Advisory board

Suzannah joined Civil Service World in 2010, and has worked in a number of roles across the title. Over the years Suzannah has developed a particular interest in questions of accountability and civil service reform, as well as leading on several data-based investigations and Special Reports. Suzannah previously edited schools title Education Executive, and healthcare publication Practice Business, and has also covered plastics, biofuels and the restaurant industry for various trade publications.

Helen has been a councillor in Redbridge in East London since 2010. From 2014 she has held several different Cabinet roles starting with Regeneration, Planning and Property and leading on the delivery of the Local Plan. Her current portfolio is Resources and Transformation which encompasses ICT, Digital, Customer Services, Procurement and more. This has given her an in depth understanding of the scale of the challenges facing the Council and the need for technology and innovation to deliver services to citizens efficiently.

Heather is Head of Central Government Programme at techUK, working to represent the supplier community of tech products and services to Central Government.

Prior to joining techUK in April 2022, Heather worked in the Economic Policy and Small States Section at the Commonwealth Secretariat. She led the organisation’s FinTech programme and worked to create an enabling environment for developing countries to take advantage of the socio-economic benefits of FinTech.

Before moving to the UK, Heather worked at the Office of the Prime Minister of The Bahamas and the Central Bank of The Bahamas.

Heather holds a Graduate Diploma in Law from BPP, a Masters in Public Administration (MPA) from LSE, and a BA in Economics and Sociology from Macalester College.

Martin leads Socitm Institute’s policy advocacy and research programmes. His particular interest lies in the public policy impasse that prevents many of the complex socio-economic and environmental problems faced by people, communities and places being confronted. Throughout a career spanning local government, academic research and teaching in the UK and abroad, his focus has been on harnessing technologies and data for the benefit of people and the wellbeing of communities. This interest underpins Socitm’s current research, education and training in fields such as ethical, digital place-making and leadership, and his voluntary work as a Trustee of Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care.

Alex is a member of the DVSA Executive Board and an independent member of the Northern Ireland Business Improvement Board for the Driver Vehicle Agency. He advises other Government Organisations both domestically and internationally on complex digital transformation.

He has responsibility for the delivery of the external digital services MOT and Theory Test – the world’s largest online computer-based test. He leads the delivery of the major Agile Digital Transformation Program of work in DVSA. He is a strong advocate of user experience-based developments, adopting Agile methodologies across the whole end-to-end service delivery model. He has successfully delivered DVSA’s transformation journey moving to Cloud Based Computing.

Alex has a background as an Executive Director and organisational leader of large-scale operations and programs. Proven track-record as Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) in transforming operational, and digital business functions to drive value and service improvement. A natural senior leader of projects and programs, delivering robust solutions in cross sector Government Agencies and with Private Sector partners in areas such as the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Northern Ireland Operator Licensing, London Cycle Safety Initiative and Lorry Road User Levy. Alex is a strong networker, experienced public speaker in forums such as the World Economic Forum and confident operator in cross party committees on transport topics.

James is currently Deputy Director at the NHS Digital Academy, NHS England.

Previously James was the Chief Digital and Information Officer for Health Education England. His career has taken him through Cancer Research, Change Management and Standards development. As well as being a CDIO, he was responsible for supporting the digital readiness of three million staff in Health and Care in England.

In 2017 James was voted by peers as one of the top 100 influencers globally in Health IT as part of the #HIT100 twitter campaign and is a Fellow of the British Computer Society.

Gavin Freeguard is a freelance consultant working on research, policy and advocacy around data, digital government and data visualization. He is an associate at the Institute for Government (where he was previously programme director), policy associate at Connected by Data, special adviser at the Open Data Institute, a member of the Public Digital network and has worked as a consultant for many organisations including mySociety, the Ada Lovelace Institute and Full Fact. Before joining IfG, he was political adviser on culture, media and sport to Rt Hon Harriet Harman KC, and before that, senior editor at the Media Standards Trust and deputy director of the Orwell Prize.

Opama provides strategic leadership and overall delivery responsibility for day to day operations of all live, resident-facing elements of the council’s digital offer including online council services, all public digital infrastructure, connectivity and smart city initiatives. Improving services through digital transformation, data and technology.

Georgina works with suppliers that are active or looking to break into the market as well as with local public services to create the conditions for meaningful transformation. techUK regularly bring together local public services and supplier community to horizon scan and explore how the technologies of today and tomorrow can help solve some of the most pressing problems our communities face and improve outcomes for our people and places.

Prior to techUK, Georgina worked for a public policy events company where she managed the policy briefing division and was responsible for generating new ideas for events that would add value to the public sector. Georgina worked across a number of portfolios from education, criminal justice, and health but had a particular interest in public sector transformation and technology. Georgina also led on developing relationships across central and local government.

