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FISSEA Cybersecurity Awareness and Training Innovator of the Year Winners
2024:
FISSEA Innovator of the Year
Greg Bastien, ICS Training Program Manager, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
Nomination Letter for 2024 IOY
2023:
FISSEA Innovator of the Year
William D. Cosner, Defense Contract Management Agency
Nomination Letter for 2023 IOY
FISSEA Innovator of the Year
Oz Alashe MBE, CybSafe
Nomination Letter for 2023 IOY
2022:
Awards presented in calendar year 2022 are presented below, in the 2021 section.
FISSEA has updated award year designation methodologies to now reflect the current calendar year, resulting the 2022 award year being skipped.
Awards presented in 2023 will be displayed in a 2023 calendar year section above.
2021:
FISSEA Innovator of the Year
Kim Mentzell, Maryland Department of Commerce
Nomination Letter for 2021 IOY
FISSEA Innovator of the Year
Dr. Loyce Pailen, University of Maryland Global College
Nomination Letter for 2021 IOY
2020:
FISSEA Innovator of the Year
Stu Sjouwerman, KnowBe4, Inc.
Nomination Letter for 2020 IOY
FISSEA Innovator of the Year
Deborah Coleman, U.S. Department of Education
Nomination Letter for 2020 IOY
In 2020, "Educator of the Year" (EOY) was updated to "Innovator of the Year" (IOY) to reflect recognition of educators, curriculum developers, trainers, program managers, workforce developers, practitioners, and more.
2019:
Shehzad Mirza, Director of Operations – Global Cyber Alliance
Nomination Letter for 2019 EOY
Richard Therrien, Director of Cybersecurity Architecture and Implementation - Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
Honorable Mention
2018:
Earl “Fred” Bisel Jr, Cybersecurity Education and Certification Readiness Facilities (CERF) Manager
Nomination Letter for 2018 EOY
2017:
Mike Petock, All Native Group (ANG)
Nomination Letter for 2017 EOY
2016:
Sushil Jajodia, George Mason University
Nomination Letter for 2016 EOY
2015:
Gretchen Ann Morris, DB Consulting/NASA John H. Glenn Research Center
Nomination Letter for 2015 EOY
2014:
Shon Harris, Logical Security, presented posthumously
Nomination Letters for 2014 EOY
2013:
Sam Maroon, FITSI Foundation / Wounded Warrior Cyber Combat Academy
Nomination Letters for 2013 EOY
2012:
J. Paul Wahnish, Career Technical Education Foundation, Inc.
Nomination Letter for 2012 EOY
2011:
Susan Hansche, Avaya Government Solutions
2010:
Jim Wiggins, Federal IT Security Institute
2009:
Brenda Oldfield, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
2008:
Luke Andersen, Global Knowledge
2007:
David Kurtz, Department of Treasury, Bureau of the Public Debt
2006:
COL. Curtis Carver, United States Military Academy
2005:
K Rudolph, Native Intelligence, Inc.
2004:
Dr. Gail-Joon Ahn, University of North Carolina - Charlotte
2003:
Jeff Recor, Walsh College
2002:
Patricia Black, United States Department of Treasury
2001:
LTC Daniel Ragsdale, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, United States Military Academy, West Point
2000:
George Bieber, Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)
1999:
Dr. Roger Quane, National Security Agency
1998:
Louis Numkin, Nuclear Regulatory Commission
1997:
Dorothea de Zafra, National Institute of HealthJohn B. Ippolito, Allied Technology Group, Inc. Sadie Pitcher, U.S. Department of Commerce John Tressler, U.S. Department of Education
1996:
Joan Pohly, Department of Defense: Defense Information Systems Agency
1995:
Gale Warshawsky, Department of Energy: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (UC/LLNL)
1994:
Lt. Col. E. C. "Lee" Chambers, U.S. Air Force
1993:
Dr. Corey Schou, Idaho State University
1992:
Dr. Vic Maconachy, National Security Agency
1991:
Dr. Gary W. Smith, Department of Defense