Paul Chichester MBE

Paul Chichester MBE has worked in the UK Government Intelligence and Security community for over 30 years. He's had a wide range of roles during this time and been involved in many of the UK's ground breaking cyber operations spanning GCHQ's intelligence, security and effects missions. For those old enough, Paul began his career designing and developing secure operating systems that were assured to TCSEC Orange Book A1 standards! Over many years Paul has also led the creation of a wide suite of operational capabilities that enable the UK to understand and respond to the full range of our cyber adversaries. He has also been involved in every major UK Government cyber investigation from MOONLIGHT MAZE in the late 90s to the present day. Previous to joining the NCSC, Paul was the Technical Director for GCHQ's Cyber Operations and prior to that, Deputy Director for Cyber Defence Operations. Paul is currently the Director of Operations at the UK's National Cyber Security Centre where he is responsible for managing the government's response to nationally significant cyber incidents (such as WannaCry) and ensuring UK Government understands and can counter a wide range of state and non-state cyber threats. In 2005 Paul was awarded the MBE for his ground-breaking contribution to the field of cyber operations

Simon Fell MP

Simon Fell MP was elected as the Member of Parliament for Barrow & Furness in December 2019. Simon’s family have lived in and around Furness since the 1600s, and still do so today. He was born in Preston and has been married to Pippa for many years. They have a daughter and two sons, and he lives in Ulverston.

Simon was Chair of the Barrow and District Credit Union for two years and worked as a director at a not-for-profit company which prevented fraud and other financial crime, and protects vulnerable people from falling victim to fraud and scams. Prior to this, he worked in telecoms, helped run two charities, and also ran his own communications business for a number of years.

Simon is passionate about tackling poverty and homelessness and believes strongly in working in partnership with others to effect change.

Simon graduated from the University of Warwick with Honours in English Literature. Since 2009, he has been a member of the British Council's TN2020 network of future leaders. His mother, father and grandfather all worked at BAE.

Simon was the Conservative candidate for Barrow and Furness in 2015. The campaign he led achieved a swing of over 4% to the Conservatives, reducing the Labour majority to 795. In 2017, he fought Barrow and Furness again, reducing the majority to 209 and achieving a swing of 6.5%.

In June 2016, Simon voted to leave the EU.

Simon is a keen (but really quite bad) runner, a worse cyclist, an avid reader and keeps a tortoise, Herman.

Claire Fry

Claire Fry was appointed Director Functional Integration for the Ministry of Defence Digital Function in February 2021. She works in a pan Defence role providing leadership across the Digital function, including being the Digital Head of Profession. Her aim is to drive functional impact, working closely with the CIO community across Defence to ensure cohesion and integration. Amongst other things her key responsibilities include the £4.4bn Portfolio Digital spend, the Digital governance that reports into the Defence Board and is leading the Digital Skills for Defence Programme, working across Defence and industry to develop ground-breaking Digital skills uplift. Starting off in the private sector, Claire has now worked in Defence for over 20 years, primarily in Digital roles, including working as a Head of CIO in a TLB (setting the Information strategy, driving IT efficiency and delivering business value), leading Digital Programmes and as the IT Head of Profession being responsible for setting up the first Digital Apprenticeship and Graduate programmes and for the professional development of up to 14000 Digital Professionals. She has driven Portfolio development of up to £26Bn and is grounded in ITIL based processes such as Configuration Management, Business Change and driving value from Technology in the business. As a Certified Management Consultant (CMC), running the internal consultancy team for Defence the team was awarded the Institute of Business Consultancy (IBC) premier practice status, delivering business process engineering, organisational development and team building.

Dr Mary Haigh

Dr Mary Haigh is the Global CISO for BAE Systems plc. She is a member of the executive committee for the Defence Cyber Protection Partnership and is a speaker at events around the world, particularly in the area of Responsible Cyber Power. She is also a strong advocate for diversity in cyber security founding R.I.S.E, the women in cyber security cross industry mentoring scheme.

Since joining BAE Systems in 2015 she has held a number of roles including Director of Cyber for BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, responsible for developing the cyber vision and strategy, as well as the roadmap and go to market strategy for the cyber products and services.

