Alexandre CrépaultCommercial Strategy Manager, Climate X
Morgan LongMyNavy & MyRAF Senior Product Manager, Navy Digital
Lyric JainCEO and Founder, Logically.ai
Matthew InceInternational Climate Security Policy and Strategy Lead, Climate Change & Sustainability Directorate, UK Ministry of Defence
Julia PowellHead of Policy, Climate Change & Sustainability Directorate, UK Ministry of Defence
Dan FitterPrivacy, Security & Safety Lead, PUBLIC
Al WhittleDirector of Strategy and Plans, Inzpire
Daniel KorskiCEO and Co-Founder, PUBLIC
Alexander de CarvalhoCIO and Co-Founder, PUBLIC
Paul HollingsheadHead of Europe & Africa, Anduril Industries
David Short Technology Director, BAE Systems
Nicholas Nelson Senior Technology Advisor European Operations Lead, Georgia Tech Research Institute
Syra MarshallCTO and Co-Founder, Elemendar)
Phil ToveyHead of Futures, Chief Scientific Advisors Office, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
David Ford Partner, Silverpeak
Thank you to all of our 2022 Speakers for making this year such a successful and insightful event!
Charlie Forte
CIO, UK Ministry of Defence
Charles has 38 years of industry experience gained from leading IT globally as Deputy Group Global CIO at BP, as CEO of Global IT Services at Prudential and as InterimCIO at Thames Water. He has worked as an independent consultant helping businesses transform their ability to exploit digital technology.
Charles Forte was appointed the Chief Information Officer for the Ministry of Defence in January 2018. He is the primary advisor to the Defence Board on Information and Digital and is responsible for strategy and policy on the exploitation, operation, interoperability and protection of information and digital technology across the Ministry of Defence. This includes cyber security and resilience; the promotion of new ways of working, information technology-enabled innovation; and the delivery of effective IT services. Charles is a member of the Defence ExecutiveCommittee and the Strategic Command Executive Committee.
Clare Cameron
Director of Defence Innovation, UK Ministry of Defence
Clare is the Director of Defence Innovation in the Ministry of Defence. She is responsible for leading the innovation effort in Defence. This includes the policy and strategy for innovation, empowering an innovative culture, enabling the routes to innovation, and leading the Defence and Security Accelerator.
Prior to this, Clare was Deputy Director of Defence in the National Security Secretariat in the Cabinet Office. She was responsible for ensuring coherence across Government and providing advice to the Prime Minister on Defence issues including the defence budget, defence exports, defence investment decisions and the nuclear deterrent.
Clare was previously deputy director in MOD’s Operations Directorate, responsible for Special Forces’ operations, operational legal policy and intelligence policy.
Policy for military operations has been a theme throughout Clare’s career, including a deployment to Afghanistan in 2008/9. This has been balanced by financial scrutiny of MOD equipment programmes, time in Private Office and working in the Cabinet Office on the 2010 SDSR, space security and Prevent counter-terrorism.
Clare is married to Peter; they have a son at primary school and Clare is stepmother to Peter’s other two children. Clare read history at Durham and before starting work she taught at a secondary school in Malawi for six months and helped set up a charity promoting sustainable farming, for which she was the Treasurer for over 10 years.
Anita Friend
Head of DASA
Anita Friend is the Head of the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) which finds and funds exploitable innovation for UK defence and security quickly and effectively, whilst boosting UK prosperity. In this role, she has placed strong emphasis on taking a collaborative approach across defence, security and industry – enhancing DASA’s service offering to deliver the best solutions for our customers and to help our suppliers grow their business. She has sought to ensure DASA finds ideas from a diverse range of sources and provides services which accelerate and facilitate the turning of great ideas into benefits for defence and our national security.
Anita joined DASA with over 10 years’ experience of working in National Security leadership roles in both Home Office and Cabinet Office. Before moving into the National Security field, Anita started her career in social research working in the private sector.
Outside of work, Anita enjoys spending time with her husband and young children, countryside walking and travel.
Charlie Forte
CIO, UK Ministry of Defence
Charles has 38 years of industry experience gained from leading IT globally as Deputy Group Global CIO at BP, as CEO of Global IT Services at Prudential and as InterimCIO at Thames Water. He has worked as an independent consultant helping businesses transform their ability to exploit digital technology.
Charles Forte was appointed the Chief Information Officer for the Ministry of Defence in January 2018. He is the primary advisor to the Defence Board on Information and Digital and is responsible for strategy and policy on the exploitation, operation, interoperability and protection of information and digital technology across the Ministry of Defence. This includes cyber security and resilience; the promotion of new ways of working, information technology-enabled innovation; and the delivery of effective IT services. Charles is a member of the Defence ExecutiveCommittee and the Strategic Command Executive Committee.
