When ISACA – then known as the Electronic Data Processing Auditors Association – was incorporated by seven Los Angeles area professionals in 1969, “there was no authoritative source of information,” according to ISACA’s first president, the late Stuart Tyrnauer. There was “no cohesive force, no place to turn to for guidance.”
Back then, Tyrnauer and his colleagues figured their grassroots association, focused on the emerging profession of electronic data processing auditing, was just of local interest. As it turned out, the interest extended well beyond southern California, unexpectedly allowing ISACA to blossom into a national organization, then an international organization, to what it has become today – a thriving global professional association with more than 220 chapters and 140,000 members. Best of all, ISACA’s remarkable story is far from complete.
The calendar has now flipped to 2019, the much-anticipated year of ISACA’s 50th anniversary celebration. We have chosen Honoring Our Past, Innovating Our Future as our 50th anniversary theme because we are committed to doing both, especially considering ISACA always has been a future-minded organization, helping its professional community navigate change and the remarkable advancements on the technology landscape. When the EDPAA conducted its first conference in 1973 – under the theme “EDP Auditing: A Coming of Age” – the focus might have been narrower than the topics explored today, but the intention of sharing knowledge and best practices with respected colleagues, and the desire to help others achieve the positive potential of technology, has always been hard-wired into our organization’s culture. Today, as effectively and securely deploying technology has increasingly become a central driver of enterprise performance, the work performed by ISACA members – and ISACA’s enduring commitment to be a trusted resource for our professional community – is all the more critical, providing an inspiring context to the 50th anniversary celebration.
This anniversary celebration is for all members of the ISACA professional community – past, present and future – to enjoy together, and the more of you that are engaged, the more meaningful it will be. There are several great ways you can participate in ISACA’s anniversary celebration throughout the year, including:
Visit ISACA50.org (and keep coming back)! Our 50th anniversary website includes a wealth of content that will both entertain you and leave you feeling even more inspired by your relationship with ISACA. From an overarching story of ISACA’s proud 50-year history to a wide array of other anniversary resources – including videos, podcasts, an ISACA history timeline and perspective on the impact of ISACA’s global chapters network – the site offers a robust platform to enjoy and participate in ISACA’s anniversary celebration. Be sure to keep coming back; content will continually be updated each week throughout the anniversary year.
Join the celebration on social media. Social media provides a terrific platform for our global professional community to celebrate together. Show us where in the world you’re celebrating by printing our anniversary celebration sign from the Participate page at isaca50.org and posting your photo, using #ISACA50.
Consider attending an ISACA conference in 2019. ISACA’s anniversary will be prominently celebrated at our 2019 conferences, including at the North America CACS conference, which will take place in May in the backyard of where the organization was founded 50 years ago – the Los Angeles area. Regardless of whether you have attended several ISACA conferences before or have yet to attend, what better time to learn from and connect with your ISACA colleagues than during our 50th anniversary year?
I am deeply appreciative of all the staff, volunteers and sponsors who have come together to create such a dynamic, year-long anniversary program. With the anniversary celebration serving as the backdrop, there is so much to anticipate for ISACA in 2019, including, but certainly not limited to, a new ISACA-Infosecurity conference partnership slated for November in New York, a Future of IT Audit research report and a Transforming IT Audit website, an update to the CISA certification exam content, growing global adoption of the recently introduced COBIT 2019 framework, the anticipated arrival of a new ISACA CEO, and a further build-out of the CMMI Cybermaturity Platform.
As a longtime ISACA member and the current board chair, I have never been more energized to be part of the organization than I am right now, and I’m even more excited to see what comes next in 2019 and beyond. We celebrate our past to inspire, motivate and propel us into the future. Our 50th anniversary year is a wonderful milestone in ISACA history, but I truly believe that, together, we can ensure ISACA’s best moments are still to come.