OWASP Candidate Debate - 2025 Edition

What should OWASP become, and which leaders have a credible plan to get it there? In this special 2025 Board of Directors candidate debate, nine candidates present their qualifications and answer the same questions about OWASP's future. The discussion tests concrete ideas for expanding education, improving global and chapter outreach, strengthening project support, finding sustainable funding, and making the Foundation's impact easier to measure. Candidates identify where OWASP performs well, where it falls short, and how they would balance ambitious programs against limited staff and volunteer capacity. Closing statements give each participant a final opportunity to define their priorities. The result is a direct comparison designed to help OWASP members make an informed choice before voting. The Application Security Podcast is brought to you by Security Journey. About Security Journey We help enterprises reduce vulnerabilities through application security education for developers and everyone in the SDLC. → Learn more about Security Journey Connect with OWASP: → OWASP Foundation → 2025 Global Board Elections Mentioned in this episode: → OWASP 2025 Global Board Elections → OWASP Global Board Candidates → OWASP Foundation → OWASP Dependency-Check → OWASP Dependency-Track → OWASP CycloneDX → OWASP Nettacker → OWASP ASVS → OWASP Security Champions Guide Follow the Application Security Podcast: ➜ Home ➜ X ➜ LinkedIn ➜ YouTube ➜ Instagram ➜ Facebook Chapters: 00:00 The 2025 OWASP candidate debate 01:22 Debate format and opening question 02:24 Candidates introduce themselves 13:50 Sam Stepanian's introduction 16:05 Arunesh Salhotra's introduction 18:17 Arvind Janardhanan's introduction 22:02 How should OWASP increase its impact? 28:12 Comparing ideas for greater impact 31:59 What is OWASP doing poorly? 35:27 Project support and Foundation operations 38:57 Using data to increase influence 41:19 Indexing projects and regional review 44:01 Should OWASP grow more chapters? 48:43 A regional ambassador program 51:50 How would candidates fund their plans? 55:03 Corporate support and new funding 58:52 Candidate closing statements 64:37 Education as an OWASP priority 68:05 Debate conclusion Follow the Application Security Podcast: ➜ Home: appsecpodcast.com ➜ X: @AppSecPodcast ➜ LinkedIn: The Application Security Podcast ➜ YouTube: @ApplicationSecurityPodcast ➜ Instagram: @appsecpodcast ➜ Facebook: Application Security Podcast