Across Europe, award programs in 2026 recognized security leaders for practical work that keeps essential services running, from protecting hospital patients and digital payments to securing one of the world’s biggest live broadcasts. The seven leaders below were honored at the Swiss CISO Awards, the Dutch CISO of the Year awards at CISODAY, Austria’s CIS CISO of the Year awards, and the UK’s Security Serious Unsung Heroes Awards. Their backgrounds are remarkably varied. One began as a mobile security researcher reverse engineering Android apps. Another started out coordinating Siemens’ asset protection across Central and Eastern Europe. A third secured the 70th Eurovision Song Contest while it faced real cyberattacks.
Anatoli Kalysch – CISO & Deputy CIO, Lindenhofgruppe
Anatoli Kalysch began in security research at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, working on IoT security and Android app hardening, and consulted on mobile app security, running workshops for teams including the German Federal Police. As CISO of Deutsche Bahn Connect, he built risk-based security governance aligned with ISO 27001 and BSI IT-Grundschutz in a critical infrastructure setting. At Swiss crypto-asset firm Taurus, he served as senior information security officer and deputy CSO, leading its ISO 27001:2022 certification and restructuring its third-party risk program to meet FINMA, DORA, and NIS2 requirements. Kalysch became CISO and deputy CIO of Bern hospital group Lindenhofgruppe in December 2025, and won Swiss CISO of the Year 2026. The jury recognized him for linking information security with patient safety and continuity of care, and for introducing new processes for assessing supplier risk. He also lectures on cyber security at FFHS and holds CISSP, CISM, and CIPM certifications.
Kay Behnke – VP, Global Head of Cyber Security & IT Risk / Compliance Management, Genmab
Kay Behnke earned a PhD in computer science and psycholinguistics and began his career as an IT and security consultant. He moved into security leadership at NXP Semiconductors, serving for eight years as information security officer and managing its IT risk, security, compliance, and quality office, then spent nearly five years as CISO of FrieslandCampina. He joined biotech company Genmab in 2019 to lead its global information security strategy and program, and since 2022 has served as vice president, with security governance involving its Executive Board and Global Leadership Team. Behnke was named CISO of the Year 2026 at CISODAY in the Netherlands, recognized for integrating security into Genmab’s business processes. He holds an Executive MBA from Nyenrode and is a former Council member of the Information Security Forum. When he moved from Germany to the Netherlands, he disliked both cheese and coffee, and now enjoys both.
Florian Polt – Group Chief Security & Resilience Officer, UNIQA Insurance Group
Florian Polt began in project risk management for power plant projects at Siemens Energy and managed risk, security, and crisis response at the InterContinental Vienna. As Siemens’ security officer for Central and Eastern Europe, he coordinated asset protection across the region, the CIS, and Israel, including technical surveillance countermeasures against industrial espionage. He joined UNIQA Insurance Group in 2017 to build its group security function from the ground up, integrating information security, physical security, business continuity, and crisis management into one organization that has grown to more than 100 people across more than 40 group companies. As group chief security and resilience officer since 2024, he advises the Group Executive Board and has operationalized DORA across the group. Polt won CISO of the Year 2026 from CIS Certification & Information Security Services for turning a fragmented security function into a standardized, measurable management discipline, which the jury noted held up during the Ukraine crisis without disrupting business operations. He lectures on security and resilience governance at Hochschule Campus Wien.
Kai Schramm – CISO, TWINT
Dr. Kai Schramm began as a security engineer at Renesas, working on smart card security and side-channel cryptanalysis, then worked on embedded and automotive security at escrypt in Ann Arbor and Munich. After managing information risk at ING-DiBa, he spent 11 years at Credit Suisse in IT risk management and enterprise security architecture. Schramm became CISO of Swiss mobile payments provider TWINT in December 2022 and received the Cybersecurity Excellence award in the Swiss CISO of the Year category in 2026. The jury recognized his focus on protecting customers, his approaches to detecting and combating digital fraud early, and his development of TWINT’s cybersecurity organization and team skills. He holds a PhD and CISSP, CCSP, and CISA certifications.
Andrea Litherland – CISO, Domestic & General
Andrea Litherland began as a voice and data telecoms analyst at Swiss Life and spent seven years at MBNA Europe, moving from telecoms support into information security architecture and supporting its implementation of Chip and PIN. Over more than 17 years at Bank of America, she led the integration of MBNA’s international security team, ran global security governance and controls testing programs, and led the EMEA cyber security defense team, managing the live response to a CBEST assessment and leading the bank’s 80-strong information security site in Chester. She later led global cyber and operational resilience and an enterprise program to remove legacy technology risk. After leading cyber security at Royal London and cyber services at BSS, Litherland became CISO of Domestic & General in October 2025. She was named CISO Supremo at the 2026 Security Serious Unsung Heroes Awards in London. She has also championed diversity in security, supporting school outreach and returning-to-work programs for women.
Jörg Scheiblhofer – CISO, ORF
Jörg Scheiblhofer has spent nearly two decades at ORF, Austria’s public broadcaster, working as an IT manager and system engineer in Linz before becoming information security officer and then CISO in 2021. He received Special CISO of the Year 2026 from CIS Certification & Information Security Services for securing the 70th Eurovision Song Contest, which required coordinating trades, technical service providers, international partners, and mobile infrastructure under heavy time pressure. The award recognized that, despite heightened geopolitical threats and several actual cyberattacks during the event, all security incidents were detected early and handled without disrupting the show. Scheiblhofer has been a member of the European Broadcasting Union’s Media Cyber Security Group since 2018 and sits on the board of Security4Media.
Nathalie Gratzer – National Representative, NATO CCDCOE
Nathalie Gratzer began with internships at Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Switzerland and Halter Bonbons. From 2020 to 2024 she led projects on Switzerland’s national strategy for protecting the country against cyber risks at the Federal Office for National Economic Supply, while also serving as an officer in the Swiss Armed Forces. She joined the Swiss Armed Forces’ Cyber Command in 2024 and has served since November 2024 as national representative at the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence in Tallinn, where she is head of industry cooperation. Gratzer received the Cybersecurity Excellence award in the Future Leader category at the 2026 Swiss CISO Awards, where the winners were recognized for promoting cooperation between government, business, academia, and the military. Her guiding principle: “Security is built by people who take responsibility for it.”
Recognized Across Europe
These seven leaders were honored by different award programs in different countries, but each was recognized for practical work with visible results. Kalysch and Schramm protect patients and payments in Switzerland, while Polt and Scheiblhofer built security into an insurance group and a major live broadcast in Austria. Behnke and Litherland bring decades of experience to biotech and consumer services, and Gratzer represents a new generation working across government, industry, and defense. Together they show the breadth of security leadership across Europe in 2026.
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John Kevin Hao is a news and feature writer covering cybersecurity, technology, and business targeted for professional audiences.