March 3, 2022 (Brampton, ON) – Today, Mastercard and Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst at Toronto Metropolitan University (“Catalyst”) announced two unique training programs designed to foster inclusion and diversity in the Canadian cybersecurity sector.
Canada is facing a critical shortage of skilled workers in the cybersecurity sector, and women and persons of colour continue to be seriously under-represented in this industry. With Mastercard’s investment of $1.25 million, the new Catalyst training programs will help to address these gaps through:
- Mastercard Emerging Leaders in Cyber Initiative, a unique leadership program designed to support the development of women executive leaders in cybersecurity; and
- Mastercard Cyber Range Capstone Program, an experiential learning program designed to provide learners from demographic groups that are underrepresented in the cybersecurity sector, and who have been or are currently enrolled in the Catalyst’s Accelerated Cybersecurity Training Program, with additional, hands-on cybersecurity training. This will include learners who identify as women, new Canadians and those who are unemployed or underemployed.
Through its contribution to the Catalyst, Mastercard is building on its commitment to supporting Canadian innovation and technology talent, while driving diversity in the cybersecurity sector. This partnership with Catalyst is the latest in a series of cybersecurity-related investments Mastercard has made in Canada, which includes a $510M investment in its new global Intelligence and Cyber Centre of Excellence in Vancouver. The Centre is focused on accelerating innovation in digital and cyber security, data, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things, providing job opportunities for new talent that Mastercard is currently recruiting for.
The Catalyst is a national leader in offering diversity-focused cybersecurity training programs, delivering high-impact programming for women, new Canadians, displaced workers and Indigenous and racialized people professionals. More than sixty percent of Catalyst graduates are women and more than seventy-five percent identify as being from a minority group.
About Mastercard
Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry. Our mission is to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart and accessible. Using secure data and networks, partnerships and passion, our innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments and businesses realize their greatest potential. Our decency quotient, or DQ, drives our culture and everything we do inside and outside of our company. With connections across more than 210 countries and territories, we are building a sustainable world that unlocks priceless possibilities for all.
About the Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst
Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst is Toronto Metropolitan University’s national centre for innovation and collaboration in cybersecurity. Headquartered in Brampton, Ontario, the Catalyst empowers Canadians and Canadian businesses to seize the opportunities and tackle the challenges of cybersecurity. Through its ground-breaking training and certification programs; unique commercial accelerator for Canadian cybersecurity scale-ups; first-of-its-kind cyber range; wide-ranging public education programs; and influential policy development platform, the Catalyst helps drive Canada’s global competitiveness in cybersecurity.
For Media Inquiries
Emilija Businskas
Vice President, Communications
Mastercard
emilija.businskas@mastercard.com
437-244-6282
Jessica Leach
Toronto Metropolitan University
jleach@torontomu.ca
416-704-2166
