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Leon Strous: Key Initiatives with the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP)
Leon Strous was born in 1960 in the Netherlands, and he is still residing there today with his wife Pattry.

Leon has bachelor equivalent degrees in business economics and business informatics, a postgraduate degree in EDP-Audit; he is qualified as a registered EDP-Auditor (RE) in the Dutch Association of Registered EDP-Auditors (NOREA) and he is also a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA).

Leon started his career in metal and plastics processing and then went onto eight years with the sales organisation of Philips Electronics in the Netherlands. His focus areas were administration, internal control and information security. Since 1993, Leon has been with the De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), which is the central (or national) bank of the Netherlands, in different positions as IT auditor in the internal audit department and as overseer in the oversight department of the cash and payments division, focusing on the security of payment systems. His work also links to the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). Currently his main jobs are advancing business continuity and crisis management arrangements with the key players in the payments and securities clearing and settlement processes in the financial sector in the Netherlands, and liaising between the financial sector and the government concerning critical infrastructure protection programs.

Leon is a member of a number of professional societies and has been active in many different positions in the Dutch Computer Society (NGI) since 1988, including member of the Board for five years, and in the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) since 1994, including a vice-presidency and in August 2009, he was honourably elected as president for the 2010-2013 term.

Leon has co-authored and co-edited publications in the area of information security and chaired/organized several international security conferences. Since 2001, his significant contributions include work with the IFIP World IT Forum (WITFOR), a conference focusing on the application of ICT in developing countries. Currently he is the chair of the WITFOR International Steering Committee.