EC Council’s World-Class Security Executive Certification For CISOs Features Access Bank’s GCISO

EC-Council’s Certified Chief Information Security Officer (C|CISO) programme is built on the decades of knowledge and experience of seasoned CISOs who contribute their time and energy to making the C|CISO a world-class security executive certification. We are both humbled and proud of the global C|CISOs who exhibit their passion and drive by enabling excellence through their contributions to our program. They are not just security industry experts who have volunteered to help but are individuals who truly embody the highest standards of professionalism among the global security executive leadership ranks.

This article, anchored by DAVID TIDMARSH, takes immense pride in highlighting the contributions of our C|CISO alumni, who have made significant achievements in the industry in  Favour Femi-Oyewole who is Group Chief Information Security Officer and Data Privacy Officer, Access Bank and Vice Chairperson of the C|CISO Scheme Committee.

Favour Femi-Oyewole has over 25 years of experience managing all aspects of information technology with deep knowledge of enterprise IT security, IT governance, information security best practices, cybersecurity, financial industry technologies, business continuity, and risk management.

She is currently the Group Chief Information Security Officer (GCISO) and the Data Protection Officer (DPO) at Access Bank Plc. Before joining Access Bank as their Group CISO, she was the Group Head of Enterprise Risk Management at the Nigerian Stock Exchange, managing the information security, business continuity, and enterprise risk management departments. Favour is a Fellow of the British Computer Society (BCS), the Chartered Institute for IT, the Institute of Management Consultants, and the first woman in Africa to be a Blockchain Certified Professional. A Certified ISO 27001:2013 Lead Implementer Trainer, Favour is an alumnus of the University of Liverpool, Harvard Kennedy School (Harvard University), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and holds a variety of IT, cybersecurity, GRC, data protection, privacy, and risk management certifications.

She was a pioneer member of the Cybercrime Advisory Council in Nigeria, whose mandate was implementing cybersecurity for all sectors in Nigeria.

The first woman to win the EC Council Global Certified CISO (C|CISO) of the Year in 2017, Favour was also recognized as one of Africa’s top 50 women in cybersecurity in 2020 and awarded the Information Security Woman of the Year 2021 in Nigeria.

Favour holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Ogun State University, with two master’s degrees – an MS in Computer Science from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and an MS in Information Security from the University of Liverpool, UK. She is currently a Doctoral student at Covenant University, Nigeria. She also has a Postgraduate Diploma in Digital Business from MIT & and the Columbia Business School under the Emeritus Institute of Management.

• Tidmarsh is a programmer and writer. He has worked as a software developer at MIT, holds a BA in history from Yale, and is currently a graduate student in computer science at UT Austin.