Paul Cashmore

Paul Cashmore is Managing Director & co-Founder of Solace Global Limited. Paul has over 20 years of experience in organically building technology service organization to a global scale. Prior to founding Solace Cyber, Paul was responsible for directing a department of 250 technical delivery staff for a £240 million+ converged IT service provider. Paul is renowned for his ability to create effective, costs efficient and results-driven services.

John Cook

John Cook headed up the Assurance function in Defence for twelve years, during which time he led on the data handling review for the department, the response to Sir Edmund Burton’s review and the subsequent change programme that led to the ICO lifting the enforcement notice on the MoD, imposed as a result of the review. He has worked extensively with other Government departments and Cabinet Office to develop risk management and technical assurance methods. A common theme throughout this work was helping board members understand cyber risk and to prioritise investment. Prior to moving to Accreditation and Assurance he spent 6 years as the MOD’s Information Advisor where he was accountable for Information Strategy and the Programme Management of a portfolio of IS enabled departmental change programmes, including Defence Electronic Commerce. John’s early career was as an electrical engineer, specialising in ground radar and communications systems before moving onto systems analysis and design. John left the civil service after 38 years June and is now working with Templar Associates and Lancaster University.

Michelle Corrigan

Michelle Corrigan is the Programme Director for Better Security, Better Care – the multi award winning, national programme supporting all CQC registered adult social care providers in England to improve their data and cyber security. Michelle oversees the programme, which is supported by DHSC and NHS Transformation Directorate.

Michelle has spent 15 years in and alongside the social care sector with a background rooted in operational delivery and innovation within adult and children’s social care. She has worked on national telehealth and telecare programmes as well as the roll out of GDPR in the sector. Prior to joining the Better Security, Better Care programme, Michelle was at Family Action leading their national services including PAC UK, FOOD Clubs and FamilyLine.

Darren Earnshaw

Darren Earnshaw is a Technology Programme Director in Barclays leading on the technology development of the next generation of consumer banking solutions. Having been with Barclays for 18 years in a number of roles, Darren was previously the Barclays CIO for UK Lending and has also led Barclays Retail launches in new countries in respect of technology infrastructure delivery.

Based in Barclays’ UK Technology Campus near Manchester, Darren has a focus on driving the Bank’s innovation agenda and has developed a number of collaborations with the regional tech community - universities, public sector, investors and other corporates. Darren is an advisor and mentor to several start-ups (EdTech & FinTech).

He is also a Trustee for Age UK Cheshire.

Prior to Barclays, Darren held management roles at Misys, PwC and IBM.

Mike Fell

Mike Fell OBE is Director, National Cyber Security Operations at NHS England. Mike has spent 15 years in range of security roles for the UK Government. He has accountability for the security of NHS England’s systems and the cyber resilience of the wider Health & Social Care System.

Prior to this Mike spent six years as the Head of Cyber Security Operations and latterly as Deputy Chief Security Officer for HMRC. Previous roles have included work with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in Afghanistan, MOD, and in helping to secure the 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games. He is proud to be a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Information Security.

Mike is passionate about helping people protect themselves from cyber threats, regularly talking about the topic including on national TV and Radio.

Dan Jeffrey

Dan Jeffrey is a Managing Director at Daintta and previously Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and Deputy Chief Information Officer for NHS Blood and Transplant and lead for the NHS’s National Cyber Programme from post WannaCry through to the 2^nd wave of COVID when he was at NHS Digital.

In the NHS, Dan was accountable for the secure design, delivery, and operational running of the technology and infrastructure that underpins the NHS’ Blood, Organ, Tissue, and Plasma services, a significant amount of which is underpinned by Critical National Infrastructure assets. Dan was accountable for the Cyber Security of the organisation as a whole and had responsibility across people, processes and technology.

Dan joined the Daintta Senior Leadership team as a Managing Director for strategic growth in 2023, with Daintta recently being included in the Tussell techUK Tech200 list of the 200 fastest growing technology companies in the UK public sector. He is also on the Technical Advisory Committee for the Cyber Monitoring Centre and is a Cyber Leader in Residence at Lancaster University where he teaches on the NCSC Accredited CEMBA and Master's Courses.

Richard Law

Richard Law is Tech Futures Lead at Northrop Grumman Corporation. Richard is a seasoned technology professional with 24 years of industry experience. He began his career at IBM in the Advanced Solutions Group, where he supported web application development. He then spent the next decade at QA, leading teams in web application development and advanced new media (AR/VR/MR, photogrammetry, etc.), while providing multi-domain technical consultancy for MOD and related customers. Subsequently, Richard joined RINA (Aerospace & Defence), where he managed multiple teams specialising in web and mobile applications, advanced new media, and digital consultancy, with expertise in IoT, digital twins, and digital transformation. In early 2024, Richard Joined Northrop Grumman as Tech Futures Lead, where he works with the Tech Director, Chief Technologists and Chief Engineers, in collaboration with academia and Small/Medium Enterprises to understand the current perspectives on state-of-the-art technology, enabling NG to solve current and future challenges with disruptive tech.

