Marios Damianides Honored By Lighthouse Guild

Marios Damianides, a prominent member of Leadership 100 and a partner at Ernst & Young LLP in New York,, was honored as  “Visionary of the Year” by the Lighthouse Guild at its annual Light Years Gala on November 21, 2016 at Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York City. Damianides, Executive Committee and Board Member of Lighthouse Guild, was saluted for his vision and leadership.

Lighthouse Guild, headquartered in New York City, is the leading not-for-profit vision and healthcare organization with a long history of addressing the needs of people who are blind or visually impaired, including those with multiple disabilities or chronic medical conditions, enabling many of the people it serves to lead productive, dignified and fulfilling lives.

Born in Cyprus, Damianides immigrated to South Africa in 1973, where he studied at Kwazulu Natal and Johannesburg Universities. Graduating with a degree in Business, Economics and Accounting as well as an MS in Information Systems, he is also a Chartered Accountant (SA) and a CPA.

Since coming to the United States in 1994, Damianides became a partner at Ernst & Young in New York, having served in several offices around the world, mainly in South Africa and North America.  He managed several businesses within the company, providing expertise on the growth and development of its employees, as well as enabling clients to successfully execute mergers and acquisitions through regulatory reviews of their cyber capabilities.  He also pioneered simulations of cyber-attacks to help companies implement robust protection mechanisms from internal and external cyber threats.

Damianides’ research and findings were published in several technical periodicals as well as in a technical reference series published by Ernst & Young (including Demystifying IBM’s Alphabet Soup and Access Methodologies). His work on data protection via layered access management routines focused on the most complex systems of the time, and was truly groundbreaking.

In 2004, he established the CISM (Certified Information Security Manager) as a relevant, primary certification necessary to elevate the cyber professional (Chief Security Officers – CISO/CSO) to the executive ranks of corporations. At that time, he was Board Chair of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) from 2003 to 2005 and served on the Board until 2012, returning as an advisor to the Board in 2014. In 2007, the NY Chapter of the ISACA recognized him with the Wasserman Award for distinguished service and contributions to the profession.

With his wife, Anna, Damianides supports numerous institutions and philanthropic organizations, including Lighthouse Guild, the Manhattan Theater Club, Leadership 100, AHEPA, the Joe Namath Neurological Research Center, and the ISACA.  He also serves on the Parish Council of the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in New Rochelle. He and Anna have two children, a son, Andreas, and a daughter, Eleni.