Previously, Mary led the Technical Roadmap for the Cyber Security Division in QinetiQ having had various roles since 2001, including heading up the Cyber Security Services business group and the Cross Domain Products business group.

Mary has worked in the cyber security domain since 2009, prior to that working in semiconductors research and then specialising in Intellectual Property management. Her PhD was in semiconductor physics.

Lee Carr

Lee Carr is a Digital Transformation Programme Manager at the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) group of companies which on behalf of the UK government is responsible for cleaning up the UK’s legacy nuclear sites safely and securely. Lee is currently leading an asset management digital transformation programme, developing capabilities within all phases of the nuclear lifecycle to support the safer, faster and more cost-effective delivery of the NDA mission. A Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the IET, Lee has a background in ICT and delivery experience within nuclear power generation, fuel manufacturing, decommissioning, enterprise risk and strategy development.

Tom Chant MBE

Tom Chant MBE was appointed SMI’s Chief Executive in the summer of 2020 having been promoted from the Business Development Director role where he started in 2017.

Tom has been the lead for the UK pavilions at the world’s major maritime exhibitions and created multiple missions and seminars to benefit member companies. Tom will continue to represent the SMI on many industry panels and Maritime UK working groups focussing on the needs of the engineering and business services sector.

Tom has a long association with the marine industry having been an active sailor and student of boatbuilding in Southampton. His career has encompassed a wide range of market sectors and he has gathered experience of business development, marketing and distribution in an international business environment. A nine year period at the trade body for the leisure, superyacht and workboat sector was committed to developing the members’ export business.

Adam Coe

Adam is a defence and security civil servant and strategist, currently with the Department for Health and Social Care leading cyber security in adult social care. As chair of the government-funded, sector-delivered, Better Security Better Care Programme, he’s overseen 1000s of care organisations supported to gain awareness, understanding and achieve cyber compliance standards. He’s a co-author of the recent Health and Care Cyber Strategy, which sets out a vision for expanding the support available to this unique, often misunderstood, and critical sector. He’s previously worked in defence strategy for the MOD, where he wrote the MOD’s Climate Change and Sustainability Strategy as well as leading many other MOD initiatives, such as setting up the department’s priority projects function. He’s worked closely with Ministers, as well as with NHS, military and scientific research leadership. He’s a keen volunteer across social causes and is currently involved with the Listening Place, a suicide prevention charity. He still reads a lot, despite the English Literature degree now being a distant memory.

Bill Egerton LVE

Bill Egerton LVE is the Chief Cyber Officer of Astaara, an integrated insurance services and risk management advisory business incorporating cyber risk advisory, underwriting and analytics. After 10 years in the UK's Diplomatic service, Bill has spent the past 25 years in and around defence and industrial cyber-security. His experience includes both in-house and in consulting roles. An MA from Cambridge University and an MBA from Imperial College London, comfortable in French, Spanish and Russian, Bill combines his real world experience with technical understanding built up through years of close interaction with the technical community. As Astaara's Chief Cyber Officer Bill has developed bespoke risk assessment models for the marine community which allow Astaara to be market leaders in marine cyber insurance.

Stuart Frost BEM

Stuart Frost, BEM, is head of Enterprise Security and Risk Management within the UK Civil Service. A vastly experienced Security and Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) professional with extensive sector knowledge and significant experience of delivering successful risk-based security programmes, across large scale, geographically dispersed organisations, and their interconnected and complex supply chains.

Stuart has won multiple industry awards for his work in the GRC space and is adept at integrating all security disciplines to enable a holistic approach in support of business objectives.

He was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) in 2017 for his services to the local community.

Professor Basil Germond

Professor Basil Germond is a Chair in International Security at Lancaster University with over 15 years of experience as a researcher in naval and maritime affairs. He has widely published on maritime security, seapower, and navies in international relations. He has advised Government and Parliament on questions related to the maritime dimension of Global Britain as well as the impacts of climate change on maritime crime. Basil is the newly appointed Co-Director of the Security Lancaster research institute.

