Editor’s note: During Volunteer Appreciation Week, the ISACA Now blog is spotlighting an ISACA volunteer each day of the week. Today, we spotlight Julia Hermann, a security professional and ISACA Germany Chapter Vice President. Find out more about volunteering at ISACA through the Engage online community.
As a longtime information security professional, Julia Hermann has come to recognize the importance of quality career resources. So why not be part of ensuring that quality herself?
That was the calculation made by Julia, who first became involved with ISACA in 2014 when she pursued the CISM credential. Afterward, she began contributing to various ISACA volunteer projects, first with her local German chapter and eventually though ISACA’s global volunteering program.
“For me, it is important that education material and industry certifications are developed together with the people who bring the expertise and experience, and who are on the hiring side of such qualifications,” Julia said.
Julia, who lives in the Munich, Germany, area, has worked in information and cyber security for 20-plus years, recently taking on a new role in the Corporate Technology Office focusing on innovation management in cloud computing, cybersecurity and the industrial metaverse. While researching the metaverse in the context of her company’s fields of interest, she is also looking forward to exploring the topic as a volunteer in ISACA’s Emerging Technologies Advisory Group and engaging in related speaking opportunities at ISACA conferences.
Julia said collaborating with other ISACA experts through various volunteer working groups “challenges my own perspectives and skills,” citing an example of a CISM working group meeting in which there was an interesting conversation about the need to update existing concepts. She called an in-person working group meeting she attended in Chicago “an absolute highlight.”
“It’s great to meet people from all over the world,” she said. “Especially once you meet in person, it really feels like family you can always reach out to – and also have quite some fun and personal chats.”
Going forward, Julia intends to continue to remain part of the ISACA Germany Chapter board and drive initiatives for local members, such as One In Tech events and scholarships, and mentoring and networking opportunities. She said volunteering with ISACA “is enjoyable, fun and offers opportunities to meet great people from around the globe.”
“Being involved with ISACA means being connected to a lot of professionals and experts on many different topics,” Julia said. “Publications, training and conferences provide access to insightful information, an exchange of ideas, networking and continuous learning opportunities.”
As a balance to her job and volunteering, Julia likes to rock out at metal concerts, saying it “frees my mind from the daily work,” and to pursue her passion for photography, mostly combined with traveling and discovering other parts of the world together with her girlfriend and their dog.