Vienna, VA (September 25, 2024) – The Retail & Hospitality Information Sharing and Analysis Center (RH-ISAC) announced its 2024 award winners during the annual membership meeting held on 24 September in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The awards recognize outstanding companies and individuals who have displayed extraordinary dedication to RH-ISAC’s mission to build a collaborative sharing community that enables consumer-facing organizations to defend against cyber threats.
CISO of the Year: Eli Edelkind, CAVA
Eli Edelkind, CISO at CAVA, won the 2024 Peer Choice Award for CISO of the Year. This award honors exceptional leadership and recognizes a recipient who is a thought leader whose experiences add strategic value and whose engagements are an asset to the larger community.
Cybersecurity Practitioner of the Year: Christopher De La Rosa, Target
Christopher De La Rosa, senior analyst – cyber fraud intelligence, earned the 2024 Peer Choice Award for Cybersecurity Practitioner of the Year, which honors a cyber intelligence practitioner who has demonstrated significant time, energy, and involvement to add value to the RH-ISAC by sharing threat intelligence and contributing content to events. The second-place winner for the category is Nezha Ould Slimane of Marriott International, and the third-place winner is Jacob Napierskie of SHEIN USA.
Team of the Year: Target
The Team of the Year award honors a cybersecurity team that has demonstrated significant time, energy, and involvement to add value to the RH-ISAC organization by sharing threat intelligence, and contributing content to webinars, events, and working groups. The 2024 recipient of this award is Target, one of RH-ISAC’s most active Core Members. The second-place winner for the category is SHEIN USA, and the third-place winner is Marriott International.
Associate Member of the Year: Stairwell
The Peer Choice Award for Associate Member of the Year honors a company that has displayed valuable support to RH-ISAC members by offering thought leadership, actionable intelligence, and other resources. The 2024 recipient of this award is Stairwell, a cybersecurity platform that helps organizations detect, hunt, and respond to cyber threats.
Additional Awards
In addition to the Peer Choice Awards, the RH-ISAC recognized the following individuals and companies for outstanding contributions to the RH-ISAC community.
- Fast Starter Award: This award is given to an organization that has been a Core Member for less than 12 months but has quickly become a valuable contributor across RH-ISAC sharing platforms. The 2024 winners are Macy’s and Kenvue.
- Team Player of the Year: This award honors an RH-ISAC member practitioner who has demonstrated significant excellence in providing expertise and leadership within the last 12 months. The 2024 first-place winner is Jacob Napierskie, cyber threat intelligence lead at SHEIN USA. The second-place winner for the category is Steve Diamond of SHEIN USA, and the third-place winner is Chad Harmon of IHG.
- Working Group Warrior: This award honors an RH-ISAC member who has demonstrated significant selflessness in providing expertise and leadership in one or more Working Groups – including presenting or facilitating sessions and spearheading new working groups – within the last 12 months. The 2024 winners are Steve Diamond of SHEIN USA, Suzie Brown of Sabre, and Tom Sheffield of Target.
- Sharing & Collaboration Challenge – Teams: The recipients of this award are based on cumulative points earned over the past 12 months in the Sharing & Collaboration Challenge, which tracks team participation in various RH-ISAC channels. Winners are awarded in four categories based on the number of employees on the team. The first-place winners in each category for 2024 are Crutchfield Corporation, IHG Hotels and Resorts, Marriott International, and Target. The second-place winners are The Kroger Company, SHEIN USA, Costco, and Kontoor Brands. The third-place winners are United Airlines, Victoria’s Secret, Lowe’s, and CAVA.
- Sharing & Collaboration Challenge – Individual: This award is given to the individual who earned the most points in the Sharing & Collaboration Challenge over the past 12 months. The 2024 first-place winner is Nezha Ould Slimane, senior manager of threat intel at Marriott International. The other winners in the category are Wendi Walker of IHG Hotels & Resorts, Jacob Napierskie of SHEIN USA, Chris De La Rosa of Target, and Matt Brady of Target.
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Media Contacts
Annie Chambliss
RH-ISAC Marketing & Communications
[email protected]
About RH-ISAC
The Retail & Hospitality Information Sharing and Analysis Center (RH-ISAC) is the trusted community for sharing sector-specific cybersecurity information and intelligence. The RH-ISAC connects information security teams at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels to work together on issues and challenges, to share practices and insights, and to benchmark among each other – all with the goal of building better security for consumer-facing industries through collaboration. RH-ISAC serves businesses including retailers, restaurants, hotels, gaming casinos, food retailers, consumer products, and other consumer-facing companies. For more information, visit www.rhisac.org.