Eilidh McLaughlin took up the position of Head of the Digital Citizen Division in Scottish Government in April 2022. The Division is new within the Digital Directorate and covers the Connecting Scotland programme and the Ethical Digital Nation team. It also comprises Information Management and Assurance teams, thus considering digital citizenry from an internal and external perspective. This role combines Eilidh’s previous experience in corporate governance, equalities and information management. The ethos of the Division is to make sure that No One is Left Behind and to ensure that digital work is done in an ethical, inclusive way.

Previously, Eilidh was the Associate Director, Information Security and Governance in mid-January 2020, combining previous information security and information governance teams from separate parts of NHS National Services Scotland. The team led on ensuring the integrity of the IT estate and the quality and security of service across critical business systems to stay ahead of threats, internal and external as well as maintaining a strong confidentiality and privacy ethos to all work in NSS. The team was pivotal in relation to the digital covid response work.

Steve is Professor of Cyber Security in the School of Computer Science at the University of Nottingham. His research interests include security management and culture, usability of security and privacy, and technologies for user authentication and intrusion detection.  He has authored over 370 papers in refereed international journals and conference proceedings, as well as various books, book chapters, and industry reports.  Steve is the UK representative to Technical Committee 11 (security and privacy) within the International Federation for Information Processing, and a board member of the Chartered Institute of Information Security, and a member of the Steering Group for the Cyber Security Body of Knowledge (CyBOK) and the Careers and Learning Working Group within the UK Cyber Security Council.

After an early career in local and central government working with refugees and asylum seekers, Claire made the move to IT, working in engineering and architecture for UK software houses. She moved from private to public sector several years ago, leading on organisational transformation and grappling challenges and opportunities with legacy technology, data and digitalisation.

Claire worked in a variety of government organisations such as NHS Digital, DWP and Homes England, and also spent time consulting and collaborating with other governments and cities around the world before joining MHRA in 2021. She has a MSc In Technology Management and is partway through a PHD in International Business.

Fiona is Chief Data Officer and Director of Data Growth and Operations at the Office for National Statistics. She is an experienced digital, data, technology and policy expert with a deep understanding of the delivery challenges faced by public sector organisations.

She has a track record in leadership through complexity, projects and people in both a policy and service delivery context.

Fiona joined the Civil Service in 2006 as a generalist Fast Streamer at the Department for Transport, where she held policy, strategy and operational roles across aviation, roads and maritime.

She spent four years working on exiting the European Union, leading transport and digital, data and technology readiness at the Cabinet Office, before moving to the Crown Prosecution Service as a digital technology leader, helping to transform criminal justice during the pandemic.

Dr. Claudia Natanson, MBE, is an internationally respected digital and cyber security transformation expert and thought leader.

She is Chair of the Board of Trustees, UK Cyber Security Council, and a UK Cyber Advisory Board member. She is currently Chief Executive Officer at the UK Cyber Security Council.

Her experience and expertise cover diverse industry sectors, government, and growing organisations. She has held positions as CSO at DWP, MD at BT Secure Business Services, and CISO at Diageo. A European Commission security expert, she has served as a board and Programme Chair for the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams.

David is a senior marketing and communications professional with more than 25 years’ experience in public and private sector.  He started his career in local newspapers in 1997. After six years in print journalism, he joined the civil service within the MOD, as a communications officer for Royal Air Force recruitment. He an associate with the Chartered Institute of Marketing, gaining his diploma in September 2007, before taking the lead role as head of marketing for RAF recruitment.

After seven years in post, David left the civil service and joined local government, to lead communications for South Holland District Council in Spalding, Lincolnshire, before joining Socitm in May 2020.

Since then, David has gone on to develop the marketing and communications output for Socitm, with a focus on improving member engagement. It is in his current position as director engagement David drives forward a member led philosophy, to enhance and grow the society across the public sector.

Jonathan is a senior digital specialist at the National Audit Office and has over 20 years’ experience of assessing digital and technology programmes in the central government sector, including the management of associated technology risk.

He is a contributing author to numerous NAO reports including Digital transformation in government, Challenges in using data across government, Digital transformation in the NHS and The challenges in implementing digital change as well as the NAO good practice insight guides on Cloud Services and Cyber and information security.

Prior to joining the NAO he held an assurance role with one of the leading international accountancy and advisory firms.

Aesha’s focus is on ensuring each individual’s capability, potential and brilliance is recognised, harnessed and developed.

Her role includes designing and delivering innovative, impactful and inclusive organisational strategies and cultures to build, transform and maintain the best teams, expertise and places to work.