Anita Friend
Head of Dasa
Anita Friend is the Head of the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) which finds and funds exploitable innovation for UK defence and security quickly and effectively, whilst boosting UK prosperity. In this role, she has placed strong emphasis on taking a collaborative approach across defence, security and industry – enhancing DASA’s service offering to deliver the best solutions for our customers and to help our suppliers grow their business. She has sought to ensure DASA finds ideas from a diverse range of sources and provides services which accelerate and facilitate the turning of great ideas into benefits for defence and our national security.
Anita joined DASA with over 10 years’ experience of working in National Security leadership roles in both Home Office and Cabinet Office. Before moving into the National Security field, Anita started her career in social research working in the private sector.
Outside of work, Anita enjoys spending time with her husband and young children, countryside walking and travel.
Anita Friend
Head of DASA
Anita Friend is the Head of the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) which finds and funds exploitable innovation for UK defence and security quickly and effectively, whilst boosting UK prosperity. In this role, she has placed strong emphasis on taking a collaborative approach across defence, security and industry – enhancing DASA’s service offering to deliver the best solutions for our customers and to help our suppliers grow their business. She has sought to ensure DASA finds ideas from a diverse range of sources and provides services which accelerate and facilitate the turning of great ideas into benefits for defence and our national security.
Anita joined DASA with over 10 years’ experience of working in National Security leadership roles in both Home Office and Cabinet Office. Before moving into the National Security field, Anita started her career in social research working in the private sector.
Outside of work, Anita enjoys spending time with her husband and young children, countryside walking and travel.
Charlie Forte
CIO, UK Ministry of Defence
Charles has 38 years of industry experience gained from leading IT globally as Deputy Group Global CIO at BP, as CEO of Global IT Services at Prudential and as InterimCIO at Thames Water. He has worked as an independent consultant helping businesses transform their ability to exploit digital technology.
Charles Forte was appointed the Chief Information Officer for the Ministry of Defence in January 2018. He is the primary advisor to the Defence Board on Information and Digital and is responsible for strategy and policy on the exploitation, operation, interoperability and protection of information and digital technology across the Ministry of Defence. This includes cyber security and resilience; the promotion of new ways of working, information technology-enabled innovation; and the delivery of effective IT services. Charles is a member of the Defence ExecutiveCommittee and the Strategic Command Executive Committee.
Major General Tom Copinger-Symes Cbe
Director of Military Digitisation, UK Strategic Command
Tom spent his early career with The Rifles on operations in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan, and in operational and strategy posts at the Permanent Joint Headquarters and the Ministry of Defence.
For the past 10 years, he has focused on how the Army and Defence can make better use of its data and information, whether in supporting traditional warfighting or employed as a weapon in its own right - especially in the context of ‘sub-threshold’ or ‘grey zone’ competition. This has included command at both Brigade (1 ISR Bde) and Division (FTC - now 6th (UK) Div), Data-Driven Defence Tom spent his early career with The Rifles on operations in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan, and in operational and strategy posts at the Permanent Joint Headquarters and the Ministry of Defence. In 2019 he took up his current post, newly created to accelerate Defence’s Digital Transformation and its adoption and exploitation of data and digital technology. He led Defence’s Digital proposition in the 20/21 Integrated Review and is now responsible for delivering a singular, secure and modern Digital Backbone for Defence, as well as leading the development of the Army’s Information Manoeuvre concept
In Aug 19 he took up his current post, newly created to accelerate Defence’s Digital Transformation and its adoption and exploitation of data and digital technology. He led Defence’s Digital proposition in the 20/21 Integrated Review and is now responsible for delivering a singular, secure and modern Digital Backbone for Defence, as well as developing a federated software enterprise (the Digital Foundry, including the Defence AI Centre), and the Defence Digital Service.
Nick Elliott
CEO, Helsing UK
Nick Elliott is UK CEO of the European artificial intelligence company Helsing. A software product business operating exclusively in the defence and national security sector. Its mission is to attain technology leadership in support of our democracies.
Nick is an experienced senior business leader who has led major delivery organisations in government, defence and infrastructure. Most recently, as Director-General of the UK Vaccine Taskforce, he ran what has been described as the most successful component of the United Kingdom’s response to the covid-19 pandemic.
During an initial career as a British Army officer, he commanded a bomb disposal squadron and a combat engineer regiment on operations worldwide. In subsequent senior business roles, he has been responsible for delivering some of the biggest rail infrastructure projects in the UK and was Deputy CEO of Defence Equipment & Support, the professional acquisition and support organisation of the UK Ministry of Defence, Nick is a non-executive director with the global programme management consultancy Turner & Townsend and has previously served as a non-executive director on the Board of the Submarine Delivery Agency and as a Council Member of the Rail Supply Group. He is a military reservist in the Sta Corps, a reserve unit of business leaders who provide specialist advice to the Armed Forces.
