Bella Powell

Director, Cyber Directorate, Government Security Group (GSG), Cabinet Office

Bella is Cyber Director within the Government Security Group in the Cabinet Office and is responsible for delivering the Government Cyber Security Strategy. Bella joined the Cabinet Office team in September 2022 following her role as Senior Security Advisor at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) where she established the organisation’s central security function and managed significant security risks at a time of fundamental change for the organisation as a result of Brexit. Her career has spanned both the private sector and government, with previous experience including cyber security strategy and digital transformation at the Boston Consulting Group, and cyber security delivery at BAE Systems.

As Cyber Director, Bella is responsible for supporting departments to improve their cyber resilience through the rollout of the Government Cyber Security Strategy Implementation Programme. She heads up the delivery of central transformational proposals such as GovAssure and the Government Cyber Coordination Centre in partnership with the National Cyber Security Centre. She also leads the response to serious and cross-cutting cyber security incidents, threats and vulnerabilities across government.