Dan Hasted

Dan Hasted is currently a superintending Inspector Nuclear Security at the Office for Nuclear Regulation. He graduated from Loughborough University in 1996 and was commissioned into the Royal Marines, saw operational service in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq and specialised in command, control and communications and electronic warfare. After a foray into sales and recruitment he joined the Office for Nuclear Regulation in 2009 and has since undertaken a range of nuclear security regulatory roles, including the lead security regulator for emergency preparedness and response, for the UK’s generating nuclear power stations and for implementing the world’s first outcome-focussed nuclear security regulatory regime. He is currently the lead security regulator, covering physical, personnel and cyber, for Sellafield Ltd, including supporting development of HMG policy for secure management of the world’s largest stockpile of separated plutonium. If he had spare time Dan would be hill walking with his whippets, wild swimming or finding a balance between neatness and wildlife in his garden.

Simon Hepburn

Simon Hepburn is a 25-year veteran of the charity, education and careers sector and current Chief Executive Officer for the UK Cyber Security Council. Having previously been chief executive of a charity and founded two others, Simon has also held director positions with a variety of national and international charities, academy trusts and businesses. He was also a Trustee Board member of ACEVO (Association for Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations),was an Enterprise Advisor for the Greater London Authority and has also sat on the BBC Charities Advisory Board.

Simon is an active member of the CyBOK (Cyber Body of Knowledge) Steering Group and the Cyber Growth Partnership Group to ensure that the work of Council is informed and informing the wider cyber security profession.

Through his work experience's Simon has developed an impressive network of contacts with colleagues at all levels in organisations and Government. Simon is passionate about making a positive impact on society and making a difference to the lives of young people and adults supporting them to be the best versions of themselves.

Dr Paul Jones

Dr Paul Jones is the Chief Digital Information Officer at Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust where he leads a team of 450 digital and information professionals. He is on the Executive Team and the Board of the Trust. He is also the Chief Information Officer of the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board. Paul has held senior IT roles in the public and private sector including being group CIO for Serco and the Chief Technology Officer for the NHS in England.

Salma Karim

Salma Karim, Head of the Human Capital and Innovation Department, since 2019 at the Digital Development Agency in Morocco (ADD), a public entity in charge of implementing the Government's digital development strategy and promoting digital tools and their use among the public and private sectors and the citizens.

Through her demonstrated experience in public policy and strategic program implementation in the field of digital education, employability and innovation, Salma has initiated considerable change in education and training sectors as well as research and innovation in Morocco.

In 2019, salma contributed to the creation of the first national applied scientific research program in artificial intelligence and big data called “Al Khawarzimi” with 45 applied scientific research projects in sectoral AI from 12 national research institutions and a research community of 150 scientists.

Salma is in charge of the Digital Generation Strategic plan that sparked multiple innovations in the training and education sector in Morocco.

Steve Kennett

Steve Kennett served 23 years in the RAF as a telecommunications engineer, he specialised in electronic warfare and cryptography and has an extensive Cyber and Information security background. Steve is a highly accomplished senior executive, with over 20 years’ extensive operational experience operating at C level in a variety of senior roles at Kcom, Centrica and Ofcom, Jisc and Kingspan. As the Kingspan Group Head of Cyber security, Steve is responsible for overseeing a range of technical and process security controls and leading a programme of continuous improvement to support Kingspan’s €8.5Bn global business. Steve was the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for a Jisc the UK national research and Education network provider responsible for Cyber Security engineering and operations, and management and governance of Cyber risk and Cyber Security.

Louisa-Jayne O'Neill

Louisa-Jayne O’Neill is an experienced policy and strategy adviser with a career spanning diplomacy, central government, commercial consultancy and the non-profit sector.  Her background is in global political risk, managing uncertainty and delivering strategic change. She has delivered advice at Ministerial level and to the Boards of FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 corporations on regulatory, political and reputational issues in jurisdictions including UK, EU, India and China.  Working closely with the Cyber Security, Information Assurance and Information Governance community, she has also led transformation and outreach programmes in both Government and NGO environments. Her analytical skills, often requiring the assimilation of large volumes of material to tight deadlines, are complemented by a clear and persuasive communications style.  Louisa-Jayne is comfortable presenting information to a range of audiences, translating complex technical messages to make them comprehensible to the layperson, at all points in the hierarchy.  A demonstrable self-starter, Louisa-Jayne has experience of leading and developing teams and works with a number of mentoring initiatives. 

