St. Clair College's longstanding Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and Chief Information Officer (CIO) collected a nomination for a prestigious ORBIE Award, a recognition for years of leadership excellence among C-suite leaders across North America.
Amar Singh has 28 years of experience in information technology and leads a robust team of IT professionals at St. Clair College dedicated to strengthening services, enhancing security posture and supporting organizational innovation.
Singh says the ORBIE nomination in the CISO Corporate category is both humbling and validating.
"It represents recognition from fellow technology and cybersecurity leaders who understand the challenges and responsibilities of the role," Singh said. "Cybersecurity is often measured by the incidents that never happen and the risks that are successfully mitigated, so peer recognition carries special significance."
"For me, this nomination reflects the collective efforts of our entire IT and security team, our commitment to building a culture where cybersecurity is everyone's responsibility, not just the security team's," said Singh.
Under Singh's leadership, St. Clair College's IT department has seen rapid changes in the deployment of AI, which has led security teams to adopt AI to help detect threats, automate responses, identify vulnerabilities and address the growing risks associated with AI-powered attacks.
His team has also helped build a 'Zero Trust' architecture, moving away from implicit trust and towards continuously verifying users, devices and access requests. Singh also believes cyber resilience is as important as cyber defence, bringing a staff-wide focus on preventative measures but also recovery planning, business continuity and operational resilience.
"Cybersecurity is becoming a boardroom issue rather than just a technical concern," Singh said, speaking to the growing importance of cybersecurity among many institutions in both the private and public sectors.
"The CISO role is more important than ever," Singh said. "A modern CISO must bridge technology and business strategy. We must help leadership understand risk, ensure resilience, protect sensitive information, and enable innovation in a secure manner."
"In higher education, the challenge is especially unique because we must balance open access to learning and research with the need to protect institutional systems and data," he added. "The CISO has to be a strategic advisor, educator, and business partner as much as a security leader."
"Since 1998, The ORBIE Awards have recognized leadership excellence, fostered executive relationships, and inspired the next generation of leaders," reads an excerpt from the ORBIE Awards website, noting winners each year are chosen through a peer-adjudicated process led by prior ORBIE recipients.
"I believe the nomination reflects our work in strengthening cybersecurity, building industry and community partnerships, and supporting the development of future cybersecurity professionals," said Singh. "It's recognition of a commitment to both institutional security and broader community impact."
In addition to his leadership at St. Clair College, Singh serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for Connecting Windsor-Essex, contributing to regional technology and connectivity initiatives. He is also an active member of the Ontario Colleges CIO Group, collaborating on strategic technology priorities across the post-secondary sector.
Singh is also passionate about creating a more cyber-secure environment across all sectors. He's putting that passion to practice as the co-chair of "Operation Defend the North: Windsor," an upcoming immersive cybersecurity conference which puts participants in the middle of a real-world cyber-incident.
Hosted at the St. Clair College Centre for the Arts on Oct. 20, 2026, the demonstration brings together leaders from industry, education, government, and cybersecurity, creating opportunities to learn from one another, discuss emerging challenges, and build lasting partnerships. Tickets for the event are available here.
"Whether you're an executive, practitioner, or student, Operation Defend the North delivers practical insights and valuable connections you can immediately take back to your organization," said Singh.