Nick Elliott
CEO, Helsing UK
Nick Elliott is UK CEO of the European artificial intelligence company Helsing. A software product business operating exclusively in the defence and national security sector. Its mission is to attain technology leadership in support of our democracies.
Nick is an experienced senior business leader who has led major delivery organisations in government, defence and infrastructure. Most recently, as Director-General of the UK Vaccine Taskforce, he ran what has been described as the most successful component of the United Kingdom’s response to the covid-19 pandemic.
During an initial career as a British Army officer, he commanded a bomb disposal squadron and a combat engineer regiment on operations worldwide. In subsequent senior business roles, he has been responsible for delivering some of the biggest rail infrastructure projects in the UK and was Deputy CEO of Defence Equipment & Support, the professional acquisition and support organisation of the UK Ministry of Defence, Nick is a non-executive director with the global programme management consultancy Turner & Townsend and has previously served as a non-executive director on the Board of the Submarine Delivery Agency and as a Council Member of the Rail Supply Group. He is a military reservist in the Sta Corps, a reserve unit of business leaders who provide specialist advice to the Armed Forces.
Marc Warner
CEO & Co-Founder, Faculty
Marc is the CEO and Co-Founder at Faculty. He co-founded Faculty in the belief that the benefits of AI should extend to everyone, and has since overseen the growth of Faculty to one of Europe’s leading AI companies.
He has led many data science projects, with clients ranging from multinational companies like EasyJet and Siemens to the UK government and the NHS. Before Faculty, Marc was a Marie Curie Fellow in Physics at Harvard University, specialising in quantum sensing.
Outside of Faculty, he advises the government via the AI Council. He has a PhD in Quantum Computing and a degree in Physics from Imperial College London.
Joe Robinson
CEO Defence and Security, Improbable
Joe leads our global defence and national security business. He’s focused on ensuring that all the work we do contributes meaningfully to the national security of our nations and their allies in the face of increasing global competition and evolving threats. He brings a profound strategic understanding of these challenges, having served for a decade in the armed forces, commanding at various levels and deploying on multiple operations.
He has previously held roles advising governments on technology adoption, and joined Improbable from the University of Oxford where he studied and lectured about foreign policy and global strategic trends.
Lucia Retter
Research Leader in Defence & Security, RAND Europe
Lucia Retter is a research leader at RAND Europe and co-directs RAND Europe's Centre for Defence Economics and Acquisition. Her research focuses on understanding the factors driving government strategy, policy and decision-making at the nexus between security, influence and prosperity, including the benefits, trade-o s and risks associated with different capability development programmes.
Recent work includes studies for the UK Ministry of Defence to help frame and inform its Climate Change and Sustainability strategic approach, work for UK Government clients in support of the national and defence space strategies, a series of studies for the UK Government on the options for the future UK combat air sector, a study on energy and environment factors pertinent to military capability planning and a large study for the European Commission on skills needed by the EU defence industry now and in the future.
Lucia holds an M.A.in international relations and international economics from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), where she specialised in economic policy, and a B.A. in modern languages from Clare College, University of Cambridge.
John Orr-Hanna
Chief Intelligence O
John-Orr is the Chief Intelligence Offi cer at Crisp, a Real-time Risk Intelligence company that protects brands, assets and people from reputational damage, security threats and online harms.
John-Orr brings 15 years of sector experience in defence, security and safety to Crisp, which identifies the risk signals embedded within the digital chatter of fringe bad actor groups and online communities to help customers anticipate what they’ll do next.
Crisp contributes to the safe, daily online experiences of over two billion users, including an estimated 450 million children - across harms such as Hate, CT and Mis/Dis Information, supporting governments, platforms and blue chip enterprises, in 50+ languages.
Rebecca Warren
Senior Policy Advisor, NATO, Polar Regions & Euro-Atlantic Security, Cabinet O
Commander Rebecca Warren is a warfare offi cer in the Royal Navy, specialising in oceanography and meteorology.
She has spent much of her recent career working on naval policy and strategy in the Ministry of Defence.
She is currently on loan to the Cabinet O ffice, where she advises on Defence, NATO and the polar regions.
Puneet Chhabra
CTO & Co-founder, ACUA Ocean
Puneet is a tech Leader and innovator with an ethos of trying to link science and good practice to make a better world! He is an experienced CTO and deep-tech entrepreneur with more than a decade of experience in systems, sensing and engineering.
He specialises in sensing and software with a special focus on LiDAR, Radar and Sonar technologies, filing multiple patents on signal processing and sensor systems. In his most recent role, he provides technology leadership to companies that brings together a world-class engineers and scientists to solve real-world problems, e.g., sub-surface mapping and building autonomous clean-tech solutions for the defence security and maritime sector.
