Michiel Benda

Group Chief Information Security Officer, TMF Group

Born in 1969, Michiel graduated early 1993 in international hospitality management, topping it off with a Master in Business Administration in 2002. Michiel started at TMF Group in 1996 and was fully convinced that this was just another rung on the career ladder.

More than 20 years and multiple rungs later, including a rung as Group IT Director and currently as Global Chief Information Security Officer, Michiel has discovered that there are still of opportunities and challenges within TMF Group where he can make a significant difference. Michiel started the information security department in 2008, in the early days of the financial crisis. Having no budget to speak of, he took the opportunity to lay a solid foundation for the information security function.

The effect of this has been that Michiel started an ISO 27001:2005 program in early 2013 for 1 of the larger locations of the Group. Starting 2015, Michiel was given the green light to do a 3-year ISO27001:2013 roll-out program in all 120+ locations of the Group. 89 locations have been certified to date, with the last locations on schedule for this year.

Despite this high-pressure schedule, Michiel always finds time for his family and hobbies of photography, mountain biking and cake decorating.