MEDIA RELEASE
IFIP Awards Honorary Membership to Leon Strous
Former IFIP President Recognised for Extraordinary Contributions Over Many Years
12 September 2017 – Colombo, SRI LANKA – The IFIP General Assembly, the peak decision-making body of the global federation of ICT professional associations, has awarded an Honorary Membership (HLM) to Leon Strous of The Netherlands.
Mr Strous, who is a senior policy advisor with De Nederlandsche Bank, was recognised by IFIP for his many years of service in leadership roles across the organisation.
The IFIP General Assembly voted unanimously to award the rare honour to Mr Strous at its annual meeting in Colombo, Sri Lanka after several assembly members spoke glowingly of his many achievements.
IFIP President Mike Hinchey said the recognition was well-deserved.
“Leon’s contribution has been that of a consummate professional willing to go above and beyond what we would expect or require of any individual. He has been an inspirational role model and I am delighted that this award allows him to continue playing an active role at the highest levels of the organisation.”
Mr Strous served as IFIP President from 2010-2016, during which time he also chaired the Steering Committee for the World Computer Congress in Amsterdam, led the International Liaison Committee and represented the Dutch Computer Society (NGI) within the global professional body.
The longest serving President in IFIP’s 57 year history, Mr Strous has been unstinting in his support of IFIP at every level, participating in numerous committees and tasks forces, including heading Technical Committee 11 (TC-11) on Security and Privacy Protection in Information Processing Systems from 2001-2007.
After being told of the award today, Mr Strous said he was honoured by the recognition and reinforced his commitment to supporting the work of the global professional body.
“It’s been my privilege to play a role in progressing the very important work that IFIP does in promoting digital equity, bringing ICT professionals and researchers together to share knowledge and expertise, and increasing professionalism and professional standards,” he said.
“I consider that my time has been well spent serving an organisation like IFIP that offers ICT professionals opportunity to work together to achieve important goals and to learn from each other. It’s been a very rewarding experience.”
Mr Strous also served as IFIP VP and President-elect, was Program Committee Chair for SEC’94, Program Committee Chair of WITFOR 2007 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Program Committee Chair of the E-Government and E-Services Conference in Brisbane, Australia in 2010.
He initiated the Domain Committee on the Internet of Things, chaired the Membership Taskforce and was active in co-editing the proceedings of a range of smaller information security events from 1997-2008.
Mr Strous was recognised with an IFIP Silver Core Award in 2001 for his service to the organisation.
A prominent figure in the European Information Security community, Mr Strous was honoured with a Knighthood in The Order of Orange-Nassau from the King of the Netherlands for his service to society in 2015.
ENDS
About IFIP
IFIP, the International Federation for Information Processing, is the global professional federation of societies and associations for people working in Information and Communications Technologies and Sciences. Established under the auspices of UNESCO in 1960 and recognised by the United Nations, IFIP represents ICT professional associations from more than 50 countries and regions with a total membership of over half a million. It also brings together more than 3,500 scientists from industry and academia, organising them into over 100 Working Groups and 13 Technical Committees to conduct research, develop standards and promote information sharing. Based in Austria, IFIP organises and supports over 100 conferences each year, fostering the distribution of research and knowledge to academics and industry practitioners alike.
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