2024 Speakers

Amie is currently the chief security officer at the Ministry of Justice.

She has been leading teams specialising in cyber, personnel and physical security, data protection and information management for the last 6 years.

Amie has spent 19 years in government working in a variety of roles within security, policy, corporate and private office. She started her career as a graduate at PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

Amie has been working to transform security services and culture in the MoJ and has recently formed the MoJ’s first discreet Security Function. This is aligned to the programme of work on the security transformation agenda driven by Government Security Group in Cabinet Office to build a central Security Function.

She is passionate about diversity and inclusion and works to encourage people from all backgrounds into the Security profession.

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.

John Keegan, Deputy Director, Head of Digital Security at DWP Digital, is transforming how the department protects digital services from cyber threats.

John joined the department as Head of Infrastructure Services in June 2016. Following this he was Head of Production Engineering, establishing an SRE function, before merging this function into Hybrid Cloud Services. John then led a programme to bring in-house hosting and desktop services from managed service providers. Since 2021 John has led the Adaptive Security Programme to improve cyber security controls based on the NIST-CSF (Cyber Security Framework) as well as leading the Digital Security function.

John has established a reputation for being a resourceful, innovative, and highly skilled technical and security leader with over 30 years’ experience in ICT and security; he has built his portfolio from a solid hands-on technical delivery basis through to established business leaders. John holds a range of industry technical certifications including CEng MIET, Cisco CCIE, CISSP and NIST-CSF Practitioner.

Prior to joining DWP Digital, John held various leadership roles within Fujitsu and British Telecom.

Detective Chief Inspector Fiona Bail has a wealth of policing experience. From working in Serious and Complex Fraud and Cyber Investigations within Cambridgeshire Constabulary, she has first-hand experience supporting business victims of cybercrime.

Fiona’s experience has seen her work across a diverse range of police roles, including Local Policing, Criminal Investigations, Public Protection and Fraud and Cyber, and she now heads up one of the most exciting new talent development programs, Cyber PATH, through the National Cyber Resilience Centre Group. Developing student talent whilst protecting SMEs and charitable organisations from cybercrime.

Prior to taking up his position as CEO in October 2023, Ian spent five years at the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit, where he became Head of Cybercrime, Technical Surveillance and Development. In this role, Ian gained extensive experience as a Senior Investigating Officer, leading specialist teams in the investigation and mitigation of serious and complex cybercrime cases across the seven East of England counties.

Ian began his career in 1990 as a police officer in the Royal Air Force. In 2000, he joined Hertfordshire Constabulary, where he worked in operational policing and serious and organised crime for over two decades. He also trained and served as a Hostage and Crisis Negotiator.

Hollie heads up Tussell’s account management team. Working closely with leading cyber security firms and government bodies, she has years of experience in using data to drive better outcomes in public sector procurement. Outside of Tussell, she’s the Vice Chair of techUK’s Scale-Up Council and is passionate about the role SMEs play in Govt innovation.

Jill leads the techUK Cyber Security programme, having originally joined techUK in October 2020 as a Programme Manager for the Cyber and Central Government programmes. She is responsible for managing techUK’s work across the cyber security ecosystem, bringing industry together with key stakeholders across the public and private sectors. Jill also provides the industry secretariat for the Cyber Growth Partnership, the industry and government conduit for supporting the growth of the sector. A key focus of her work is to strengthen the public–private partnership across cyber to support further development of UK cyber security and resilience policy.

Before joining techUK, Jill worked as a Senior Caseworker for an MP, advocating for local communities, businesses and individuals, so she is particularly committed to techUK’s vision of harnessing the power of technology to improve people’s lives. Jill is also an experienced editorial professional and has delivered copyediting and writing services for public-body and SME clients as well as publishers.

Sam is editor of PublicTechnology, the UK’s leading source of daily news and analysis for anyone interested in how the public sector is using technology and digital platforms to transform citizen services.

As editor, Sam oversees overall editorial output and direction, as well continuing to report breaking news and write interviews and features. He is also heavily involved in the publication’s growing portfolio of in-person and online events for its core audience of public sector digital, data and technology professionals.

Sam has been a journalist for over 15 years and worked for various local news, technology and business publications before joining PublicTechnology in June 2017.

Dan Kendall has worked in the UK Cybersecurity industry for over 10 years. He started his career within a UK IT Managed Service provider gaining experience across multiple verticals and solution sets, joining Fortinet in 2019 to support the growing momentum of the UK Public Sector business.

Now an Enterprise Architect, working with customers and partners on strategic cybersecurity projects aimed at enabling business agility and better operational capabilities through consolidation and automation. Dan holds a BSc degree in Forensic Computing and Security from Bournemouth University, United Kingdom. 

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.

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.

Sapna Chadha leads a team to provide guidance to SMEs in London to prepare and protect from cyber threats. Sapna has held several senior roles across government, business and the science and technology sectors. She is also Founder of London Tech Futures, a non-profit organisation whose mission is to provide young people in London access to digital skills training and tech opportunities through outreach initiatives.

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.

Thomas joined the new Central Digital and Data Office in 2021 and is responsible for transforming how government grows capability in digital and data. This includes attracting, recruiting and developing critical deep expertise, through to developing the many leaders in government who have specialism in other domains, but increasingly need digital and data confidence to deliver. Thomas moved to CDDO from DWP Digital, having joined government in 2019 from BT where he led workforce planning, apprenticeships and learning transformation.