7th CISO 360 Middle East

Sultan Altukhaim

Head of Security and Compliance (CISO), Google Cloud KSA; Board Risk Committee Member, Tasheel Finance (Saudi Arabia)

Sultan Altukhaim has more than 20 years’ experience in data governance and cybersecurity. He is Cloud CISO at Google Cloud KSA and serves on board risk committees including American Express Saudi Arabia, Arab National Bank and Tasheel Finance. He was previously General Manager of Cybersecurity and Data Governance at the Communications, Space and Technology Commission (CST), and CISO at the Saudi Investment Bank. He holds master’s degrees from Florida Tech and King Saud University and is a graduate of the MISK 2030 Leaders Program.

Anoop Kumar

Head of Information Security and GRC, Gulf News Al Nisr Publishing (UAE)

Anoop has more than 25 years’ experience across IT, specialising in information security, cybersecurity, governance, risk and compliance, and business continuity. At Gulf News he established and leads the cybersecurity department, developed the cybersecurity strategy following a major incident, and manages incident response. He has provided strategic security leadership to organisations in the UAE and Qatar.

Dr Viktor Polic

CISO, ILO – United Nations (Switzerland)

Viktor has more than two decades of experience in information management and governance, focusing on information security, risk management and assurance for large multilateral public-sector organisations. He contributes to inter-organisational working groups on security policy and standards, researches cryptography and data protection regulation, and teaches computer science at Webster University in Geneva.

Asimina Basdani

CISO, Head of Information Security Office, IDIKA S.M.S.A. (Greece)

Asimina is CISO and Head of the Information Security Office at the Greek E-Government Center for Health and Social Security (IDIKA), leading cybersecurity across critical national digital infrastructure. She began her career at IDIKA as a network security engineer and holds two master’s degrees. In 2026 she was a finalist for Cybersecurity Woman of the Year, Cybersecurity Woman of the World, and the Women in Cybersecurity Leadership Award at the CISO Awards in Barcelona.

Adam Drabik

CISO, Manufacturing (UK)

Gökhan Polat

Director of Strategic Partnerships and Business Development, Defy; Member, ISACA Global Emerging Technologies Advisory Group (Türkiye)

A global contributor to ISACA’s COBIT 7 and AAISM frameworks and an accredited ISACA trainer holding CISM, CISSP, CISA and AAIR credentials, Gökhan brings over 20 years of technology risk management experience, specialising in establishing cybersecurity governance structures across the financial ecosystem. He addresses the governance, machine identity and control requirements of autonomous AI in security operations.

Betania Allo

Head of TMT, AI Governance & Privacy, Legal Tracks. Ex-NEOM (Saudi Arabia) 

Betania designs and deploys AI governance infrastructure for governments, sovereign entities and regulated enterprises, from policy to operating model to enforcement mechanism. Her work sits at the intersection of AI law, regulatory technology and sovereign AI strategy.

She developed the Intelligent Control Stack™ (ICS), a five-layer governance framework applied across GCC jurisdictions to make AI systems accountable, auditable and regulatable at scale. She delivered Saudi Arabia’s first CAIO-as-a-Service retainer model, advising PDPL- and NCA-regulated organisations on AI risk architecture, and advises UNODC on AI-enabled transnational crime policy across the GCC, where governance gaps carry operational consequences.

She publishes and speaks internationally on AI governance, sovereign AI and agentic policy, including in Security Middle East and Arab News, and at LEAP, Black Hat MEA, WEF-affiliated forums and multilateral UN platforms. She also hosts The Control Plane, a weekly LinkedIn Live applying the ICS framework across domains.

Lawyer; D.Eng. in Cybersecurity Analytics Engineering (candidate), GWU; Master in International Relations, Harvard; LLM in Cyber Law, Syracuse; Postgraduate in Cybersecurity and Compliance, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya.

Joseph Volkan Özcan

İzmir Institute of Technology (İzmir Yüksek Teknoloji Enstitüsü – İYTE) (Türkiye)

Joseph Volkan Özcan is a senior consultant and doctoral candidate who advises organisations through Quantum Task Force (QTF) / Quantum Strategy Advisory. With more than 25 years of international experience across 45+ countries, he helps banking, aviation, automotive, energy and manufacturing clients in Türkiye, Central Asia, MENA and Southeast Asia navigate quantum computing strategy and enterprise AI adoption.

His earlier leadership roles at Unilever, Indra Sistemas, Kaessbohrer and Maxion Wheels, together with deep SAP programme management expertise, ground his advice in operational reality. He is an ISO 27001 Internal Auditor and Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, and he teaches applied quantum machine learning with Qiskit on the Miuul platform. He holds an Industrial Engineering degree from Istanbul Technical University and a Master’s in International Quality Management from Marmara University. He is completing his PhD at Sakarya University.

