I have a confession. When my participation in the ISACA Chair’s Fellowship program was first announced, some of my colleagues and peers assumed I was now sitting on the ISACA Global Board, voting on resolutions and participating in off-site strategy retreats. I did not correct everyone because, in some cases, the conversation moved on, and I was not certain how to explain it accurately.
However, after the fellowship experience, it is time to explain it properly, since the misunderstanding gets in the way of what this program really is.
What was I up to?
In a nutshell, the ISACA Chair’s Fellowship is a development program. It is neither a guaranteed Board seat nor a title that comes with a vote. Fellows are brought into the ISACA governance world, given real assignments, real access and real expectations. Yet, we are not directors. The point is preparation, and the program is ISACA’s way of building the next generation of governance leaders.
When I absorbed the program that way, I stopped viewing fellowship as something I earned. Instead, I started seeing it as something I was invited to be. That mind shift was a game-changer. The program consists of four main pillars: the completion of the NACD Directorship Certification; mentorship by a current ISACA Global Board member; participation in the ISACA Global Leadership Summit (held last year in London); and finally, the one people tend not to expect: I was assigned special tasks related to ISACA’s chapter ecosystem, supporting the ISACA CEO and the Board in their endeavors. Each of these seems manageable on paper. However, they collectively pushed me to new limits.
The NACD Mission: Reframing and Learning
My usual working day is full of audit, governance and risk, and this routine can start as soon as I have my morning coffee. That said, I was under the impression that completing the NACD program would be straightforward, given my experience and background. I was not totally wrong in that assumption, and the content was familiar from different angles. Nevertheless, the program is designed to reframe what you already know and put it in a more relevant context.
As an internal auditor, you are trained to dig deep, find answers, trace issues and reach sound conclusions. On the other hand, at the board level, you are more interested in asking the right questions, exercising oversight without losing sight of the big picture and trusting those who run the show while preserving accountability. The NACD program was great for helping me think like a director who has a holistic view and an understanding of business interests.
Mentorship: Real-Life Discussions
Having a current ISACA Global Board member assigned as a mentor is different from having a friend or colleague you can call for advice. Mentorship has unbeaten value. This mentorship element also extended to other board members on several occasions during the fellowship tenure, and it gave me an honest and more nuanced perspective. I learned not the version of governance that looks nice on paper, but the version that plays out at board meetings. Our frequent discussions tackled what a board member might encounter, how to handle challenging conversations and how the board member ought to remain strategic amid the noise of operational pressures.
I did not fully appreciate the mentorship arrangement until I was inside it. Exchanging individual reflections and thoughts with board members was valuable in forming my perspective on the board. Some might view board membership as an honorary status or a well-deserved reward after a long career journey. In fact, board membership is a demanding role with challenging responsibilities and expectations.
London, and the Moment the Scale Became Real
ISACA’s global reach has always astonished me: 190,000+ members and a presence in nearly 200 countries. I even used these numbers in some presentations. However, the numbers alone do not tell the whole story and do not prepare you for what the Global Leadership Summit felt like. Being in a room where chapter leaders from every corner of the world are working through the same questions was a totally new and remarkable experience.
GLS sessions exposed me to valuable topics and perspectives. Yet, what I gained the most was what happened around the sessions. Coffee chats, lunch meetups and side conversations were enlightening in one way or another. I still remember when a chapter leader from a distant city described a challenge, and I found myself thinking, “We faced the exact same challenge in Jordan.” Before London, I had understood that feeling of common interests in a theoretical sense. After London, I came to understand it personally and profoundly.
Moreover, I left London with a clearer sense of how to represent members I have never met. While managing chapter initiatives, you are familiar with the membership base and you meet members in person frequently. Their questions and thoughts are delivered directly, and trust is gradually built through regular events and activities. At the global level, communication takes different forms, and accountability can be easily underestimated. There are professionals I have never met who rely on ISACA for frameworks, certifications, research and products. What the board decides affects their working lives. Dealing with that responsibility is one of the major lessons I learned.
CEO’s Table: The Untold Story
If I am honest, this is the part of the Fellowship I did not anticipate. As part of the special assignments, I have been engaged in work related to ISACA’s chapter ecosystem: thinking through how chapters operate, where they succeed, where they struggle and what the organization might consider doing differently. This draws directly on years of chapter experience and aims to provide practical recommendations for the global context. In this assignment, you are no longer representing your chapter. You are not even representing your region. You are being asked to think about what is best for the organization and its global membership, full stop.
From Amman to Everywhere
I have been involved with ISACA’s local ecosystem in Jordan for a long time. I was the founding president of the ISACA Amman Chapter and I am now the Vice President of the IIA Jordan Chapter. That community work has been exceptional and meaningful because of what it demanded of me as a person. You cannot lead volunteers without learning patience. You cannot build a chapter community without learning to listen before you speak. You cannot advocate for a profession without believing in the long game.
What blew my mind was the compounding effect of those years. Each chapter event, each talk with a chapter member and each sleepless night for community work has accumulated slowly and steadily. Events with small audiences, though they took days of preparation, were the stepping-stones toward something bigger. The cumulative effect of voluntary work makes the wait worthwhile.
If you are an active volunteer and you have spent time supporting colleagues, running events and possibly building something in your community with little recognition, I have a lesson to share with you: that work is what really matters, and its compounding impact can leave you overwhelmed. The years in Amman were not preparation for the real work. They were the real work. Stay the course because titles follow those who served well before anyone was watching.
