Fene Osakwe

The work the panel recognised

Leadership in security is hard to measure, because the best of it shows up as incidents that never happen and decisions that age well. The Leader category looks for people who shape how an organisation defends itself over time, not for a single dramatic save. Osakwe’s record fits that shape. He has worked across financial institutions, telecoms and governments, building security strategy designed to hold up under pressure rather than to look good on a slide.

What sets the work apart is how he carries it into the boardroom. Plenty of strong technical leaders struggle to make directors care about cyber risk until something breaks. Osakwe translates that risk into terms a board can act on, which is how security earns the attention and the budget it needs before an incident, not after one.

Across two editions

His 2026 award sits alongside an earlier honour. In 2025 the programme named him Cyber Personality of the Year, recognition of the public role he plays as a speaker and advisor who brings cyber security to wider audiences. Recognition across consecutive editions is unusual, and the panel judged each on its own merits, against the criteria published for that category.

Recognition that is earned

The Cyber Security Awards are judged on merit. No place can be bought and no citation traded for. Osakwe’s name on this page reflects work the panel could check and stand behind, and nothing else.