It is humbling to administer an award that honors the legacy of Vittorio Bertocci, who had a remarkable impact on the internet as we know it – and on the lives and careers of so many in the profession.
For this year’s Vittorio Bertocci award, DIAF welcomed applications from an incredible group of people. Combined, they have contributed to countless standards, founded important mission-driven companies, and forged new paths of innovation. As always, our judges faced tough choices. We are grateful to every applicant because they are all living Vittorio’s legacy through their work every day.
I was truly impressed by the quality of the candidates for the Vittorio Bertocci Award this year. Many of them are already leaders in digital identy: with clear vision and strong execution, they are making a difference in the field. I look forward to the impacts they will have over the course of their careers.
-Mike Jones, Self-Issued Consulting and a DIAF Judge
Join us in celebrating this year’s winners, who truly demonstrate those impacts: Apoorva Deshpande and Chris Phillips
Apoorva Deshpande
Apoorva Deshpande is a hands-on engineering leader and a technology enthusiast with a strong background in workforce identity, Zero Trust, and cloud services. Having earned a reputation for driving results, Apoorva has successfully led teams to develop and deliver secure, cutting-edge Identity Management solutions that delight customers. His passion for technology and security extends beyond his organizational role, as he actively contributes to the IETF and OpenID Foundation’s working groups and specifications, helping to shape the future of digital identity standards.
“In an era of sophisticated attacks, real-time threat detection and response are no longer optional – they are foundational. The Vittorio Bertocci Award will enable me to continue working towards a unified, standards-based approach that allows the entire industry to raise its collective security baseline. It allows me to honor Vittorio’s legacy by continuing to build a more open, secure, and interoperable digital world.”
Chris Phillips
Chris is an independent Identity Architect and principal at Adiuco, with over 15 years of experience spanning IAM operations, standards development, and federation stewardship. He has contributed to the creation and operations of national identity federations, co-authored open-source identity infrastructure that is widely used in research and education, and helped develop the IDPro exam, where he is also a Certified Identity Professional.
Chris is co-founder of verime.coop, advancing privacy-preserving researcher identity proofing, and is also working on bridging digital identity and AI. His recent work explores applying specifications such as OpenID Connect Federation to new trust models in AI, including Model Context Protocol (MCP) and agent-to-agent interactions.
“Being awarded the Vittorio Bertocci Award is a true honor. I was fortunate to collaborate with Vittorio and many colleagues in creating the IDPro exam which was a unique moment of shared focus and vision to grow capacity in digital identity. This award offers another opportunity to engage in that same spirit, and to help advance identity in the emerging AI space.“