Niel Harper is deeply committed to ensuring that individuals and organizations consistently benefit from safety, privacy, security, reliability, and data ethics when using online platforms. He has spent the last 20 years leading on Digital Trust initiatives at global organizations such as Aspen Institute, Canonical, CIBC, Deloitte, Doodle, European Commission, Hugo, INTERPOL, United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), and the World Economic Forum, among others. Niel specializes in corporate governance, cybersecurity, privacy & data protection, enterprise risk management, digital transformation, and Internet governance & policy.
Niel’s professional contributions have been recognized with the 2026 ISC2 Harold F. Tipton Lifetime Achievement Award, 2025 Security Magazine Top Cybersecurity Leaders Award, 2024 ISC2 Global Achievement Award – Senior Professional (EMEA), 2021 ISJ Caribbean Security & Resilience Award, and the 2021 ISACA Technology for Humanity Award. He was featured in the 2024 Lacework Modern CISO Board Book which highlighted “extraordinary board-ready global security leaders.” Recognized by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader (2014) and by the Internet Society as a Next Generation Leader (2011). He previously served on the UK Cyber Security Council’s Professional Standards Working Group, United Nations Information Security Special Interest Group (UNISSIG), ISACA Foundation, and the World Economic Forum’s and Digital Trust Initiative. Niel currently serves in corporate advisory positions at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and ISACA. He holds/has held fellowships to the Chartered Institute for Information Security, British Computer Society, Royal Society of Arts, OECD Technology Foresight Forum, American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN), and CIFAL.
He has earned a Master of Laws (LLM) in Internet Law & Policy from the University of Strathclyde; MBA from the University of Leicester; CERT Certificate in Cyber-Risk Oversight and Executive Certificate in Effective AI Oversight from Carnegie Mellon University; Executive Certificate in Cybersecurity Strategy & Leadership from Florida International University; and has completed executive programs at University of Oxford, Stanford University, and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore. Niel holds key industry certifications such as CISA, CRISC, CDPSE, and CISSP.
He has been featured in global media publications such as Captive Insurance Times, Computer Weekly, CSO Online, IBM Security Intelligence, Infosecurity Magazine, KPMG Business Banking, New York Times, Security Magazine, Tech Monitor, and the World Economic Forum Davos Agenda.
Niel is married and has 4 children (3 girls and a boy).
Niel Harper 