Dorian J. Cougias Appointed as U.S. Head of Delegation to the ISO/IEC JTC 1 Working Group on Governance of IT Meeting

Lafayette, CA – August 20, 2013 – Dorian J. Cougias, Unified Compliance Framework co-founder, was elected by the InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) to the officer position of International Representative to the INCITS/GIT1 Technical Committee on Corporate Governance. The INCITS is the mirror group to the ISO/IEC JTC 1 working group (WG8) further developing the "Governance of IT" standard (ISO/IEC 38500). Cougias will also serve as the U.S.  Head of Delegation to the international meeting being held in Tokyo, August 18th through the 22nd.

The working group falls under ISO/IEC JTC 1, the standards development environment where experts come together to develop worldwide Information and Communication Technology (ICT) standards for business and consumer applications.

As defined, ISO/IEC 38500 is intended to encompass the corporate governance of information technology standard and is applicable to organizations of all sizes, including public and private companies, government entities, and not-for-profit organizations. Aligning with the ‘Report of the Committee on the Financial Aspects of Corporate Governance’ in 1992 (also known as the Cadbury Report), ISO/IEC 38500 provides a framework for effective governance of IT, assisting those at the highest level of organizations to understand and fulfill their legal, regulatory, and ethical obligations in respect to their organizations’ use of information technology.

As the INCITS/GIT1 International Representative, Mr. Cougias will:

• review all documents related to the working group’s needs including pertinent standards from groups of international, regional and foreign national organizations;
• review subgroup meeting resolutions and documents, and establish suspense control for comments, technical contributions, and votes;
• report the status of international work at each of the U.S. subgroup meetings;
• prepare all draft responses and contributions for further action by the U.S. subgroup; and
• ensure the U.S. subgroup forms and approves U.S. delegations in a timely manner.

As the U.S. Head of Delegation to the upcoming Tokyo meeting, Mr. Cougias is bringing his working knowledge of applicable and international issues as well as the official U.S. position on these topics. He will introduce the U.S. Delegation and serve as the chief spokesperson for the U.S. at the international meeting. Upon his return, Cougias will brief the U.S. subgroup on the happenings and outcomes of the international meeting and will continue to contribute as a valued member of the U.S. subgroup.

“This is a fantastic time to get involved with the further development of ISO standards, especially this standard,” said Cougias. “There is no better time to be involved in the development of standards on the corporate governance of information technology. Having harmonized almost 1,000 Authority Documents so far, the Unified Compliance Framework team has a firm grasp of the issues surrounding not only corporate governance but also their fit within the realms of compliance, security, and risk at a global level. My participation in this group is a way for the Unified Compliance Framework team to give back to the standards development community which has given us so much.”

About the UCF

The Unified Compliance Framework was created by Dorian Cougias and his research partner, Marcelo Halpern of the international law firm Perkins Coie, which oversees all legal aspects of the UCF. More information can be found at unifiedcompliance.com.

By applying the scientific method to compliance -- rigorously testing best practices and methodologies as well as analyzing and organizing information into a rational format – the UCF is a logical approach to IT compliance that reduces cost, limits liability, simplifies the compliance process and leverages the value of related technologies and services across the enterprise.

About INCITS

The InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) is the forum of choice for information technology developers, producers and users for the creation and maintenance of formal IT standards. INCITS is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). INCITS is sponsored by the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), a global advocacy and policy organization that represents the world’s leading innovation companies.