The 'SecureSynergy Security Strategist 2003 Awards' was a one-of-its-kind event in the Information Security industry. The event attracted over 200 IT decision makers from various industries across the country.

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Capt. Felix Mohan, CEO — SecureSynergy, chaired a roundtable with the topmost CIOs in the country on Day One of the conference. He led the team in discussing the changing face of security from a fortress to an airport model and the new paradigm of point to point model and the fresh challenges this would bring to the technology community. He threw open for discussion issues related to creating a Defence-in-Breadth strategy in conjunction with the Defence-in-Depth model organisations have to grapple with. The visionary in him enlightened the round table on areas related to dynamic trust creation, point to point authentication etc which would figure prominently in the years to come. The team was able to analyse and narrow down several approaches IT could take in the changed scenario.

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The key-note speaker on the SecureSynergy Security Strategist 2003 Awards night was Prof. S. Sadagopan, Director, IIIT - Bangalore. Prof. Sadagopan spoke about the importance of Information Security in today’s world and outlined certain prescriptions for senior IT managers to make their organisations secure. Full of analogies and real world scenarios, Prof. Sadagopan's speech captured the essence of the evening and threw light on several significant aspects of Security.

The SecureSynergy Security Strategist 2003 recognises individuals who have demonstrated outstanding leadership in the field of information security. Awarded to chief security officers, or executives in equivalent positions, the SecureSynergy Security Strategist 2003 award identifies individuals who understand that security is more of a process than just a product.

These elite technocrats are also tuned in to the latest technology developments that can be perceived as threats to their organisations. This is an asset for them while in tuning their efforts towards building and maintaining futureproof, impregnable infrastructure that will allow only the right information to flow in and out of the organisation.

SecureSynergy Security Strategist 2003 highlights the criticality of security and the need to have well-defined strategies for implementation. The parameters to judge the award will serve as benchmarks that corporate India can use to judge the effectiveness of their security initiatives.

The awareness around the awards serves a dual purpose. It brings security and the need to have best practices in security initiatives to the fore. The award also ensures that enterprises know how they can go about it.

An independent jury panel was appointed to zero-in on the winners of SecureSynergy Security Strategist 2003. IMRB (Indian Market Research Bureau) was appointed as the Business Process Adviser to ensure that the selection process was completed without bias.

Besides ensuring that a fair and transparent selection process was followed, the business process validator assisted the editorial team in the initial preparation of the parameters that went into selecting the Security Strategist of the year. IMRB meshed itself with the editorial team to filter the entries and arrive at the top 10 nominees to be presented to the jury panel.

The jury panel for SecureSynergy Security Strategist 2003 was a mix of industry experts and eminent academics.

One of the important responsibilities of the panel was to decide the parameters for the award. While academics lent their expertise in terms of technology, the CEO and the industrial expert provided the business perspective to the selection process by highlighting business concerns and expectations.

Dr Deepak B Phatak graduated in Electrical Engineering from Indore and then completed his M.Tech and Ph.D in Computer Science.

Dr. Phatak has been working with IIT Bombay since 1971. He has held prestigious faculty positions like the first Dean of Resource Development for IIT Bombay. At present he is the Subrao M. Nilekani Chair Professor at Kanwal Rekhi School of Information Technology, set up recently at IIT Bombay.

His primary research inclinations are in Technology application and deployment areas. Dr Phatak's areas of interest are Software Engineering, Databases and IT strategy planning. He has been an IT consultant to a large number of organisations including SBI, IDBI, LIC, UTI, RBI, etc. He is also on the Board of several companies and institutions.

Lalit Sawhney spent 18 years with the Unilever Group in India and was Head - Information Systems at Hindustan Lever Limited. He won the prestigious IS Man of the Year award by 'Computerworld' in 1999, and the Fellowship of the Computer Society of India in 1996.

Lalit has been a member of the Confederation of Indian Industry's National Committee on IT. He has chaired the CII's Core Groups on Year 2000 and Electronic Commerce and Governance. Lalit has also headed the Information Technology Committee of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Lalit Sawhney did his graduation in Electronics Engineering from Delhi University followed by a PG Diploma in Business Administration from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Capt. Felix Mohan has held several prestigious roles — Member of the National Task Force on Information Security, Chairman of the sub-committee on information security standardisation. He has also been the defence representative in the Cyber Regulations Advisory Committee.

Felix is an MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies. He has done IT courses from premier institutes including IIT Kharagpur and National Center for Software Technology. He has held a broad range of technical and managerial appointments in the Navy, including the top IT post, that of Director of Information Technology.

