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Board Members & Advisory Group

Our management board is responsible for setting the strategic direction of the centre, making sure that we serve the needs of the local business community.

Board Members 

Board members are drawn from leading companies with a strong interest in the South West region, and invariably have a strong desire to protect the regional economy. They contribute financially or in-kind to the running of the centre, and help ensure that we provide practical and useful support. We are always on the look out for the right candidates who wish to join us; if you think that you might be one of them, please contact us to arrange a conversation.

Craig Sharp

Craig Sharp 

Vice President UK Government, Cyber Security Solutions Division, Leonardo

As new technologies emerge and cyber threats continue to increase, Craig understands the importance of building cyber resilience and supporting his local region. He’s proud of his work supporting the South West Cyber Resilience Centre to enable organisations within the South West to safeguard their business, their supply chains and their partners from current and emerging cyber and security threats. Craig lives in Somerset with his wife and three boys, and can often be overheard in the office relaying the importance of ensuring the local tea room in Cornwall has the same knowledge as the likes of big organisations when it comes to protecting against and preventing cyber and security threats. He has a wealth of experience within the security and defence sectors, having worked for the likes of Marconi, BAE Systems, Thales, Selex and Capita before joining Leonardo for a second time in 2017. Craig's current role at Leonardo is as Vice President in the UK Government portfolio for the Cyber and Security Division. He leads on projects into central government including the Police and Border Force user communities. By becoming a board member for the SWCRC in December 2021, Craig aims to utilise the Cyber and Security knowledge, skills and resources within Leonardo to collaborate and share information with the SWCRC where applicable.

Dave Thorne

Temporary Deputy Chief Constable, Devon and Cornwall Police

Dave joined the Devon and Cornwall police in 1999, and progressed through the ranks before being appointed as Assistant Chief Constable in South Wales Police in 2020, with the Specialist Crime portfolio. He returned to Devon and Cornwall Police in March 2023 as Assistant Chief Constable with responsibility for Crime, Justice and Vulnerability. Appointed Temporary Deputy Chief Constable in July 2023, David is Chief Operating Officer, responsible for delivering policing performance across the 4,000 square miles of Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. He also supports the Chief Constable in leading the Force around organisational culture, promoting values and ethics and holding responsibility for upholding professional standards across the Force. David initially qualified as a teacher in 1993, teaching physics and outdoor education, both in the UK and abroad and has also worked as a mountain leader and kayak instructor. David, a father of five, is a keen mountain biker and enjoys skiing.

Paul Coles

Paul Coles 

CEO of the South West Business Council

Paul left BT after 31 years, as BT Group’s English Regional Director where he was responsible for developing strategic relationships with combined and local authorities, Local Enterprise Partnerships, business, education and community organisations to focus on the success and growth of the UK’s regional and local economies. In this new phase of his portfolio career Paul is working with a company called “Advalus” as a senior consultant in the area of technology and innovation, especially 5G, Cyber and Internet of Things. Paul is based in the South West and sits on the following external boards: • Heart of the South West LEP • Tech South West Advisory Board • Member of the Court of Bristol University • Board Member of Surf Life Saving GB • South West Cyber Resilience Centre

Mark Shelford

Mark Shelford

Police and Crime Commissioner for Avon & Somerset

PCC Mark Shelford spent over 30 years as an Army Officer and served alongside police across the globe, gaining an understanding of their role and sharing the risks they faced. As a result, Mark has a good understanding of service life and the pressures those protecting communities and people face. Following his military service, Mark became Deputy Leader of Bath and North East Somerset council and also sat on the Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Panel. Mark is now the PCC for Avon and Somerset and has taken on the national PCC lead for the Economic and Cyber Crime portfolio.

Angela Hicks

Angela Hicks

CEO, the Hive

Angela Hicks is CEO at the hive- which offers 1-1 business advice and training, workspace/meeting space, and a welcoming business community for small businesses across North Somerset. the hive is purpose led, not for profit and well connected. Since 1987 they have helped thousands of businesses start up and grow. Angela joined what is now the hive when it was a small community business support project 36 years ago. Under her leadership it became the North Somerset Enterprise Agency which has a long history of delivering successful business support programmes on behalf of the UK Government. In 2008, spotting a need for flexible workspace for the small businesses they were helping, Angela set about securing £3.6 million to build a BREEAM excellent, energy efficient purpose built managed office facility for the area. With a great deal of support from the team, volunteer board and other stakeholders the hive opened in 2014. the hive is now the home of small business support in North Somerset and continues its green credentials by being carbon neutral with targets to become net zero by 2030.

Andy Giles

Cyber Threat Intelligence

Andy currently leads cyberthreat intelligence integration with banking businesses at a major international financial services firm. Spanning a 22+ year career in intelligence and security, Andy has led technical assurance, compliance, risk, security architecture and intelligence capabilities in the military, defence industry and financial sectors. In the financial sector, Andy has also worked with major UK domiciled financial institutions at a cross sector collaboration cybersecurity resilience initiative to support UK Financial Regulator industry resilience goals, where he led on strategic project definition and execution. Andy has also led the design and implementation of security policy infrastructure and consultancy service automation within a high-profile UK based financial services firm, where he provided transformational thought leadership in strategic information security management. When not at work, Andy enjoys reading international relations, mountain biking, walking and general fitness.