He has a PhD in advanced single photon LiDAR and Sonar technologies. Previously, he has worked in the defence sector at the Advanced Technology Centre, BAE Systems as a Higher Scientist with a focus on building image processing and AI based products for autonomous vehicles.
Caroline Bellamy
CDO, UK Ministry of Defence
Caroline Bellamy joined MOD in May 2020 as the first Chief Data Offi cer, when the Defence Data Offic er was established. Caroline is leading the Defence Data Strategy and data transformation programme to underpin the realisation of “Data as a Strategic Asset” for Defence. As the Chief Data Officer, Caroline is driving towards a future where Defence will be able to exploit data in a fast, accurate and robust way. Data will be human and machine-ready enabling accelerated local, as well as pan-Defence exploitation ranging from back o ce reporting to battlespace planning. The importance of data capabilities, skills and integrity (security and ethical) is a core focus for Caroline, including eff ective cultural change and promoting diversity and inclusion at all levels. Prior to joining MOD, Caroline had a 30-year career in the “data industry” across the FTSE 100 and Public Sector. Caroline is experienced at executing major data transformations and champions data at Board level, defining and delivering enterprise wide data capabilities helping organisations unlock the power of data to realise commercial, economic and citizen benefits.
Hanna Croft
Senior Consultant, Rowden Technologies
Hannah Croft is a Senior Consultant at Rowden Technologies. She has Masters with Distinction in Security, Terrorism, and Insurgency from the University of Leeds and has held past positions at the Terrorism and Political Violence Association, the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), and Defence iQ. She publishes frequently about defence enterprise transformation and the intersection between culture, concepts of operation, and technological innovation. Rowden Technologies Ltd is an independent digital systems integrator based in Bristol: our mission is to redefine our customers’ expectations by delivering better digital technologies, faster and more cost e ectively.
ChristianHernandez
FoundingPartner, 2150
Christian is a technologist and experienced venture capitalist. Most recently, Christian founded venture capital firm 2150 in 2020 to invest in technology companies that seek to sustainably reimagine and reshape the urban environment.
2150's investment thesis focuses on major unsolved problems across what it calls the 'Urban Stack', which comprises every element of the built environment, from the way our cities are designed, constructed and powered, to the way people live, work and are cared for.
Christian has held leadership roles through the scale-up phase of some of the world's largest technology companies, notably as head of international business development at Facebook and head of new markets at Google. He holds a BA in economics from Duke University, an MBA from The Wharton School and is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.
Evan Wienburg
Chief CustomerOfficer, Adarga
Evan Wienburg is Adarga's Chief Customer Officer. He has spent the last 10 years scaling-up a successful start-up.
Previously Evan served 18 years in RAFIntelligence, working closely with US allies and NATO.Both in uniform and as a consultant Evan has led programs delivering information interoperability and fusion in support of data-driven assessment and decision making.
Alexandre Crépault
CommercialStrategyManager, ClimateX
Prior to moving to the UK, Alexandre lead commercial strategies for internationally renowned consumer brands at Coca Cola and AB InBev.
Mixing both experience & passion, Alex is driving the adoption of climate risk integration across multiple industries and international markets for Climate X; one of the most in-demand, venture-backed companies in the world, quantifying the impacts of climate change through location specific risk ratings and loss estimates.
Morgan (Mogsy)Long
MyNavy & MyRAF Programme Manager, Navy Digital
Lt Cdr Morgan (Mogsy) Long is a military intrapreneur, innovator and digital change advocate working in Data & Naval Applications, Royal Navy.
Throughout operational tours in Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, and off the coasts of Libya and Iraq, Mogsy consistently championed digital transformation, enablement and finding innovative ways to enhance capability. He was awarded an Operational Commanders citation and a Surgeon Generals Commendation for stewardship of patient data during the Ebola crisis and using data to drive operational readiness.
After Commissioning in 2015 he worked alongside Solent University Masters students to create an analytics tool to process medical information from patients during the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean. This was his first taste of Agile, Scrum, product ownership and leading a digital delivery team.
Completing the first Defence Innovation Fellowship in 2020, Mogsy now leads the alumni programme, advocating change and disruption from with the Royal Navy. A leader in digital upskilling, he continues to drive secondary skill sets as a requirement across Defence, enabling a digital workforce to achieve the goals within the 20/21 Integrated Review.
His current role sees him lead and manage multiple teams across new and existing features within the MyNavy & MyRAF applications. He is championing user-centred design to provide a seamless user experience that prioritises utility, empowerment and personalisation for each user. These, in turn, save time, improve efficiency and ensure personnel feel valued by the Service.
Sasha Havlicek
CEO & Co-Founder, Institute for Strategic Dialogue
Sasha Havlicek is the Founding CEO of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), an independent ‘think and do tank’ dedicated to safeguarding human rights and reversing the rising global tide of hate, extremism and polarisation.
