Paying a bill, taking out a small loan, signing a lease, buying groceries. Across the Adriatic and Western Balkans, these everyday transactions depend on systems that have to stay available and trustworthy. The five security leaders below, one each from Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia, and Croatia, protect a bank, a microfinance institution, a leasing group, a food retailer, and a food manufacturer, and all five have held the CISO title along the way.
Luka Simonović – CISO, NLB Banka Podgorica
Before he took charge of security at a bank, Luka Simonović led communications, information systems, and cyber defense at Montenegro’s Ministry of Defence. He spent more than a decade before that as a network engineer in government, mostly at the Ministry for Information Society and Telecommunications. After joining NLB Banka Podgorica as an IT security specialist in 2022, he spent a year as a security engineer at the NATO Communications and Information Agency, then returned to the bank as CISO in December 2024. His hands-on background shows in his certifications, which include CompTIA CySA+ and credentials in penetration testing and threat hunting, and he is listed as a speaker at the Cyber Security Summit in the region.
Haris Hamidović – CISO/CSO, EKI
In 1998, Haris Hamidović was working in IT for the Commission for Real Property Claims of Displaced Persons and Refugees, and he went on to spend eight years as a database systems specialist with SFOR, the NATO-led stabilization force in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He has led security at EKI, the Sarajevo-based microcredit foundation, since 2007, and at its microcredit company since 2016. His influence extends across the sector: since 2022 he has chaired the IT, digitalization, and cybersecurity commission of the Association of Microfinance Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and he is listed for a November 2026 ISACA workshop on developing cybersecurity skills in microfinance. He holds a PhD in critical information infrastructure protection, teaches information security as an associate professor at the University of Zenica, has served as a court-appointed ICT expert witness since 2009, and is the author of eight books. His certifications include CISM and C|CISO.
Milos Krunic – Group CISO, NLB Lease&Go Group
Milos Krunic started out designing and maintaining video surveillance, intrusion alarm, fire signaling, and access control systems for a security company in Banja Luka. After IT roles in Ljubljana, including as an ICT solutions implementation expert at A1 Slovenija, he became Group CISO of NLB Lease&Go Group in September 2023 and has also served as CISO of its Croatian leasing company, Mobil Leasing, since November 2024. He leads the group’s cybersecurity strategy across its markets, covering security governance, incident response, third-party risk, and compliance with DORA, NIS2, and ISO 27001, working with IT, legal, audit, and compliance teams across a mix of central and decentralized operating models.
SrÄ‘an Cicmil – Information Security Country Lead for Serbia, Ahold Delhaize
Srđan Cicmil spent 15 years at Erste Bank in Serbia, moving from system administrator to head of the IT service desk, where he also served as major incident manager and IT coordinator for business continuity, and then to information security risk and business continuity expert. He went on to manage security for an international clothing retailer with stores in the EU and the US, and briefly served as CISO of GDC Services. Since January 2023 he has been information security country lead for Serbia in Ahold Delhaize’s Group Cyber Security Office, connecting the group’s security function with its operations in the country. He describes himself as promoting a “culture of yes.”
Dario Rajn – CISO, Podravka
“Digitalisation is something we cannot avoid,” Dario Rajn said in 2023. “With every investment in production lines, we expose ourselves more.” As CISO of Croatian food company Podravka since January 2019, he works where that exposure is real: production lines connected to the ERP systems that monitor manufacturing. In his early years in the role, he described work toward an information security management system and ISO 27001 certification, and a security awareness program built with human resources that started with technical staff before reaching all employees. In June 2026 he became a founding member of the Croatian Institute for Cybersecurity’s new CISO Chamber, which aims to connect security leaders, share knowledge, and develop professional standards. He has also joined a panel on how CISOs can adopt AI without increasing risk.
Close to Home
Simonović and Hamidović came to their roles through public and international institutions, Krunic through physical security systems, Cicmil through bank IT operations, and Rajn through project management in a food company. Today all five protect services people use in their daily lives, from a bank account or microloan to the food on a supermarket shelf.
Discover more CISOs securing their organizations:
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- Securing Science: Europe’s Research Infrastructure Cyber Leaders to Watch
- North America’s Cyber Leaders With a Wider Mandate
- Security That Makes Sense: The UK Cyber Leaders Putting People First
John Kevin Hao is a news and feature writer covering cybersecurity, technology, and business targeted for professional audiences.