Marilise de Villiers

I am a People & Change professional and I discovered my passion for Learning & Development 20 years ago when I started my career at PwC (Cape Town). Shortly after I qualified as a Chartered Accountant, I moved to London and into PwC’s People & Change consulting business. I have been fortunate to design and deliver innovative solutions for global clients, across a diverse range of industries, topics and capabilities.

Seven years ago a conversation with a colleague in PwC’s Cyber Security business, sparked my interest in the human aspects of Cyber Security, and I’ve been devoting much of my time to this important topic ever since. In 2014, I authored the Information Security Forum (ISF) paper entitled: ”From Promoting Awareness to Embedding Behaviours: Secure by choice, not by chance”. The approach I developed as part of my research helps organisations to engage, empower and equip people with the knowledge, skills and behaviours to keep themselves, their loved ones and employers safe. The paper calls for a move away from the traditional ‘tick-box’ approach to security awareness.

Becoming an entrepreneur has been a life long dream and I started my own Cyber Security training business in January this year. I want to serve our industry by helping my clients attract and recruit the right people into the right roles, and develop the right skills and capabilities to keep their organisations safe. I will coach Cyber Security individuals and teams to become high performing, and play my part in improving diversity and inclusion, particularly in the areas of gender and ethnicity.