Independent Chair.

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Role Summary

What You Can Expect

The Independent Chair is the global leader and principal advocate for the SMB1001 cybersecurity standard. Their mission is to ensure the standard remains practical and effective by prioritizing the needs of small business owners above all else.

  • Evangelise: Lead global advocacy for SMB1001 to accelerate international adoption and cement its position as a critical pillar of global cybersecurity infrastructure.

  • Govern: Uphold integrity, vendor neutrality, and transparency within the standards development process.

  • Empower: Lead the Steering Committee’s experts to evolve the standard against a rapidly changing threat landscape.

Role Overview

Focus: Governance, Stewardship, and Technical Integrity

The Independent Chair is the independent, vendor-neutral governor of the SMB1001 standard—responsible for stewarding its integrity, guiding its evolution, and ensuring the Steering Committee operates with clear due process and accountable decision-making. This voluntary role anchors governance, stewardship, and technical integrity by balancing real-world small business constraints with recognised cyber frameworks, facilitating inclusive consensus across diverse stakeholders, and championing SMB1001’s adoption as a credible global benchmark.

Primary Objective

Lead the SC1001 Steering Committee by chairing effective governance, safeguarding due process and technical integrity, and championing SMB1001 as the global benchmark for small business cybersecurity, ensuring the standard is maintained, updated, and applied in a way that remains practical, achievable, and tightly aligned to real small business needs.

Core Responsibilities

  • 1. Governance & Leadership

  • Committee Chairing: Uphold DSI’s governance policies, ensuring transparency, vendor neutrality, and robust conflict-of-interest management.

  • Due Process: Uphold DSI's governance policies, ensuring transparency, vendor neutrality, and proper conflict-of-interest management.

  • Strategic Oversight: Approve meeting agendas and direct the committee’s annual work plan.

  • 2. Evangelism & Thought Leadership

  • Global Benchmark: Assist to drive international adoption of SMB1001 through strategic advice to the DSI Executive, evangelism and lobbying to establish the global benchmark for SMB security.

  • Global Ambassador: Serve as the public face of SMB1001 at international conferences, media engagements, and industry forums.

  • Thought Leadership: Author white papers and articles that establish DSI’s authority in the market.

  • 3. Committee Empowerment

  • Facilitation: Foster an inclusive environment where technical, MSP, and policy stakeholders are heard and synthesized.

  • Conflict Resolution: Resolve technical impasses and guide the committee toward unified, high-integrity decisions.

Position Requirements

Category

Essential Qualifications

Governance

Proven track record of chairing committees, boards, or working groups using consensus-based decision-making.

Independence

Maintain a strictly vendor-neutral stance to ensure the framework remains universally applicable and independent of specific commercial interests or service providers.

Expertise

Deep understanding of cybersecurity frameworks (NIST, ISO 27001) and SMB operational constraints.

Soft Skills

High-level facilitation skills with the ability to manage diverse stakeholders and drive outcomes.

Influence & Network:
✨ Desirable

Natural influencer with an established global network within the cybersecurity ecosystem, government policy, and international standards.

Commitment & Terms

  • Nature: Voluntary / Pro bono.

  • Duration: 2 years, with option to re-nominate.

  • Time: Estimated average of 1 day per month.

  • Cadence: Includes quarterly meetings (2–3 hours), preparation, and ad-hoc governance advice, with slight increases during the annual review cycle.

Application Process

Nomination Form

Submit your nomination for the Independent Chair position.