Sasha has spearheaded ISD’s pioneering research and data analysis of disinformation, hate and extremism, as well as ISD’s policy advisory, frontline training, digital education, tech and communications programmes to operatively push back on the forces threatening democracy and the cohesion of society at large.
With a background in conflict resolution and an expertise in global extremist movements, digital information operations and electoral interference, she has advised a range of governments at the highest levels and spearheaded partnerships with the UN, EU Commission and Global Counter Terrorism Forum. She has also worked with the private and civil society sectors to innovate real world solutions to the rising challenges of polarisation, extremism and hate, including major programmes run in partnership with Google, FB and Microsoft.
Sasha serves as an expert advisor to the UK Counter-Extremism Commission and the Mayor of London’s counter-extremism programme, and is a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations. Sasha previously served as Senior Director at the EastWest Institute where she led conflict resolution programming. Sasha has testified before US Congress, the UK Parliament and is a regular commentator in the media (CNN, BBC, Channel 4 News and other networks).
Sven Weizenegger is the director of the Bundeswehr Cyber Innovation Hub, which has been a department of BWI GmbH, the Bundeswehr's IT system builder, since 2020. Sven Weizenegger was the first offcial hacker at Telekom and established the company's cybersecurity business unit. After leaving Telekom, he held the position of Senior Vice President – Security (CISO) at Kreditech Holding SSL GmbH, then Germany's largest fintech company, for two years. He was in charge of cybersecurity, business continuity management and risk management in the capital procurement department.
Later, Weizenegger successfully launched a series of start-ups. One of them is Perseus Technologies GmbH, which specialises in digital first aid and the prevention of cybersecurity threats and was acquired by HDI in early 2020.
As a cybersecurity and IT expert, he has been in high demand among politicians and public administrators for many years. He is also a member of the advisory board of the CISPA Incubator, based at the CISPA Helmholtz Centre for Information Security, where he helps founders to develop marketable products. The Federal Ministry for Economic Aairs and Energy has appointed Weizenegger to the steering committee for its flagship initiative for IT security in the business sector (“IT-Sicherheit in der Wirtschaft”).
Lyric Jain
CEO and Founder, logically.ai
Lyric is an entrepreneur and engineer who founded Logically in 2017, after observing the breakdown in public discourse during the 2016 US presidential election, and the Brexit referendum in the UK. He first began identifying opportunities for early interventions during his time at MIT, and is motivated by the impact Logically can deliver through human-technology collaborations to mitigate risks posed by information disorder.
Logically now works with governments, businesses and platforms around the world to uncover and address harmful misinformation and deliberate disinformation. Lyric was named Enterprise CXO Leader of the Year in the CogX Awards 2021, as well as winning Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2021 Leeds Digital Festival, and being announced as an honouree in the 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list in the Social Entrepreneurs category.
In 2021, Logically was named one of the world’s most innovative artificial intelligence companies by Fast Company and awarded Best AI Product in Cybersecurity at the 2022 CogX Awards.
Dr. Can Kasapoğlu
Director of Security and Defense Studies Program, EDAM
Dr. Can Kasapoglu is the Director of Security and Defense Studies Program at EDAM. A War Studies scholar and defence analyst, Dr Kasapoglu gained his PhD degree from the Turkish War College, and his M.Sc. degree from the Turkish Military Academy-Defense Sciences Institute. Dr. Can Kasapoglu was an Eisenhower fellow at the NATO Defense College in Rome and a visiting scholar at the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence in Tallinn.
Specialized in defence matters and open-source strategic intelligence, he previously held research posts at reputable think-tanks, such as the SWP of Germany, FRS of France, and the BESA Center of Israel. Along with Edam, Dr. Kasapoğlu works as a "Eurasian Military Analyst" at the Jamestown Foundation, a leading DC-based think-tank with a specific focus on Russia & post-Soviet studies. He is also the Editor of the Turkish Defense Review Journal, published periodically by the Turkish Heritage Organization.
Dr. Can Kasapoğlu gave briefings at various NATO venues and lectured at the Baltic Defense College Command High Command Course. Dr. Kasapoğlu has published for many think tanks such as the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Carnegie Endowment for International Piece, Istituto Aari Internazionali, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, RUSI. Dr Kasapoğlu is a frequent contributor to international press and strategic community outlets such the Washington Post, Anadolu Agency, the New York Times, Al Jazeera, TRT World, BBC, France 24, Deutsche Welle. His works can be followed @EdamDefense.
Major General Thomas Nilsson
CIO, Swedish Armed Forces
Major General (AF) Thomas Nilsson is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) in the Swedish Armed Forces from 1 Sep 2020. Nilsson was born 1963 and he graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1984. The first ten years of his career he served as Fighter Controller in various positions in 101. and 172. Air Surveillance and Control Battalion.
