Turning Cybersecurity into a Game Pays off for Latest Pearcey Awardees

The Pearcey Foundation today announced Pieter Danhieux and Fatemah Beydoun, co-founders of Secure Code Warrior, as joint recipients of the 2026 NSW Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year Award. The award was presented at an event in Sydney tonight by Laura O'Reilly OAM, who received the award in 2021.

Pieter Danhieux and Fatemah Beydoun, together with Colin Wong and Jaap Karan Singh, co-founded Secure Code Warrior in Sydney in 2015 based on a simple belief that fixing vulnerabilities after code is written doesn't scale. Pieter spent more than 20 years as an ethical hacker and SANS instructor and Fatemah came from cyber security practice management background.

Secure Code Warrior now has more than 230 staff with a global platform making code "secure by design" by turning training and best practice into a game. They built a global market from Australia with 600 business customers including JPMorgan Chase, Atlassian and Cisco, and over 400,000 developers on the platform.

In March 2026, they started refocusing the business on governing AI-generated code, launching Trust Agent: AI and in July launched Citizen AI: a new AI literacy program designed specifically for non-developer employees who use AI in advanced, high-impact ways.

"Pieter and Fatemah are exactly what the Pearcey Awards are about. Secure Code Warrior is a Sydney-built company that took on a global problem and is changing how the world's developers write secure code, now including code written by AI," said Benjamin Chong, partner at Right Click Capital and chair of the NSW Pearcey judging committee.

"The Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year Award is a great way to spotlight emerging and established tech talent, and it means a lot to me that our local innovators are being recognised. It's not easy building a thriving global tech business, but we have a lot of smart people in this country and I'm happy to be part of showcasing our unique spirit in front of our international peers," said Danhieux.

The Pearcey NSW Entrepreneur Award is presented to an outstanding individual (or individuals) who has "taken a risk, made a difference and is an inspiration to others" in the NSW ICT industry. The process draws on nominations from the public and the Pearcey Foundation network. Selection is made in consultation with past award recipients to ensure the continued integrity and quality of this peer-based recognition.

About Pieter Danhieux

Pieter is a globally recognised cybersecurity expert with over 25 years of experience and is the co-founder of NVISO.eu and BruCON.org, and co-founder and CEO of Secure Code Warrior.

He has more than 12 years of hands-on experience in the finance and defence industries, as well as eight years as a principal instructor at SANS, teaching offensive techniques on how to target and assess organisations, systems, and individuals for security weaknesses. In 2016, he was recognised as one of the Coolest Tech people in Australia (Business Insider), awarded Cyber Security Professional of the Year (AISA - Australian Information Security Association), and used to hold GSE, CISSP, GCIH, GCFA, GSEC, GPEN, GWAPT, GCIA certifications, before he stopped caring and let them all expire.

About Fatemah Beydoun

As co-founder and Senior Vice President of Customer Success and Operations, Fatemah is responsible for turning Secure Code Warrior's customers into its biggest advocates, improving customer success maturity, and leading the customer success teams globally. She also advocates for women in cybersecurity

Prior to Secure Code Warrior, Fatemah held security analyst, operations management, and national director roles at BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, and the Australian Information Security Association (AISA), a not-for-profit organisation that aims to improve cybersecurity in Australia at a government, industry, and community level. Fatemah holds a Bachelor of Science in Computing and Information Systems from Macquarie University.

2026 Finalists

Pieter and Fatemah were chosen from a shortlist of 2026 finalists, based on votes from NSW Pearcey Hall of Fame members who comprise previous recipients and finalists for the NSW Pearcey Awards.

Dr Benjamin Coorey, Archistar

Dr Benjamin Coorey is an architect with a PhD in architecture and technology. He founded Archistar in Sydney in 2010. Its AI PreCheck automatically checks building plans against planning and building codes, and it is in production with more than 30 municipalities across Australia, the US and Canada. Los Angeles adopted it in 2025 to speed up rebuilding permits after the January fires, and 13 NSW councils use its Precinct Planner. Benjamin's work shows how Australian AI can modernise government and help communities rebuild faster.