Felix was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal by the President of India, Shri K. R. Narayanan in 1998, for innovative work done in the field of IT security.

S R Balasubramaniam, Senior Vice President - IT, HDFC Bank
S R Balasubramaniam has a total experience of more than 32 years in IT. During this period, he was also in charge of Systems and Quality Assurance at the Indian Defence Ministry, for over 11 years.

Some of the other major organisations he has worked with include Citibank and the Taj Group of Hotels. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Electronics Engineering and Post Graduate Diploma in Computer Science from Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay.

Mohan C Raisinghani, Vice President - Technology, Birla Sun Life Insurance Company
Raisinghani started his systems career with IBM World Trade Corporation. During his tenure from 1969 to 1978, he progressed through various positions to head IBM's IT function for their Mumbai manufacturing operations.

Before joining Birla Sun Life, Raisinghani worked with major players like Aditya Birla Group and Nagarjuna Group. Presently, he is responsible for setting up and directing the IT and other technology initiatives for Birla Sun Life.

He holds a B.E. (Mechanical) from University of Roorkee and a certificate in Financial Management from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai.

Murali G, Head (IT), SBI Life Insurance
Murali G has a diverse business background spread over 15 years of experience in various industries like Manufacturing, Distribution, Advertising and Insurance.

Murali's past professional achievements include the position of Head of Information Technology for Allianz AG in India, and involvement in a number of Life Insurance startup companies in South East Asian countries. Prior to Allianz AG, Murali was heading IT initiatives with advertising companies such as FCB Ulka & Leo Burnett.

S R Balasubramaniam, Vice President - IS, Hero Honda Motors
S R Balasubramaniam has a total work experience of over 28 years with over 26 years in IT. Some of the major organisations he has worked with include Indian Oil Corporation, A F Ferguson & Co, and Gujarat Heavy Chemicals.

Balasubramaniam has been with Hero Honda Motors for over five years now as Head of IS. He is also the founder president of the IS Managers Club known as IS India.

Balasubramaniam has an honours degree in B.Sc. (Chem), an ACA (Chartered Accountant) and ACS (Chartered Secretary).

S B Patankar, Director - IS, The Stock Exchange, Mumbai
Patankar is an engineering graduate from VJTI with more than 25 years of experience in Information Technology. He started his career in 1974 with IBM and worked on the IBM 1401 Systems.

In 1977, he joined CMC and had the opportunity to work with large systems like Borroughs and Control Data Cyber at TIFR. During his tenure in CMC, he successfully handled various projects viz. Impress Railway Reservation Expansion, Nagpur Durg Railway Scada, Mediterranean Games in Syria, etc

Currently he is the Head of IT at the Stock Exchange, Mumbai as Director — Information Systems, since 1996. In BSE, he was instrumental in implementing the BSE On-Line Trading (BOLT) System and successfully migrated from an open outcry system to a fully automated trading system. The nationwide BOLT System covers 400 cities, 2,500 VSATs and 9,000 trader workstations.

Mani B Mulki, General Manager - IS, Godrej Industries
Mani B Mulki has been a major driving force behind the Godrej Industries ERP rollout.

The next wave of IT initiatives that Mani spearheads is e-business and datawarehousing. This consists of putting e-business solutions in place to connect customers, suppliers and distributors to the organisation. It will also involve implementation of CRM initiatives and business intelligence tools for Godrej Industries.

Mani has a Masters in Marketing Management from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management. Mani is also a member of CII's National Committee on IT.

V Subramaniam, CIO, Otis Elevator Company
Subramaniam has a work experience of more than 16 years in IT. Some of the organisations that Subramaniam has worked with include Marico Industries and SRA Systems.

Subramaniam believes that his major achievement has been attaining the Best Service Provider status consecutively for two years in Otis.

He holds a B.Sc. (PCM) from Nagarjuna University, AP and a PG Diploma in Computer Software & Management from Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan.

Nandu Bhat, GM - IT, Zip Telecom Ltd
Nandu Bhat has over 23 years of IT experience spanning six companies in various industries. Nandu began his IT career in December 1980 with Advance Computer Services, a software consultancy, through which he was intimately associated with various companies such as TOMCO, Contract Advertising and B4U before joining Zip Telecom.

Nandu was instrumental in setting up various applications and streamlining IT processes in his previous organisations. His tremendous experience helped these companies make huge savings, besides effecting speed and convenience to all employees. Nandu was among the first to implement e-mail in the country.

Nandu Bhat completed his Science graduation in Physics and Mathematics and also completed his Diploma in Systems Management both from Mumbai University. He is also trained in C, C++, VC++, Oracle and VB6.