The 6th Annual Chicago CISO of the Year Awards Breakfast was held on October 9, 2018 at the Metropolitan Club in Willis Tower. The morning started with Keynote Speaker, Brenna Berman, Executive Director at City Digital. She shared her insights into the need for, and challenges developing, smart cities. She discussed all the non-technical issues involved (political, economic, logistical), while tying in the very real privacy and security challenges CISOs will need to help resolve.

The CISO of the Year is determined through a three-phase process that began with an extensive written submission by the nominees detailing their leadership approach and achievements over the prior year. The nominees were then interviewed and scored by a panel of their peers over a three month period. Afterwards, two finalists were submitted to CEO judges for final consideration. The CEO judges (Sharon O’Kefee, CEO of UChicagoMedicine, and Jason Montrie, President of Pareto Intelligence) were recognized for their efforts in evaluating the two CISO Finalists: Nicholas Percoco of Uptake and Bradley Schaufenbuel of Paylocity.

Bradley Schaufenbuel, Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer at Paylocity, was named the 2018 CISO of the Year. Paylocity is a suburban Chicago-based technology company that develops and maintains cloud-based payroll and human capital management software. At the event, Bradley thanked his team and executive team for their support and committed to leveraging his award to increase diversity in the field.

For more information, check out the Press Release here.