Mohamed Amr

Senior Sales Engineer, Illumio (UAE)

Mohamed Amr is an experienced Security Consultant with a strong track record in the information security space. He specialises in introducing innovative, best-of-breed technologies to help organisations meet their compliance and cybersecurity challenges. Mohamed brings cross-industry expertise and a pragmatic approach to building secure, scalable ecosystems.

Philip Jacobs

Distinguished Intelligence Solutions Strategist, Intel 471

Simon Scales

Conference Chair; Chief Education and Development Officer, Association of Corporate Investigators

Simon has more than 30 years’ investigative, security and compliance experience from corporate and law enforcement backgrounds. He has conducted complex bribery, corruption, fraud and misconduct investigations worldwide, and has led investigation, ethics, compliance and integrity teams in Europe, the USA, Africa and the Middle East.

Lady Olga Maitland

President, Defence and Security Forum (UK)

Lady Olga Maitland has wide experience in governance, risk management and compliance, and in global fraud and corruption issues in particular. She advises a number of dignitaries and speaks widely on corporate governance. She is a former British MP and was previously a reporter and columnist in London.

Patrick Kane

Senior Director Security, Atlas Air (US)

Patrick leads security for Atlas Air, a US airline operating cargo and passenger services worldwide, with a focus on protecting a highly mobile global workforce through travel risk assessment, secure transport and journey management. He is President of the Corporate Executive Protection Leadership Council, led the creation of a Travel Risk Working Group within ASIS International, and is Chair Emeritus of the OSAC Aviation Security Working Group. He has worked on the ground in more than 70 countries and served as an infantry officer in the US Marine Corps.

Ned Farmer

Senior Strategic Intelligence Analyst, Emergent Risk International (US)

Ned manages a globally dispersed strategic intelligence team embedded with a major technology company. He previously led global intelligence for Transocean, designed the geopolitical risk and security intelligence programme at American Airlines, and held leadership positions within the US State Department’s Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC).

Mark Wolsey

CEO, Convergent Risk (UK)

Mark served for 25 years as an officer in the Royal Marines, much of it in counter-terrorist operations and intelligence. He has since been Chief Security Officer at Smiths Group, Cadbury, Philip Morris International, PwC and CRH, and has been directly involved in responding to many of the major global crises of recent decades. He has worked extensively in Ukraine since 2014 on crisis and evacuation planning.

Botan Osman

CEO and Co-Founder, Restrata (UK)

Botan Osman has 20+ years’ experience in the software & security sector. He co-founded the Restrata software venture in 2019. He was previously a government and multinational advisor and exec on technology working on projects with Microsoft, Google, IBM, PwC, Cisco & others.

Milena Maneva

Head of BC & Resilience, BGC Group & Cantor Fitzgerald (UK)

Milena is a recognised thought leader in resilience with over 16 years of experience across financial services, brokerage, law, and real estate. Her expertise spans business continuity, crisis management, risk governance, and enterprise resilience. Passionate about unlocking potential, she champions preparedness, adaptability, and collaboration to build resilient organisations and leaders.

Currently she serves as the Head of Business Continuity and Resilience, EMEA at BGC Group/Cantor Fitzgerald, Founder of ResilienceArc, and Chair of Institute of Strategic Risk Management (ISRM) London. Milena also serves as a board advisor and awards judge, and is an active member of ISACA, ISRM, SASIG, BCI and the Virtue Community at The Hacking Games.

James Sarner

Managing Director, JMS Risk Solutions; Founder, CrossRisk (UK)

James Sarner is the Founder and Managing Director of JMS Risk Solutions, drawing on two decades of operational and strategic leadership experience in security, risk, and resilience. He has held senior in-house leadership roles and advisory positions across national and international organisations, including global technology companies, major hotel groups, large-scale hospitality operations, and complex supply chain environments.

Having built and led enterprise security, risk, and resilience capabilities within highly dynamic, fast-moving organisations, James brings a practical understanding of how businesses navigate operational complexity, organisational change, and uncertainty. He helps leaders make informed decisions by transforming complex and fragmented risk information into clear, actionable insight that supports commercial objectives and sustainable business performance.

James holds an MBA in Risk and Resilience, is a Certified Protection Professional (CPP), and a BSI-certified Lead Implementer of ISO 27001 and ISO 22301. As a registered consultant and full member of the Association of Security Consultants (ASC), he is recognised for his integrity, discretion, and commitment to delivering pragmatic, commercially focused advice to the highest professional standards.