Scott Manson

Scott Manson is Director for Cyber Security in UKI Cisco. Scott currently leads the go-to-market for Cisco’s Cyber Security services and products portfolio, across the UKI. The team he leads is responsible for supporting Cisco customers ensure they are secure by design across the multitude of different Cisco architectures and products.

His team is focussed on positioning platform conversations for customers to address Cyber vendor sprawl in their environments and the complexity that comes with having 100+ of point products that are not co-ordinated.

The aim is to use Cisco’s broad expertise in Cyber Security to reduce the attack surface and raise the maturity and efficacy of customer’s cyber defences.

Scott has over 24 years of experience in Information Technology sales and consulting. His technology background includes Data Center, Networking, Middleware, Cloud and SaaS solutions and is ITIL certified and versed in the principles of Business Service Management (BSM).

Louisa Jayne O’Neill

Louisa-Jayne (L-J) O’Neill is a Director of Templar Executives, an international, award winning global Cyber Security advisory company. Her background is in international security and defence, first with the Foreign Office then the Cabinet Office. She then worked with a strategic political advisory firm offering global insights to Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 businesses across a range of sectors.

She has held Non Executive roles, including Vice Chair of a not for profit bringing together business, government and academia on issues of cyber security, and with a trade body providing advice to insurers, re-insurers and wealth managers. She holds a Master's in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School and contributes to the development and delivery of the Cyber Executive MBA at Lancaster University, certified by the NCSC.

At Templar Executives, Louisa-Jayne has worked with a range of organisations, including healthcare and defence, delivering Board briefings and SIRO training and mentoring, as well as supporting organisations to achieve the required cyber security standards.

Reena Pathak

Reena Pathak is Director, Cyber Resilience at Centrica PLC. Reena’s career experience includes working across several areas of IT and information security which has provided her a hands-on technical and strategic view. Her specialisms include security leadership in cyber defence, cyber incident response and resilience, supply chain security and organisational security strategy development. Her approach is led by a core understanding of business risks and strategy which enables her to tailor security outcomes to support the achievement of business objectives.

Career experience includes professional services, consultancy, and industry positions specialising in the financial services and energy sectors. Most recently Reena led the establishment of a security function covering all capabilities in a financial services firm as the Head of Information Security. Reena specialises in security transformation scenarios that involve root cause analysis, setting security strategy, establishing structure, promoting collaboration, and garnering support from Boards and Executive Committees.

Reena is proudly female, ethnic, comes from a working-class socio-economic background and a working parent. Having a diverse background has enabled her to set-up diverse teams very naturally with a focus on providing equity to all and celebrating everyone’s individuality. Reena is passionate about collaborative leadership and growing careers through providing opportunities, learning and development and support along the way. She has actively mentored many individuals prior to them working in the industry and during their careers. This is something she is particularly passionate about having come from a background where access to growth and career opportunities wasn’t always straightforward.

Mikko Siponen

Professor Mikko Siponen is a Professor of Business Cyber Security at The University of Alabama, USA. He is one of the most cited and influential scientists in cybersecurity management. He holds an M.Sc. in Software Engineering, a Ph.D. in Information Systems, and a Ph.D. in Applied Philosophy. He is the invited member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters.

Lord Walney

Lord John Walney is the UK government’s independent adviser on political violence and disruption and the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Tanzania. He is an engagement director for the Levelling Up Goals and sits as a crossbench peer in the House of Lords.

After starting his professional life as a journalist, Sheffield-born John became a political communications and public policy adviser to the last Labour government.

He was a special adviser in the Cabinet Office focused on public service and regulatory reform, in the Department for Work and Pensions where he advised then Secretary of State John Hutton, introducing mandatory workplace pensions and reforming the welfare-to-work system, and at the Department for Business and Energy charged with renewing the UK’s commitment to civil nuclear energy, leading on regional economic development, employment rights and striking major R&D deals to promote advanced manufacturing.

In 2010 he was elected as the Labour-Cooperative MP for Barrow and Furness. He was re-elected twice, finished his time in parliament as an independent MP focused on defence, security, foreign affairs, and building local economies. He is a graduate of the Royal College of Defence Studies and obtained a Master's in International Security and Strategy from King’s College London during his final term as an MP.

Among John’s proudest moments in parliament was leading the campaign to maintain support for the UK’s independent nuclear deterrent, culminating in an overwhelming majority in the key vote in the House of Commons in 2016.

He has recently completed a review for the prime minister and home secretary on the extreme fringes of domestic politics and threats to the UK’s liberal democracy in his role as an independent adviser on political violence.

Sonia Zahiroddiny

Sonia Zahiroddiny is HS2’s CIO. She is responsible for the strategic direction and management of HS2’s Information and Technology state. As the former Head of Digital Engineering at HS2, Sonia defined a vision for HS2’s Digital Twin and led the implementation of Digital Engineering across the programme to increase efficiency during design and construction stages of the programme. Through digital disruption and innovation her aim is to enhance traditional ways of working and build a data-driven culture for HS2 and the wider industry

Sonia holds a PhD in Computer Sciences. Today she applies her theoretical grounding in Computer and Information Sciences and practical knowledge in Digital Engineering in the Rail and Construction industry.

Her passion is in bettering our business lives by simplifying the process of decision making through digitisation, standardisation, collaboration, automation and use of latest technology to maximise productivity.