CISO Corporate Finalists

Arif Hameed is a two-time CISO, having served at C&R Software and Munich Re, with previous cyber roles at Equifax, RBC, and TD. He holds CISSP, CISA, and CRISC certifications and a Canadian Federal Secret clearance. An active ISACA and Cloud Security Alliance volunteer, he is a recognized speaker at industry events including RSA Conference, InfoSec World, and SecureWorld, where he shares practical insights on cybersecurity leadership, strategy, and risk management.

When C&R Software completed its divestiture, we inherited an urgent compliance challenge: our prior certifications and attestations were no longer in force, leaving us outside our contractual obligations to customers. Operating in a new cloud environment with no inherited compliance posture, we had to achieve ISO 27001, SOC 2, and PCI DSS certifications rapidly — not as a roadmap item, but as a business imperative. We built controls, evidence, and audit-ready processes concurrently across all three frameworks and passed every audit. We navigated customer security assessments from regulated clients, restoring confidence that their data remained protected in our SaaS environment.

David Hosey is Vice President, IT and Chief Information Security Officer at Teranet Inc. With over 20 years of experience across critical infrastructure, financial services, and asset management, he has built and transformed security programs for some of Canada's most complex organizations, including IMCO, OPTrust, and 407 ETR. A trusted advisor to boards and executive teams, he brings a practitioner's perspective to technology risk, security strategy, and business alignment.

When I joined Teranet, security was viewed as operational necessity. We changed that. By maturing capabilities in governance, risk and compliance, identity and access management, and application security, the team moved earlier into the lifecycle of initiatives, influencing decisions instead of reacting to them. We encouraged responsible exploration, including thoughtful AI adoption, pushing beyond traditional security limitations. The result: security is now seen as a value driver. Business units seek our input on strategy, risk tradeoffs, and emerging technology. Senior leaders view the team as technology and innovation leaders. The shift is cultural and lasting.

Amar Singh is CIO and CISO at St. Clair College, leading IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, and governance. With over 28 years of experience, he is a collaborative, forward-thinking leader who drives initiatives that enhance security, modernize technology, and support innovation. He also serves as Vice Chair of Connecting Windsor-Essex, is a member of the Ontario Colleges CIO Group, and contributes to cybersecurity awareness through SiberX’s Operation Defend the North.

As CIO/CSO at St. Clair College, I led our team through one of education's most disruptive periods: COVID-19. Within 72 hours, we moved 10,000+ students and 1,000 faculty/staff to fully online learning while sustaining 99.9% uptime, scaling infrastructure by 150%, and strengthening cybersecurity amid rising threats. Beyond continuity, we preserved teaching quality through virtual labs, expanded digital classrooms, and 24/7 support. A network anomaly during remote learning led us to reimagine restriction as opportunity, sparking Canada's first collegiate esports labs — now a multi-million-dollar arena and nationally recognized varsity program. We listen, adapt, and transform disruption into lasting innovation.

Nabeel Yousif, BSc, is CISO and Vice President at Momentum Financial Services Group, with 25 years of experience leading cybersecurity, cyber risk, DevSecOps, infrastructure, and technology programs across financial services. He previously served as CISO at Flexiti. Nabeel holds a University of Toronto degree in Physics, Mathematics, and Computer Science. His recognitions include CISOs Connect C100 Top 100 CISOs in 2022 and 2025, and EC-Council C|CISO Hall of Fame 2023.

My success story is one of curiosity, reinvention, and people believing in my potential. I began in academia, teaching and researching physics and computer science, then moved through software development and global infrastructure leadership roles before finding my passion in cybersecurity leadership. That range gave me what systems thinkers call requisite variety, the ability to respond to complexity with diverse experience and perspective. My progress came from hard work and leaders who created space for me to grow. I now pay that forward by mentoring others, because their success is the clearest measure of my continued success.