorley, Chief Information Officer, University of Southern Queensland<\/p>\n

Sandeep Taileng, Information Security Leader, State Trustees Victoria<\/p>\n

Noel Toal, former Chief Information Officer, DPV Health<\/p>\n

Wouter Veugelen, Head of Cybersecurity \u2013 Australia, FTI Consulting<\/p>\n

Indika Wimalasiri, Chief Information Security Officer Praemium<\/p>\n

Leron Zinatullin, Chief Information Security Officer, Linkly<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australia\u2019s top\u00a0cybersecurity leaders\u00a0and their teams have been recognised at this year\u2019s\u00a0CSO30 Awards. Held in conjunction with the\u00a0CIO50, the CSO30 Australia Awards is aligned to Foundry\u2019s global awards program and celebrates the leading individuals and organisations delivering\u00a0cybersecurity initiatives\u00a0that have changed the way the business is protected. Along with their\u00a0cybersecurity initiatives, nominees were also evaluated based on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cybersecurityinfocus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5086"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cybersecurityinfocus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cybersecurityinfocus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cybersecurityinfocus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cybersecurityinfocus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cybersecurityinfocus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cybersecurityinfocus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cybersecurityinfocus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cybersecurityinfocus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}