After graduation from the Advanced Command Course at the Swedish National Defence College in 1999, he served in various staff positions at the Armed Forces HQ. During the first Swedish Presidency of EU in 2001, he worked with support to the Permanent Representation of Sweden to the EU. During 2002–2005 he served as Commanding Officer (CO) of the positions as Head of Training and Procurement for the Air Force, and thereafter as Chief of Staff at the Air Component Command (ACC).2010 he served in ISAF Joint Command in Kabul, Afghanistan. 2011 he took command and served until 2014 as Commanding Officer (CO) of the Swedish Armed Forces Command and Control Regiment in Enköping.
2014 he was promoted to Brigadier General and became Director C4ISR Department at the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration January – August 2016 he served as Military Advisor at the Ministry of Defence.From 1 Sep 2016 to 31 Aug 2020 he was the Swedish Milrep to EU and NATO in Brussels. He was acting Major General from 19th January 2016, and was promoted to Major General on 1 September 2020. He served as Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to H.M. The King Carl XVI Gustaf in 2004– 2015. From 2019 he serves as Senior Aide-de-Camp to H.M. The King Carl XVI Gustaf.
Matthew Ince
International Climate Security Policy and Strategy Lead, Climate Change & Sustainability Directorate, UK Ministry of Defence
Matt Ince is the UK MOD’s lead for international climate security policy and strategy.
Prior to joining the MOD’s Climate Change and Sustainability Directorate, Matt worked at the UK Cabinet Office where he led an analytical team responsible for producing strategic assessments on emerging global risks.
He has previously held analytical positions at the UK Cabinet Office and MOD, focused on sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. He has also worked for the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and the UN’s migration agency.
Julia Powell
Head of Policy, Climate Change & Sustainability Directorate, UK Ministry of Defence
Julia’s varied and distinctive professional profile has been gained across the private, public and charitable sectors in the UK and overseas. She was the lead advisor for Defence Training Estate within the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) on Environmental Appraisals and managed projects, including the introduction of Attack Helicopter flying training across UK Training Areas, as well as providing environmental and planning advice on military development projects. Following completion of her Masters in Environmental Law she moved into the environmental policy specialism, covering the design and delivery of strategy, policy and regulation. In her Defence policy roles, she has led teams that successfully delivered Government targets, drove change in behaviours and sustainable practice and shaped future infrastructure planning. A key element of this role was to advise Ministers on the effects and Defence’s response to wider UK Government policy, legislative change including the transition to net zero and embedding this change into Defence business. Following a year as an integral part of Lt Gen Richard Nugee’s Climate Change and Sustainability Review Team and the successful design and launch of the MOD CC&S Strategic Approach, Julia is now part of the new Directorate tasked with delivering the Strategic Approach. Her current focus is on building a policy team to with the role of reducing emissions, maximising the benefits from the MOD’s rural estate, embedding sustainability and carbon into Defence decisions and raising understanding of climate security.
Dan Fitter
Privacy, Security & Safety Lead, PUBLIC
Dan is a Lead on PUBLIC's Privacy, Security & Safety team, supporting government transformation and data discovery projects across safety tech, national security and defence. Dan has led advisory engagements with DCMS, Cabinet Off ice and contributes to the Percy Hobart Fellowship.
His subject matter interest in defence digitisation and government data sharing. He is passionate about better sharing, integration and exploitation of data to improve defence situational awareness and boost safety tech innovation.
Additionally, he is a trustee at the UK's grassroots foreign policy think tank, Agora. Prior to joining PUBLIC, Dan supported programme delivery of multi-million digital transformation projects at Accenture Digital. He then spent 4 years managing strategy consulting projects for UK and international defence firms at Avascent, focusing on defence digitisation and innovation.
Al Whittle
Director of Strategy and Plans, Inzpire
Al joined Inzpire in 2008 following a 32-year career in Army Aviation including tours with the Special Forces as a Lynx Flight Commander and the last 10 years dedicated to Apache Attack helicopter operations where he had tours as the Force Senior Electronic Warfare Officer, Senior Weapons Instructor, Senior Flying Instructor until finally commanding the Apache OCU.
On joining the company he formed the Helicopter Services Division winning the company its first international training contract and the first live flying training contract where we supplied exceptionally well qualified Apache Qualified Helicopter Instructors to conduct Conversion to Type as well as Conversion to Role training.
At the time, Inzpire was an SME with an emphasis on the “S” and everyone had to multi-task and use their previous skills to best effect. Al also taught on international aviation train the trainer courses, collective training at the Air Battlespace Training Centre, Human Factors foundation courses to ab initial helicopter pilots and was fortunate to be able to climb back into the Apache cockpit to provide live EW training in the Middle East.
