Eric Anastacio has over 20 years in IT Audit experience. Eric started his career at PwC after completing his Bachelor’s in Commerce. During that time, Eric attained his CISA, CIA and CRMA designations. After that, Eric has held multiple positions with several organizations, including the Ontario Ministry of Finance and CIBC. Eric also holds a Masters in Education and has experience delivering IT Audit courses with emphasis on emerging technologies, such as Cyber Security and Cloud Computing.

Zain is a cybersecurity, technology, and IT audit professional with over 11 years of experience in the field. Zain serves as a Senior Manager of Technology and Cybersecurity assurance at Manulife, a global financial services and asset management company headquartered in Canada.

Zain possesses a high level of passion in post-graduate course development, teaching and cybersecurity training. Zain is an Instructor in the IT audit execution program and the Post-Graduate Certificate in CloudOps program at York University. Zain is an enthusiastic public speaker as he has delivered guest lectures and cybersecurity talks at multiple universities and security conferences across Canada. Zain is a York University alumni with an Honours in Bachelors of Commerce.

Zain’s teaching and training methodology focuses on empowering students to think about what is being taught and how that concepts apply to the real world. He takes the time to explaining course content very clearly and in detail to students while encouraging active class participation.

Zain holds Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and the Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) designations.

Read an interview with Zain

Nina is a recognized leader in IT risk and governance with over 20 years of experience. She is an experienced consultant working with business and IT processes, skilled in Internal Audit, IT internal and external audits. She has worked with various frameworks and standards including: ISO 27001, NIST, CSAE 3416, SSAE 16, SSAE 18, COSO, ITIL, COBIT, BCI, DRI performing business process design, analysis and improvement, risk analysis, system implementation and IT risk, governance and strategy engagements. Nina has been a CISA for over 15 years.

Gerard Francis is the Director of Enterprise-wide I&IT Auditing for the Government of Ontario. In this role, he provides strategic leadership for all information technology audits conducted across the Ontario Public Service. Gerard has developed a deep appreciation for technology risks facing governments around the world and the critical role IT Audit plays in helping to identify and mitigate them. The enterprise-wide audits conducted by his team cover all government sectors and address key I&IT risks in IT Governance, Cybersecurity, IT Investment Planning, Project Management and Delivery, Service Management and Information Management. Prior to moving into IT Audit, Gerard worked with a number of global financial organizations in the IT field. He has a passion for public service and has devoted the past 16 years of his career to protecting the interests of the people of Ontario.

Arif is an accomplished IT Risk, Cyber Security and IT Audit professional with 15 years’ experience in the financial services. With excellent analytical skills in uncovering issues through performance of a wide range of assessments including IT Risk/Control, IT Audit and Quality Assurance, Arif has a proven ability to influence multiple levels of key stakeholders in order to address risks in a timely and effective manner. Arif focuses on excellence in the development of IT control documentation, audit programs and test scripts.

Sean C. Higgins is the CTO, Customer Success for Herjavec Group, responsible for driving partnership through Managed Services onboarding experiences. Sean thrives on site with our customers, supporting architecture reviews and operations assessments to set the partnership up for success as we go forward into our services relationship. Sean has worked in the Information Technology Field for over 30 years with a specific focus on Internet Security for the last 20 years. In the early days of Internet Security, Sean worked closely with Check Point Firewall-1 in bringing the technology to Canada and then assisting in the development and delivery of Check Point training courses throughout Canada. Over the years, Sean became a trusted advisor in Internet Security and has been called upon to lead teams to assist companies in remediation of corporate security incidents. Sean was one of the first to be called as an expert witness in a Canadian court regarding a cyber-security incident. He was named the first CTO of the month in September 2012 by IT Focus. Sean is also a speaker and author.

Gaurav Kumar is a security and risk management leader with one of the world’s largest management consulting companies. In his current role, Gaurav is responsible for helping client executives develop suitable security and risk management strategies that meet business needs, seeking to balance defensive and responsive strategic elements.

For over 15 years, Gaurav has been helping businesses understand and proactively manage information technology risks by effectively acting as both a technical subject matter expert and a trusted business information security adviser. Gaurav has worked in all verticals of information security and risk management including access management, threat analysis, security monitoring and response, risk management, security assurance and governance, security consulting, and enterprise security program management.

Gaurav holds a MSc in information security and assurance (majoring in vulnerability management) from Norwich University in Vermont, USA. Gaurav also holds the CISSP, CISM, CRISC, CCSK, and SABSA security architect designations.

Ran Lewin is the Assistant Vice-President Budgets and Asset Management, York University, reporting to the President and the Board of Governors’ Finance & Audit Committee. He graduated with a B-Com Accounting Honours from the University of Johannesburg. After completing his accounting and auditing training at KPMG South Africa, he was seconded to Toronto. His audit clients have included companies listed on the South African and Canadian stock exchanges in the construction, IT and media sectors. In 2003 he joined York’s Internal Audit department and became its Director in 2012. He is a CPA-CA in Canada and South Africa, as well as a Certified Internal Auditor.

Asif specializes in governance, risk management, and cyber security for the private sector. He is a trusted advisor to his clients, from those on the front lines to the executive level. Asif uses a client-centric approach to addressing complex challenges and designs recommendations that are pragmatic and aligned to the culture of the organization. He has a passion for ensuring his clients succeed in meeting their strategic imperatives.
Asif is a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC), and received his MBA from the Queen’s Smith School of Business. Asif is currently serving as the ISACA Toronto Chapter President.

Kartikeya is a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and Cisco Certified Networking Associate (CCNA), working as a Senior Consultant with EY Risk Assurance practice in Toronto, Canada. With over 5 years of work experience in the field of IT Audit, he has managed global internal audit clients and coordinated with global member firms of EY. He previously worked with EY India and EY US before joining EY Canada.

Baskaran Rajamani is a Technology Risk Advisory Partner at Deloitte in Toronto. Baskaran leads teams to help Financial Services clients on transforming and managing Technology Risks across lines of defense related to IT Assets, IT management processes, IT strategy, Digital transformation, Robotics/Cognitive automation and Agile delivery. As part of his global role in the RPA/Cognitive community, he is connected to practitioners across the globe and provides thought leadership on related frameworks and methodologies. Baskaran Chairs Deloitte’s Technology and Digital risk management roundtable, and is a Faculty at Deloitte University in its Toronto and Dallas, TX campuses.

Baskaran is a popular speaker, has authored several technical papers on IT risk management and assurance, and has presented at conferences and seminars in different parts of the world. Baskaran is the co-author of Deloitte’s latest point of view of Integrated Risk Assurance. He holds a Master’s degree in Engineering and an MBA. His designations include CISA, CISSP and is a past President of the ISACA Toronto Chapter.

Read an interview with Baskaran