Craig Pollard

Craig Pollard has been in his current role for two years, managing a number of Public Sector accounts including NCSC and Cabinet Office. Craig has over 30 years Government and Private Sector experience in Defence and Intelligence, having previously been a Board Member with CESG (Head of Customer Service and Head of Industry Relations), Head of Cyber Security for Lockheed Martin UK, and worked as a Principal Consultant in the Risk Consulting practice of KPMG. Most recently Craig worked at QinetiQ where he ran the Critical National Infrastructure Vertical and managed the Smart Metering SOC account. Bringing a broad set of skills and experiences into the role, Craig is an advocate of looking at cyber security risk holistically, from the perspective of people, process and technology. Engaging with senior leadership teams and decision makers in the public sector, he is committed to helping Boards understand how to manage cyber security risk in their day-to-day operations.

Andrew Roughan

Andrew is Plexal’s CEO and focuses on helping government and industry unlock the potential of science and technology. Under Andrew’s leadership, Plexal works with some of the most influential UK government departments and global tech companies to deliver innovation projects like the LORCA accelerator, NCSC For Startups, Cyber Runway and a telecoms challenge that’s exploring the role of SMEs in a diversified telecoms market. Plexal has supported the design of the Omantel accelerator, and run a series of programmes for the UK Oman Digital Hub in partnership with the British Embassy in Muscat.

Andrew has spent the predominant part of his career in technology infrastructure sectors driving business transformation for enterprise clients and major cities.

Before joining Plexal he was the chief operating officer at Here East, where he was responsible for creating an ecosystem where large and small companies collide and helping Here East deliver on its legacy goals following the 2012 Olympic Games.

Marco Ryan

Mark (Marco) Ryan is the SVP digital (customers and markets) for BP globally, responsible for all of the digital activity in Gas, Low Carbon, Renewables, Financial Trading, shipping, Electric vehicles, Castrol, Aviation and Mobility and Convenience. He accountabilities include all the digital, software engineering and technology solutions – including cyber resilience – across this significant portfolio. He was previously CDO bp (Downstream) and before that the CDO and CISO for Wärtsilä- a maritime and energy company. he has held a Non-Executive Directorship of Fortum Oy Abp, the Nordics leading energy company. He holds a UK GCHQ Accreditation in Cybersecurity for Non-Executive Directors. He is an acknowledged global digital executive and leader, digital strategist, conference speaker, start-up mentor and lecturer that was recognised by Forbes Magazine in 2014 as one of the top 10 global marketing influencers. His focus is on leading organisations through cyber secure digital transformation to drive profitable growth, return on Investment and EBITDA improvement.

Captain Naoki Saito

Naoki Saito is presently Head of Cyber Security Team and General Manager of ClassNK’s Maritime Education and Training Certification Department. He received a B.Sc. in navigation systems from Tokyo University of Mercantile Marine in 1995 and was engaged in on-board training for maritime cadets at the National Institute for Sea Training. Captain Saito has a total of seventeen years of industry experience not only as a navigation officer but also as a maritime lecturer. He received his Master Mariner certificate in 2001 and earned his M.Sc. in maritime affairs in 2004 from the World Maritime University in Sweden founded by the IMO. In 2013, he was promoted to Professor at the National Institute for Sea Training and in the same year, joined ClassNK to establish the certification services of maritime education and training. Captain Saito is a member of the Nautical Institute and Team Leader of Maritime Working Group in Transportation ISAC (Information Sharing And Analysis Center) Japan.

Zeshan Sattar

Zeshan Sattar has worked across a range of technical roles including the service desk as the first line of defence to a systems administrator with responsibility to architect and monitor secure networks for digital-first organisations. His role at CompTIA includes bringing together a range of organisations to work collaboratively and share best practice to ensure a diverse cyber resilient workforce. Zeshan spearheaded the creation of the award winning Cyber Ready programme which is designed to help individuals gain the knowledge, skills, and certifications to enter, build, and supercharge their cyber security careers.