Dr Will Crowe, HEO

Dr Will Crowe founded HEO in 2016 while completing a UNSW PhD in astrodynamics, and took it through UNSW Founders 10x and Y Combinator. HEO created a new category of commercial non-Earth imaging: it uses cameras on orbiting spacecraft to photograph satellites and other space objects for governments and defence. It holds the first NOAA Tier-3 licence for this kind of imaging and has a customer contract worth more than US$100m over five years. In September 2026 HEO raised A$37m in Series B funding, including A$10m from the National Reconstruction Fund. Will is a model for turning university research into a global sovereign capability.

Robert Dane, Ocius Technology

Robert Dane is a mariner and inventor whose solarsail-powered hybrid ferries served the Sydney 2000 Olympics. In 2014 he turned his company towards defence autonomy as Ocius. Ocius builds Bluebottle, an uncrewed surface vessel powered by sun, wind and waves, in Sydney and the Hunter. In March 2026 the Royal Australian Navy ordered 40 more Bluebottles under a A$176m contract, taking its fleet to 55 and creating 50 manufacturing jobs. Robert's decade of patient work shows how sovereign autonomous capability can be built in NSW.

Ada Guan, RDC.AI

Ada Guan is CEO and co-founder of RDC.AI, which provides agentic, predictive intelligence for commercial and business banking. Its platform, RDC.AI Cowork, brings bankers and governed AI agents together on complex, high-value lending decisions. RDC.AI works with leading banks including Westpac, BNZ and M&T Bank across APAC and North America, and received The Digital Banker AI Innovation Award 2025 and was a Finnies 2026 finalist. With over 20 years in financial services and software, Ada is passionate about expanding access to credit. Before founding RDC.AI in 2016, she led Oracle's Global Client Advisor team, advising boards and C-suites at some of the world's largest banks. Ada is an INSEAD-certified international director and holds an EMBA from AGSM and a Master of Computer Engineering from UNSW.

National Pearcey Awards

As the NSW Pearcey Award recipients, Danhieux and Beydoun will represent the State in the Pearcey National Awards to be held on 2 December.

For more information about previous NSW Pearcey Entrepreneur Award winners, go to https://pearcey.org.au/nsw.

Other State Awards

ACT Awards: Rachel Gately and Michael Gately, co-founders of Trellis Data, were chosen as joint recipients of the 2026 ACT Chief Minister's Pearcey Entrepreneur Award. More details on PRWire here.

Queensland Awards: Dr Padma Gadiyar, founder and CEO of Smilo.ai, received the 2026 Queensland Pearcey ICT Entrepreneur Award. More details on PRWire here.

South Australian Awards: nominations can be submitted at https://www.pearcey.org.au/awards/nominations/state-nomination-form. 

Tasmanian Awards: nominations can be submitted at https://www.pearcey.org.au/awards/nominations/state-nomination-form.

Victorian Awards: the award was presented to Aconex and Firmable co-founder Leigh Jasper. More details on PRWire here.

Western Australian Awards: Professor Girish Dwivedi, cardiologist, academic leader and health technology entrepreneur, was the recipient of the 2026 Western Australian Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year Award. The award was presented as part of the 35th annual WAITTA INCITE Awards, Western Australia's longest running tech awards program. More details on PRWire here.

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About the Pearcey Foundation
The Pearcey Foundation Inc. is a non-profit organisation established in 1998 to raise the profile of the Australian Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry and profession. It was created in the memory of one of the greatest pioneers of the Australian ICT industry, Dr Trevor Pearcey. By celebrating the heroes in our industry, past present and future, the Foundation is looking to attract and encourage young Australians into this most exciting of global high technology sectors of our nation.

Web: www.pearcey.org.au

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