Distinguished Lifetime Members

Andrew has been involved with OWASP since near the beginning 25 years ago. He has been a project leader for several flagship projects, a chapter leader, an ex-Board member, and is currently the Executive Director of the OWASP Foundation.

When Christian Folini made his debut at the OWASP AppSec conference in Milan in 2007, he quickly found himself invited to share his insights on a panel discussing the emerging PCI DSS Web Application Firewall (WAF) requirements. During the years, he has evolved into a cornerstone of the open-source WAF community. As the author of the second edition of the ModSecurity Handbook he is one of the go-to experts for all things rule language. Folini introduced groundbreaking concepts such as the OWASP CRS Paranoia Levels and the notion of strict siblings. His innovative spirit led to the design of the CRS plugin architecture and the inception of the CRS dev-on-duty program. Moreover, Folini played a key role in transitioning ModSecurity to become a part of the OWASP Foundation. Beyond his contributions to OWASP, Christian Folini is a member of the steering committee for the Swiss National Cyber Strategy. He is also the public face of the Swiss Cyber Storm conference and continues to shape the cybersecurity landscape both in Switzerland and on a global level.

Outside of his day job as an AppSec practitioner, Josh has been involved with OWASP in many different roles. This includes serving as a co-leader of the Israel chapter (and co-organizing the legendary AppSecIL conference), serving as a member of the events committee, and also working as a co-leader of the OWASP ASVS project.

Sebastien (Seba) Deleersnyder, co-founder and CTO of Toreon, combines software engineering expertise with a passion for holistic product security. After earning his Master’s in Software Engineering from the University of Ghent, he became a driving force in the security community as founder of the Belgian OWASP chapter, OWASP Foundation Board member, and co-founder of BruCON, Belgium’s annual security conference. His leadership of OWASP SAMM and decade-long role as a highly-rated Black Hat trainer have significantly impacted global software security.

From the early days of OWASP, Daniel has been on a relentless quest to build software so secure that even he might struggle to hack it (but don’t count on it). Self-diagnosed with an obsession for bugs and offensive operations, he’s turned his penchant for poking holes into a crusade for making vendors shape up. By channeling his mischief into the ASVS and other cunning initiatives, he’s been plotting to save the software world—one responsible vendor at a time.

2006: Attending my first OWASP AppSec conference, the OWASP AppSec in Belgium (and only missed two since) 2007: Joining the OWASP Netherlands Chapter Board 2008: First time presenting at an OWASP conference, the OWASP Australia Security Conference at Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia 2008: Chairing the OWASP Education committee, as result of attending the first OWASP Summit in Portugal 2009: Co-organizing the first OWASP BeNeLux-Day, and all of them since 2010: First active involvement in an OWASP AppSec conference, hosting the CTF in Sweden 2011: Co-organizing the OWASP Summit 2011 2015: Conference Chair of the OWASP Global AppSec EU in Amsterdam 2017: Joining the OWASP Global Foundation Board of DIrectors, until 2022 2019: Joining the OWASP Europe Board Over the years, I have been promoting, mentoring and supporting OWASP in general; the various projects, chapters and events. The leaders, organizers, members and volunteers. Anyone trying to find their way into AppSec.

Executive Director of Asterisk Research, Inc., OWASP Lifetime Member, a Japan Chapter Lead, Contributor, MBA, CISA, CSA holder

Tanya Janca, aka SheHacksPurple, is the best-selling author of ‘Alice and Bob Learn Secure Coding’, ‘Alice and Bob Learn Application Security’ and ‘Cards Against AppSec’. Over her 28-year IT career she has won countless awards (including OWASP Lifetime Distinguished Member and Hacker of the Year), spoken all over the planet, and is a prolific blogger. Tanya has trained thousands of software developers and IT security professionals, via her online academies (We Hack Purple and Semgrep Academy), and her live training programs. Having performed counter-terrorism, led security for the 52nd Canadian general election, developed or secured countless applications, Tanya Janca is widely considered an international authority on the security of software.

Jim Manico has been deeply involved in the OWASP community for more than two decades, beginning his volunteer journey in 2003. Over the years he has taken on a wide range of leadership and hands-on roles. - Global Governance. Elected to OWASP’s Global Board of Directors (2011 – 2014), where he helped shape the foundation’s strategic direction, fundraising model, and community-driven governance. - OWASP Cheat Sheet Series (2009 – present) - Co-founder and long-time project manager, coordinating dozens of security cheat sheets that distill complex topics into actionable, developer-friendly guidance. - OWASP Application Security Verification Standard (ASVS) & Artificial Intelligence Security Verification Standard (AISVS) - Core contributor and project manager, ensuring that both standards remain technically rigorous, developer-centric, and mapped to modern threat landscapes. - Regular contributor to other flagship initiatives, including the OWASP Top Ten and Proactive Controls. - Community Building & Education. A frequent keynote speaker and trainer at AppSec USA, AppSec EU, and dozens of local OWASP chapters, Jim has delivered hundreds of secure-coding workshops worldwide, championing open knowledge and evidence-based practices. - Recognition. Honored with OWASP’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2023) for sustained, high-impact service—a testament to his belief in the foundation’s mission of “making software security visible, so that individuals and organizations can make informed decisions. A true believer in OWASP’s open, vendor-neutral ethos, Jim remains an active contributor, mentor, and evangelist—continuing to advance the state of software security through community-driven standards, education, and tooling.

Ricardo co-lead and contributed extensively to the OWASP Zap project.

Rick is a long time project leader of the flagship OWASP Web Security Testing Guide and the OWASP Vulnerable Web Applications Directory project, and a major volunteer on the projects committee and elsewhere.

Simon for the longest time served as the project leader of the flagship OWASP Zap project, on the project committee and way more besides.