Chris Self
Chief Operating Officer, MyEmpire Group
Chris is a highly experienced information security principal. He has worked as a senior cyber security consultant for KPMG, CQR Consulting (now part of CyberCX) and Deloitte. Prior to starting with MyEmpire Group, he was the Information Security Manager at Adelaide Airport where he led a full rebuild of the airport’s cyber security processes and infrastructure. Chris holds a master’s in information systems security and information security certifications, including CISSP and CRISC.
Specialisations
- Cyber Security / Information Security
Strategy - Cyber Security Governance, Risk and Compliance
- Cyber Security Operations
- Data Privacy
- Risk Management
- Auditing
- Cloud Security
- Security Policy
- ISO 27001
- NIST
- Essential 8
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Chris began his cyber security journey as a Consultant in Adelaide for KPMG Australia in 2013. He stayed here for two years where he became Senior Consultant. On the side, he completed a Masters of Information Systems Security at Charles Sturt University, SA.
Around the time of graduating, he took a role at CQR (CyberCX) where he spent three years working as a security specialist. This moved him from a focus on technology, risk and a little bit of cyber security to pure cyber security. At the time, CQR was handling the most cyber security accounts in Adelaide, even against the big 4. The experience gave him a solid foundation in cyber security consulting. This is also where he met Alex Woerndle (co-founder and CEO, MyEmpire Group) and they both became good friends.
The experience at CQR led to an opportunity to take on the role of Information Security Manager at Adelaide Airport. Chris describes this as one of the best career moves he has made as this is when the rubber really hit the road. After years of cyber consulting—producing strategies, roadmaps and policies for organisations—he now had the opportunity to put his own advice into practice
Chris led a full rebuild of Adelaide Airport’s cyber security from the ground up. Along the way, he says he came to understand what was practical in the advice he had been giving others and what looked good on paper but lacked practicality. It was an in-the-trenches experience he had been seeking all along. He explains the three and a half years he (and John and Fil, two other MyEmpire Group cyber specialists) spent at Adelaide Airport was extremely significant in paving the way for how we work at MyEmpire Group. The fundamental piece being to make consulting more practical—to give organisations real solutions to their problems.
Naturally looking to grow, Chris took a Cyber Risk Senior Manager role at Deloitte Australia. He wasn’t here long before Alex presented him with the opportunity to join MyEmpire Group from ground zero. He says the offer appealed because he had the opportunity to do things to influence change inside the business and for clients. From day dot, he could help decide the cyber services offered to clients, how these services were delivered, who was hired to deliver these services etc.
True to his word, Alex gave Chris the reins on MyEmpire Group’s service delivery team. Since joining MyEmpire Group, the company has grown quickly, gaining a reputation for practical cyber consulting and above-and-beyond service delivery. Today Chris is COO and part owner of MyEmpire Group.