Al was invited to join the Board in 2013 as the Managed Services Director before becoming the Chief Operating Officer in 2017. Since 2019 Al has been the Director of Strategy and Plans for the company responsible to the Board for the future direction and growth of the company.Having relocated to Lincolnshire following the restoration of a 19th Century French Chateau he tries to find time to enjoy skiing, reading and maintaining his Sea Ray boat.
Daniel Korski
CEO and Co-Founder, PUBLIC
Daniel co-founded PUBLIC with Alexander and is the Chief Executive Officer. Daniel has 20 years of experience in senior positions in government across the UK, EU, and US.
Daniel was most recently Deputy Head of Policy at No. 10 Downing Street and Special Advisor to the UK Prime Minister.
He was previously adviser to the Vice-President of the European Commission and has previously worked for the UN and the UK Foreign Office in Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen. He sits on the UK's Digital Economy Council, and the Coalition for a Digital Economy.
Alexander de Carvalho
CIO and Co-Founder, PUBLIC
Alexander co-founded PUBLIC with Daniel and is the Chief Investment Officer.
Alexander previously worked in investment banking and private equity for 8 years at a top-quartile fund. Subsequently Alexander has become a venture investor and entrepreneur, building the healthtech startup Doctify, and is also a non-executive board member of Heineken.
Paul Hollingshead
Head of Europe & Africa, Anduril Industries)
Paul Hollingshead is Head of Europe & Africa at Anduril Industries, where he leads all growth, customer success and strategy for the defence technology company emanating from its London office.
Previously, he held senior roles at Rapiscan | AS&E where he focused on strategy and delivery of border security and customs equipment to both government and commercial clients in Western Europe and Africa.
Paul previously held a strategic business development role at G4S where he developed security solutions for critical national infrastructure in the United Kingdom and oversaw client development and growth.
He began his career in the British Army where he gained operational experience in Afghanistan and the Balkans.
David Short
Technology Director, BAESystems
David Short works within BAE Systems Group Head Office, managing multi-domain technology investment and strategic collaboration across the business sectors.
Dave is distinguished for his leadership and technical capability in the development of, and problem-solving within, complex mission systems across the engineering lifecycle. He has worked for many years in an international environment; previous roles have included Engineering Authority for Tornado and Typhoon as well as the BAE Systems Chief Engineer for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
He has always been passionate about Engineering, avionics systems and product competitiveness through Technology. He is also proud to be a Trustee of the Engineering Council.
Nicholas Nelson
Principal & Senior Technology Advisor European Operations Lead Georgia Tech Research Institute
Nicholas Nelson is an experienced leader in aerospace and defense (A&D), working at the nexus of innovation and national security. He currently serves as a Principal and European Lead for the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), focused on emerging defense and dual-use technologies.
He also is an active investor in and advisor to dual-use technology startups. Previously, he was the Director of Strategic Development at a $7B+ aerospace, defense, and technology company, leading strategy, M&A, and corporate venture capital initiatives. Prior to this, Mr. Nelson worked in management consulting in Europe and North America, as well as civilian roles with the U.S. Department of Defense.
His research and writing are focused on emerging defense technology, hypersonics, unmanned systems, and great power competition. His analysis is regularly featured in Defense News, National Defense Magazine, Europe’s Edge, DefenceiQ, and SpaceNews. Mr. Nelson is an elected Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.
Kursti Salm
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence of Estonia
Mr Kusti Salm assumed the office of the Permanent Secretary of the Estonian Ministry of Defence in May 2021. Previously he served as the Director General of the Estonian Centre of Defence Investment, fulfilling the tasks of Estonia’s chief defence acquisition officer.
Permanent Secretary is the highest civil servant position within the Estonian Ministry of Defence. He is responsible for the management of the ministry and for co-ordinating the activities of the Estonian Defence Forces, the Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service, the Centre for Defence Investments, the Estonian Defence Resources Board and the War Museum. He also oversees the Estonian Defence League that is a voluntary national defence organisation operating in the area of government of the Estonian Ministry of Defence.
In 2017, Mr Salm was the chief negotiator and chairman of the EU working group dealing with European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP), a 500 million euro investment programme for the European Defence Industry. In NATO, Kusti Salm represented Estonia in the Conference of National Armaments Directors (CNAD). In European Defence Agency, he served as a member of the National Armament Directors Steering Board. Additionally, he is a Founding Member of the European Cyber Security Organisation’s (ECSO) Board of Directors, the biggest EU investment vehicle to cyber security.