Giles Letheren

Giles Letheren

CEO, Delt Shared Services

After a first career as a production manager for live entertainment (Boyzone, East17, Lee Evans to name a few), a second career as a magician and escapologist, Giles accidentally become a Chief Information Officer. In this role he was responsible for not only Information Technology but Top Secret paper filing systems and a British Post Office located, bizarrely, in the middle of Washington DC. At this point 'cyber security' was the domain of very geeky basement dwellers but after meeting the former Russian Spy, Victor Sheymov, Giles decided it might be exciting to learn more. His subsequent career has been on both sides of the Atlantic, in the public and private sector, spanning a range of leadership roles in local and national government, technology, project management, operations, management consulting and support services. Whilst living in the States he collected both an MBA and a lot of speeding tickets, before relocating to Cornwall. A winner of the Institute of Directors Director the Year award and Visiting Lecturer at Marjons Business School, Giles is Chief Executive Officer of Delt Shared Services, a publicly owned support services company with a mission to 'Help People Do Amazing Things'.

Mark Moore

Mark Moore

CEO, South West Cyber Resilience Centre

Mark is a serving police Superintendent in the Devon and Cornwall force. After graduating from Exeter University with a languages degree, he has worked for 28 years in policing, spanning a variety of operational roles. His CV includes periods as a detective, as leader of policing areas, and as a firearms commander, with an interest in cyber which led to him becoming one of the force ‘digital leaders’. He has also operated nationally as a lead consultant, helping forces across the country create sustainable operating models. Latterly, Mark chaired the board of directors of a local Multi-Academy Trust, guiding it through a period of restructure and expansion. Mark holds an MSc in police leadership and management and a postgraduate diploma in the psychology of organisation development. He is married with two children, two dogs, and a passion for Cornish beaches.

Ross Brown

Ross Brown

Head of cyber and innovation, South West Cyber Resilience Centre

Ross is a retired Detective officer who carried out numerous roles during his service, although primarily operating within mainstream Criminal investigations. As a trainer with Dorset Police he led a team who implemented training for a new force wide Records Management System as well as devising and writing the supervisors course. During a number of career breaks he has also developed experience of running large scale engineering projects in the middle east. Ross joined the South West Cyber Resilience Centre as a Detective Inspector and head of cyber and innovation and served in that post until retirement, at which point he continued in role as a member of Police staff. Latterly, Mark chaired the board of directors of a local Multi-Academy Trust, guiding it through a period of restructure and expansion. Mark holds an MSc in police leadership and management and a postgraduate diploma in the psychology of organisation development. He is married with two children, two dogs, and a passion for Cornish beaches.

Office

Local multi academy trust client, Somerset

Mark and his team took the time to meet with us several times, at no cost to ourselves, to talk through our requirements and answer many questions about how we could increase our security. The information provided was invaluable in helping us to assess responses and appoint a provider who we trust will be strong in this area. We can’t recommend their services enough, I would encourage anyone who is not quite sure where to start to get in touch.

Current member

I joined because I work with a lot of businesses so wanted to point them in your direction, and also share important updates with businesses & my colleagues. It also keeps me aware of not clicking on links etc - reminders are very useful!

Claire Brooks, MI

I didn’t know what I didn’t know about network security. The guys I was speaking to were very clear. Shortly after the completion of the work I did receive a very comprehensive report. The main thing for me was that it was very clear… the impact on  my business of having the testing was really reassuring. It’s safe, and my customers are protected or as protected as they can be. Would I recommend? Yes, absolutely. It’s a huge reassurance to have that stamp of approval.

Our advisory group is exceptionally well-networked within the business community of the South West, and its members are expert in their fields. They help us to understand the characteristics and needs of different sectors. We work with them to ensure that our activities meet those needs, and are as widely publicised as possible. At this time, we are not seeking additional advisory group members, although we expect that the group’s composition will develop as we embark on new initiatives.

Advisory Group

Ruth Lambert

Ruth Lambert

Development Manager, Federation of Small Businesses

Ruth is the Development Manager for the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) in Somerset and Wiltshire. FSB is a not for profit membership association supporting smaller businesses through a range of useful benefits which provide the back of house support they need plus a lobbying voice for the small business community on a national and local basis. FSB have around 150,000 members nationwide, with around 24,000 in the South West. In addition to working for FSB, Ruth has experience running her own small businesses and in providing business support via both a local authority and Business Link. She has worked extensively across the culture, hospitality, leisure and retail industry and uses this experience, plus feedback from local members to shape the work she does across Somerset and Wiltshire.

Andrew Yearsley

Andrew Yearsley

Chief Technology Officer, Bishop Fleming

Andrew is Chief Technology Office at Bishop Fleming, a UK accountancy firm that providing a comprehensive range of services across a wide range of sectors. A large portion of Bishop Fleming’s client base are SME’s based in the South West. Andrew's perspective is that getting involved with SWCRC is a great way to help keep these clients secure, which ultimately helps with Bishop Fleming’s own Cyber Security.

