The 2016 Americas Information Security Leadership Awards (ISLA®) were held in conjunction with (ISC)²’s Security Congress in Orlando, Florida in September. Mack Bhatia, fractional chief information security officer and information security practice director, at Enterprise Integration was named the winner of the Information Security Practitioner Award.

Bhatia, who has his bachelor’s degree in organic chemistry and master’s degree in business administration, began his career in cybersecurity while working as an executive consultant. During a multi-year assignment, his client information security requirements evolved to encompass nearly every domain in the security field – from physical, to application, to network, and beyond. The project became more than information security, and he was managing the overall risk for the business. This collaboration between his client and his team gave him the broad perspective of the varied domains in information security. His experience with this client, along with observing industry trends, inspired Bhatia to continue working to gain knowledge and field experience, eventually earning his CISSP®.

Bhatia enjoys working in the dynamic field of information security, and thrives in an environment where no day is the same as the last. Days may begin with client meetings to discuss NIST framework implementation, followed by communicating to his team how to protect their organization from attacks, ending with reviewing reports on successful perimeter protection that his team has implemented for a client.

As one of four founding members of the Northeast Florida Chapter of (ISC)², Bhatia has held various leadership roles within the chapter. Being deeply involved in chapter activities has allowed him to build relationships with others in the information security space. Bhatia has utilized these relationships to learn from others, in an on-going effort to better support his clients and organization.

Bhatia values his team, and gives the advice “When building a team, hire people smarter than yourself.” He believes in building a strong team and giving them full trust.

For more information on the (ISC)² awards program, visit https://www.isc2.org/awards/default.aspx