Opening Speech: The Hon. Tonio Fenech, B.A (Hons) Accty., F.I.A, C.P.A., M.P.

MINISTER OF FINANCE, THE ECONOMY AND INVESTMENT

Key Note: Philip Micallef

Ing.Philip Micallef is Executive Chairman of the Malta Communications Authority and of the Board of MCA. He holds a B.Sc (Eng.) degree in electrical engineering from the University of Malta and an MBA from the University of Warwick.He has extensive experience in middle and senior management roles from the last 25 years with various organisations in the ICT and telecommunication sectors across Europe and in Malta.  Philip has worked with companies like MSU in Malta, Olivetti in Italy, USA, Switzerland and Spain, SITA and France Telecom Equant (now Orange Business Services) in France. With France Telecom he was also responsible for Carrier Relations and Regulatory Affairs for Southern Europe.

Between 2000 and 2002, Philip Micallef served as a Government-appointed Director on the Board of Maltacom plc. In January 2004 Philip was appointed the first Chief Executive Officer of Malta Enterprise. In June 2006 he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Melita Cable plc. In 2007 he also led the Melita management team in the auction process which resulted in the sale of the company to the current shareholders.

Georges Ataya - Belgium

Georges Ataya acts as International Vice President and Board member of the IT Governance Institute (www.itgi.org) and ISACA (isaca.org). He participates since 2001, in research in areas related to his areas of specialty: Business-IT alignment, Value Management, Risk Management, resources and outsourcing management, and performances monitoring. He publishes regular columns in the Belgian computer magazine « IT Professionnel » and the Dutch « IT Executive ».

Georges is professor at Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management where he founded and currently directs IT Management Education and the Executive Master in IT Governance. European recognized Expert-witness, active with business mediation and arbitration. Georges performs expert witness work for the Belgian Justice system since 1992 and performs mediation in France since 2000.

Managing Partner of ICT Control SA-NV, he has advised the office of the French Prime Minister (Secrétariat Générale de la Défense Nationale), the Belgian Government (auditor of the e-ID project), Belgian regional governments and the European Commission DIGIT as well as enterprises in the financial and Services sectors of activity. From 1991 to 1996 he managed at ITT World Directories the worldwide IT activities with 10 reporting IT departments in three continents. Past Partner with Ernst & Young Belgium where he directed the Technology and security Risk Services from 1999 until 2002.

Georges is Certified Information Systems Auditor (ISACA, USA 1991), Certified Information Systems Security Professional (ISC2 2002), certified information security Manager (CISM, ISACA 2003), and Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT, ISACA 2008).He participated in 2001-2002 in the International Committee to define the Information Security Manager (CISM) certificate. He launched in 2008 the first Boot camp for the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT) that he lectures at four occasions (twice for the European Commission IRMs).

Erik Guldentops - Belgium

Erik Guldentops is Executive Professor at the Management School of the University of Antwerp (UAMS) and an independent management consultant. He was a member of the boards of the IT Governance Institute and the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) in different capacities from 1992 to 2006. He conceived the concepts of CobiT (Control Objectives for Information and related Technology) and has led the developments from 1992 to 2006 that made it into the internationally accepted standard for control and governance of IT. In 2004 also initiated the expansion of this standard beyond the concepts of risk and compliance into the field of IT value with the ValIT project.

On May 1st, 2001, Guldentops retired as director of security at SWIFT. He advised the executive on issues of information security, IT risk, e-trust and IT governance. He had global responsibilities for physical security, information security and business continuity reporting to the executive. Before that he was Chief Inspector, in charge of security audit at the international banking cooperative, reporting to the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors of SWIFT on issues of risk, control and security. This included responsibility for the operation of a trusted third party function to accommodate the needs for independent security and claim arbitration relative to electronic payments instructions in the banking industry. During that period (1986-1992) he also proposed, initiated and oversaw the development and deployment of the first worldwide public key infrastructure to support the banking industry’s requirement for secure authentication of financial transactions.

Guldentops joined SWIFT in the mid-1970s as a systems engineer, after holding technical supervisory positions in IT in major multinationals. He moved to the security office three years later, where he developed the trusted third party functions and set up the systems audit group. He became audit manager in the early 1980s and chief inspector in 1989. In that period he worked with the SWIFT Board in the development and deployment of rules for Responsibility and Liability in International Payments, and in the set up of governance practices for risk and security oversight. In 1995 he set up the corporate security function and initiated a five-year strategy to enhance and maintain his organisation’s leadership position in secure financial communications. This strategy is executed through a powerful blend of high technology, sophisticated risk management and advanced security awareness practices.

Guldentops is past president of the Benelux Chapter of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), was programme chairman of ISACA’s European Computer Audit, Control and Security Conference and served as ISACA international executive vice president with responsibility for research. He has been a trustee of the board of ISACF for many years and directs ISACA's CobiT Project, with the objective to set an internationally accepted standard for control and governance over IT. The third edition of CobiT was published in 2000, and the fourth edition is underway. He recently led ISACA’s projects for the development of the Board Briefing on IT Governance and Information Security Governance: Guidance for Boards of Directors and Executive Management. He is also a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors and has been a member of its Board of Research Advisors (BORA). He was instrumental in the renewed cooperation between ISACA and IIA, initiating the UNIX joint research project.

Guldentops holds graduate and post-graduate degrees in computer science and is a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) as well as a Certified Information Security Manager (CISM). He frequently speaks at international conferences and has written several articles on the subjects of IT risk management, system reliability, network security, IT value management and IT governance. He is the recipient of the prestigious 2005 J.Wasserman Award for his overall contribution to the IT Audit profession and the 2000 J.Lainhart Award for his impact on the profession’s Common Body of Knowledge.

His current activities concentrate a few high level consulting relationships; on teaching university courses on the subjects of IT Risk management, control, audit and governance; running advanced seminars on IT governance, its implementation and assurance; and briefing executives on the importance of IT governance and on advanced related research particularly in value delivery. He also chairs the IT Audit Master of Science Accreditation Committee for the joint Belgian-Dutch Academic Authority.

Roger Southgate - United Kingdom

Roger Southgate is a former CIO with over 17 years experience in investment banking.He has served on the ISACA London Chapter board responsible for IT Governance and chaired the Cobit London Development Workgroup. He first used COBIT in 1999 and has been active in the ongoing development of COBIT for several years.

During 2004/5 he participated in version 4 review workshops for both the Control Objectives and the Management Guidelines. Roger was also an active member of the team that developed the Cobit Foundation eLearning and classroom courses and examination. He is an independent consultant focusing on IT Governance, Security and Project Management.

Ton Diemont - Netherlands

Ton Diemont is the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of ING Group, headquartered in Holland. He started as a certified IT Auditor within ING but rapidly realised that helping the (internal) business to identify and resolve IT issues would motivate him more in the long term.  During his 16 years with ING he therefore served in various positions in the areas of IT Security, Security Operations and Information Risk Management.  Furthermore, Ton was responsible for defining and co-ordinating the implementation of the SOX IT General Controls for ING. In his current position he is responsible for managing IT Risk across the ING Group, and he supports senior management to understand their IT risks through monitoring, reporting, and advising the Executive Board on the improvements necessary.