Mr Salm started his career in the Estonian MoD at 2007 as an adviser in the field of EU defence policy. In 2011-2015, he served as an Armaments Cooperation Counsellor in the Permanent Representation of Estonia to NATO. Upon his return to Estonia, he was the Director of Defence Industry and Innovation Department (2015-2016) and thereafter the Director of Defence Investments Department (2016-2019). Furthermore, he has been the initiator of two Estonian flagship defence R&D programmes – the development of NATO Cyber Range Capability and the EU level programme on the Modular Unmanned Ground Systems.
Mr Salm was born on the 17th of April 1984 in Tallinn. He has graduated from the University of Tartu and has a degree in Political Sciences. He has also studied Business Administration in the University of Maastricht. In 2014, Mr Salm completed the SERA (Session Européenne des Responsables d’Armement) course in France and in 2009 the High Level Course of the European Security and Defence College.
In 2015, he was among the first group of graduates of the Estonian MoD’s Future Leadership training programme. He has completed conscript service in Estonian Defence Forces. Mr Salm has been awarded the IV Class Order of Merit of the White Star by the President of the Republic of Estonia, the Third Class of the Cross of Merit of the Ministry of Defence and the Estonian Defence Forces Meritorious Service Cross by the Commander of the Estonian Defence Forces.
Mr Kusti Salm is married and has two sons.
Amandine Le Pape
Co-founder and COO, Element
Amandine is the co-founder and COO of Element, a company which builds secure messaging apps, collaboration tools and services on Matrix. She deals with operations across the entire company.
She is also co-founder and a Guardian of The Matrix.orgFoundation, the open source project that publishes theMatrix open standard for secure, decentralised, real-time communication.
Amandine has an engineering degree in Telecoms,Electronics and Computer Science from CPE Lyon and an EMBA from Rennes School of Business.
Syra Marshall
CTO and Co-Founder, Elemendar
Syra Marshall graduated from Cambridge University with an MA in Mathematics and developed experience as a software engineer in telecoms.
She has started, led, and technically developed multiple start-ups, including co-founding and leading product development at Elemendar, which came into existence at the UK’s first GCHQ / NCSC accelerator.
Elemendar has developed an Artificial Intelligence capability that reads human authored cyber threat intelligence and translates it into machine-readable industry-standard structured information.
Phil Tovey
Head of Futures, Chief Scientific Advisors Office, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Phil currently leads the Defra futures team in providing strategic foresight in support of the UK’s environmental, food and rural systems through a combination of Global Catastrophic Risk analysis, futures narrative assessment, mapping non-linear Social Ecological System change and other speculative futures approaches.
Prior to joining Defra, Phil was an embedded researcher with Avon and Somerset Police, specialising in preventative strategy and emerging technology ethics.
Phil is a former Royal MarinesCommando and serving Reservist supporting operational strategic communications.
David Ford
Partner, Silverpeak
David joined Silverpeak in 2018 as a Director and was promoted to Partner in 2022. He brings a different perspective to the team with over 12 years of operational involvement in tech companies as well as over 15 years of experience in corporate finance advisory roles. David previously worked with Cobalt and Clearwater Corporate Finance.
His most recent operational role was as Managing Director of Magnetic North Software, a proprietary Cloud Contact Centre and Cloud Unified Communications solution, which he sold for $39m to West Corporation (now Intrado) following three years of 30%+ growth. David’s operational experience is within the telecoms, satellites, location services, sensors, and precision engineering sectors. He has a first-class degree in Electrical & Electronic Engineering, and an MBA from INSEAD.
Understanding the investment world as well as having the knowledge of what opportunities technology can bring to the table, enables him to assess the business and unlock the potential value within it. These days David is on the wrong side of the touchline, but he still enjoys running, sailing, and occasional kitesurfing as well as some angel investing.
Mircea Geoană
NATO Deputy Secretary General
Mircea Geoană became NATO Deputy Secretary General in October 2019, after a distinguished domestic and international career. Mr Geoană is the first Deputy Secretary General from Romania, and the first from any of the countries that joined the Alliance after the end of the Cold War. He was born in Romania on 14 July 1958. He studied at the Polytechnic University in Bucharest, the Faculty of Law of the University of Bucharest, the Ecole Nationale d’Administration in Paris, and he holds a PhD from the Economic Studies Academy of Bucharest. Mr Geoană has served as a diplomat and a politician, and in 2009 was his party’s candidate to be President of Romania. Mr Geoană is a strong advocate of transatlantic integration and has held a number of international positions, including OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in 2001 and personal representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for Georgia in 2005. He is President and founder of the Aspen Institute Romania and has published extensively on domestic and international affairs. In 2000, he was made a Commander of the National Order, The Star of Romania. He has also been awarded the French Legion d’Honneur and the Italian Stella della Solidarieta. Mr Geoană is married to Mihaela, an architect by training and former President of the Romanian Red Cross. They have two children, Ana Maria and Alexandru. He is fluent in English, French, Spanish and Italian.
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