Ahmad Zoua is a dynamic and results-driven executive with over 15 years of experience leading technology and security strategy for enterprise-level organizations. As Vice President for Cybersecurity + Infrastructure, Mr. Zoua brings vast experience as a leader and technical manager, adept at handling a broad range of complex projects from inception to completion. He focuses on delivering strategic solutions, robust cybersecurity programs, infrastructure design, and comprehensive risk management solutions to clients worldwide. Mr. Zoua ensures timely and effective outcomes by maintaining excellent communication with clients and leveraging his international and domestic project experience across diverse verticals.
Strategic Cybersecurity and Risk Mitigation
Mr. Zoua excels at serving clients in executive-level advisory roles, having previously acted as V-CISO and V-CTO for multiple clients. He provides essential leadership and guidance to organizations by successfully leading the development and execution of technology roadmaps and cybersecurity strategies, ensuring they align directly with the company-wide risk appetite and core business goals.
Specific client capabilities include:
- Information Technology Leadership: He helped many established companies restructure and start-up companies build their IT practice and foundation by understanding the organization vision, objectives, and future goals and built upon it to future proof their IT operation, enhance efficiency, create/rebuild company IT department and roles, enforce IT and security policies, provide guidance and trainings, and manage IT budgets.
- Developing Resilience: Mr. Zoua directs teams to deliver crucial services, including penetration testing, incident response plans, and cyber resilience strategies, ensuring business continuity. For a former audit client in the telecommunications sector who suffered a devastating cyber attack, Mr. Zoua’s teams managed the restoration and recovery process for multiple systems and assisted with full network redesign and restructuring to improve security and resilience.
- Enhancing Governance and Compliance: Mr. Zoua is proficient in creating and streamlining processes to increase effectiveness. He has provided leadership and technical management for clients subject to strict regulatory oversight, including acting as the independent third-party auditor for an international company subject to a National Security Agreement. This included evaluating overall security governance, policies and procedures, and physical and cyber-security controls to ensure compliance with U.S. National Security interests.
- Eliminating Foundational Risk: Starting his career as a Network and Security engineer, Mr. Zoua still utilizes his proficiency in helping multiple clients eliminate risks by creating network high- and low-level designs, network and security standards, IP scheme, configuration template, , and enforcing necessary security policies.
Infrastructure Design and Project Leadership
Mr. Zoua has a solid history of delivering comprehensive infrastructure design and strategic technology solutions. He is a skilled trainer and project leader, able to direct multiple tasks effectively, ensuring the implementation of design solutions meets modern needs. Mr. Zoua has extensive experience working on complex cyber and infrastructure projects in multiple verticals, including, but not limited to, transportation, aviation, critical facility, and healthcare.
Client engagements demonstrating this expertise include:
- Master Planning and Assessment: Mr. Zoua provided consultation and assessment of network, telecom, Wi-Fi, and audio-visual systems infrastructure to ensure future efficiency and growth, which led to the creation of a comprehensive master plan that meets operational needs and expectations. He helped clients in site selection efforts such as Data Centers from available resources, Grid and ISPs availability, natural disasters, critical infrastructure conditions, OPEX, and overall ROI. He also assessed existing conditions, network, and power infrastructure at numerous locations.
- System Enhancement and Upgrade: He has overseen engagements providing site assessments and network performance tests to identify gaps, resulting in roadmaps and designs that support the enhancement and upgrade of IT software and hardware systems.
- New Facility Design: He provides essential services in telecommunications infrastructure, IT and network, wireless solutions, ERRCS, DAS, radio, and audio-visual systems design and construction administration, ensuring the systems are non-proprietary and provide infrastructure for future expansion.
- Cutover and Migration: Mr. Zoua helped clients establish exceptional cutover and migration plans, schedules, budgets, and testing criteria from pre, executions, and post tasks. Create risk management and rollback plans that are live documents and get updated throughout the life cycle of the project.
Prior to his current role, Mr. Zoua began his career as a network and security engineer, where he provided support by configuring network and security equipment and troubleshooting network and security issues.
Leveraging his 15+ years of experience, he has worked across international and domestic projects. He is fluent in English, Arabic, and German, augmenting his advanced communication skills.
Mr. Zoua’s ability to align technical complexity with overarching business strategy is like a bridge engineer: he not only designs the structure (the technology roadmap) but ensures the foundations (security policies and governance) are strong enough to carry the traffic (business operations) securely and efficiently across the gap between risk and successful IT operations.
Did You Know?
Ahmad mentors in the Architect Construction Engineering mentor program. He guides students through a mock design project, introducing them to the careers, industry vocabulary, and various roles Guidepost plays in the construction industry.
