VIENNA, VA (April 14, 2025) – The Retail & Hospitality Information Sharing and Analysis Center (RH-ISAC) announced its 2025 award winners during the annual membership meeting held on 9 April in St. Louis, Missouri. 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 2025 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: Nezha Ould Slimane, Marriott International
Nezha Ould Slimane, senior manager, information security at Marriott International, earned the 2025 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 Chris De La Rose of Target, and the third-place winner is Faisal Rahman of Walmart.
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 2025 recipient of this peer choice award is Target, one of RH-ISAC’s most active Core Members. The second-place winner for the category is Victoria’s Secret, and the third-place winner is IHG Hotels & Resorts.
Associate Member of the Year: Palo Alto Networks
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 2025 recipient of this award is Palo Alto Networks.
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 2025 winner is Crocs.
- 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 2025 first-place winner is Cory Blankmeyer of Target. The second-place winner for the category is Michael Francess of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, and the third-place winner is Julie Gregory of Victoria’s Secret.
- 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 2025 winners are Suzie Brown of Sabre, Jeff Davidhizar of Crutchfield Corporation, and Barb Verde of Ahold Delhaize.
- Community Development: This recognition rewards current members who help RH-ISAC grow by sending in referrals, giving testimonials, and participating in calls with potential members. The 2025 winners are Steve Bonilla of Wynn Resorts, Stevan Bias of Booking.com, and Chris McFarland of Abercrombie & Fitch.
- Special Recognition: This award honors RH-ISAC Core Member companies or individuals who went above and beyond in supporting the ISAC. The 2025 winners are Al Berg of the John Gore Organization, and United Airlines.
- 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 2025 are Crutchfield Corporation, IHG Hotels and Resorts, Marriott International, and Target. The second-place winners are Kontoor Brands, SHEIN USA, The Kroger Company, and Lowe’s. The third-place winners are Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Victoria’s Secret, Best Buy, and Walmart.
- 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 2025 first-place winner is Wendi Walker of IHG Hotels & Resorts. The other winners in the category are Nezha Ould Slimane of Marriott International, Chris De La Rosa of Target, Jeff Davidhizar of Crutchfield Corporation, and Faisal Rahman of Walmart.
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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.