Stephen Mariadas

Stephen Mariadas

Chief Executive Officer, South West Institute of Technology

Steve Mariadas is the CEO of the South West Institute of Technology. He has a wide range of experience in both industry and education having held the position of Chief Information Officer for a European airline. Since moving into education ten years ago, he has been instrumental in building digital and data apprenticeships across the region. Steve was awarded a Technical Teaching Fellowship by the Royal Commission and works closely with the Department for Education and Gatsby Foundation.

Robin King

Robin King

Chair of the South West Cyber Security Cluster

Robin is an experienced, sales-focussed business manager with a specialism within the Technology and Security markets. He has held senior roles within a range of companies, bringing together the skills of highly experienced teams to lead solutions and services into a range of public and private sector markets, notably the Defence and Security sectors in both the UK and overseas. He has a particular interest in cyber security, retains senior relationships relevant to the UK technology-based innovation market including those with Government, the System Integration and Prime Contractor communities and with several Academic institutions. Robin has represented the interests of the UK SME sector within UK and International trade organisations to include UKTI, UK Council for Electronic Business (UKCeB), UK ADS Group (as a member of the Defence Small Medium Enterprise Committee) and the internationally recognised Transglobal Secure Collaboration Program (TSCP) with interest in securing supply chain interoperability. He was an invited member of the UK Prime Ministerial Trade Delegation to the US to represent UK SME Cyber Security interests. Amongst other activities, Robin is a trusted advisor to a number of cyber security businesses as they establish market presence within the specialist sectors of defence and security markets with a particular interest in Industrial Control System provision for Critical National Infrastructure.

Tom Marshall

Tom Marshall

Commercial Operations Manager, Business Cyber Centre

Tom is the business development manager for the Business Cyber Centre (BCC), the UK's first business-led cyber centre. Tom has a strong background in commercial and residential property, as well as working with start-ups and micro-SMEs through to large corporates and MoD primes. As lead for the BCC, Tom is focused on mobilising the physical premises whilst establishing the commercial strategy for the BCC as a start-up business.

Vince McConville

Vince McConville

Innovation & Growth Specialist, Innovate UK Edge SW

Vince is an Innovation & Growth Specialist providing support to technology focused innovative companies across the SW as part of the Innovate UK EDGE programme. Previously he was the Digital Futures Sector Lead at the Heart of the SW LEP, and prior to that he ran his own Business Consultancy specialising in helping businesses with Technology, Digital & Web. He has also worked as a director of a bespoke software development company & internet marketing company. Vince is also an experienced business advisor having worked for Business Link & on various business support programmes such as Connecting Devon & Somerset, Superfast Business, Superfast Cornwall, and the Heart of the South West Growth Hub.

Phil Bridgeman

Phil Bridgeman

Head of Membership & Customer Experience, Business West Chambers of Commerce

Business West Chambers of Commerce is the largest business membership organisation in the South West. Phil manages the membership team and helps Chambers of Commerce members across Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Bristol, and Bath connect, grow and improve their business. Having worked predominantly in sales, service and account management roles and more recently in business support, Phil's passion is finding ways to help customers solve their problems. Business West is rated as one of the best companies to work for in business services and is a newly-certified B Corp. 21,000 businesses trust Business West to help them start, grow, innovate and export - as well as lobby the government on their behalf.

Paul Smith

Paul Smith

Chief Information Officer, Amnesty International

Paul is currently the Global Chief Information Officer for Amnesty International, the world’s largest Human Rights organisation. He has over 20 years’ experience in senior technology roles, having lead teams internationally for organisations with up to 3,000 employees, 40,000 volunteers and 10 million supporters - operating globally with revenue up to $1B. This experience cuts across numerous and varied sectors, technical domains, cultures and geographical regions, worldwide - including Defence, Construction & Engineering, Government Services, Expeditionary Infrastructure, Aviation Solutions, IT & Communications, Dispersed Contingency Operations, Equipment and Systems, Worldwide Power Generation, Global Disaster Relief, Global Logistics, Direct Marketing (multi-vertical), Not-for-Profit Maritime Search and Rescue and of course Human Rights.

Steve Hodgson

Steve Hodgson

Regional Director of Police Procurement

Steve is the Regional Director of Police Procurement providing oversight to suppliers of goods and services to Devon and Cornwall, Avon and Somerset, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Police Forces.

Dee-Anne Bruce

Dee-Anne Bruce

Strategy & Policy Advisor, Kaze Consulting

Dee-Anne has extensive experience in managing complex operations, leading multi-disciplinary teams, pioneering strategic policy change and achieving sustainable transformation. Dee-Anne is passionate about helping organisations with business challenges, transforming ways of working and embedding positive change results. Dee-Anne is also a co-founder of the Womens Cyber Circle - inspiring, empowering and supporting women to thrive in the cyber profession.

Membership is FREE so join today to receive your welcome pack and access to all of our cyber security advice and resources.

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