The 2026 programme is currently being developed, if you would be interested in getting involved as a Speaker, please let us know. We would also welcome your input on companies, topics or specific persons you would like to see included on the agenda this year. We welcome your input into shaping the agenda sara.hook@pulseconferences.com.
Gemma Ungoed-Thomas is a Senior Fellow at King’s College London, working on issues at the intersection of national security, cyber power, emerging technology and democratic resilience. She brings extensive experience from senior roles in the UK government, where she led national strategy on state threats, cyber security and technology policy. Until March 2026, Gemma served as Director for State Threats, Cyber and Technology in the UK Cabinet Office. In this role she led national strategy at the intersection of security, advanced technology and resilience. She helped shape the UK’s £2 billion National Cyber Strategy, developed the UK’s first Counter State Threats Strategy, and co-chaired the National Cyber Advisory Board, bringing together senior leaders across government, industry and civil society to strengthen systemic resilience. She also served as Principal Adviser to the Prime Minister–chaired Science and Technology Committee. During her time in government, Gemma coordinated aspects of the UK’s support to Ukraine following the Russian invasion and led work to manage the UK’s risk exposure to hostile state activity, including malicious cyber and physical attacks. Gemma has extensive experience in strategy, crisis management and national security decision-making. She previously served as Private Secretary to the Prime Minister for Home Affairs and National Security, leading cross-government responses to counter-terrorism incidents, national cyber attacks and major crises, including the Afghanistan evacuation. At the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), Gemma established and led national incident response teams and helped build the UK’s cyber incident response capability, overseeing multidisciplinary operations responding to the most significant national cyberattacks. She coordinated real-time operational response and strategic decision-making for ministers, industry leaders and critical infrastructure. Earlier in her career she held senior roles at GCHQ, leading cross-government cyber defence initiatives and contributing to the development of the UK’s first National Offensive Cyber Strategy. Her work focuses on resilience as a strategic pillar of national power, integrating behavioural insight, adaptive governance and international cooperation. She has advanced resilience frameworks with Five Eyes partners, the EU and the United States, and contributes to debates on democratic resilience, responsible AI governance and the security implications of emerging technologies.
Lady Olga Maitland is a long-standing campaigner on defence and security, shaped by front line political experience and decades of work across diplomacy, media and business. As a Member of Parliament , 1992 – 1997, she advocated for strong UK and European security. Her commitment to defence began earlier, in 1983 when she founded Families for Defence to counter unilateral disarmament narratives and reinforced Britain’s commitment to NATO. In 1991, Lady Olga founded The Defence and Security Forum to bring together global leaders, shaping international security – a mission that continues today. Her earlier career as a Fleet St columnist for the Sunday Express and Daily Mail honed her public engagement skills. Alongside her commercial and governance roles, Lady Olga speaks internationally on hybrid warfare., geopolitical risk, and the rising threats facing the UK and Europe, offering clear, actionable guidance for leaders navigating instability. Currently she is also Advisory Board member Audere International and Honorary President Algeria British Business Council. She is a special adviser to a number of dignitaries and a widely sought after speaker at all major conferences on several corporate governance issues.
I’m a Certified Nuclear Cybersecurity Professional, licensed to cybersecure Nuclear Power Plants. A Cybersecurity Career Ambassador in collaboration with a CoI that’s led by NICE, NIST, U.S. Department of Commerce. I was educated in the USA and the UK with current work experience as a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for the Insurance Sector and previously as a Financial Analyst & as an advisor for Securing Card Payment Systems. Successfully managed fueling systems projects to modernize fuel (Petrol) stations with a leading U.S. global fueling systems manufacturer and a European manufacturer. I had implemented and operated the Cybersecurity Program for an insurance firm. Initially, I started as a Financial Anslyst and Risk Modeler at Riyad Bank and a Regional Supervisor for Corporate Banking. Knowledgeable about the leading fueling systems manufacturer, Gilbarco Veeder-root, a Vontier firm. I was educated at George Mason University (GMU), USA (2003), and at The University of Manchester, UK (2015). My aim is to create safe and modernized fuel stations with advanced and secure Automation and Payment systems while detecting and preventing Cyber Fraud.
Alan was formerly Group CISO at Babcock International, UK CSO at CSC and T-Systems, an Associate Partner at IBM Security, and served in the Royal Air Force for 21 years.
Alex Harland is a security and technology leader with two decades of experience delivering world-class strategic risk, crisis, and security management across defence, government, and private sectors. Beginning his career within Military Intelligence, Alex led intelligence and risk operations across multiple high-stakes geopolitical environments, developing a deep expertise in strategic decision-making under pressure.
Following his military service, Alex joined GCHQ, where he became a founding member of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). There, he provided cyber security consultancy, incident response, and crisis leadership during some of the most significant cyber attacks to impact the UK.
Transitioning to the private sector, Alex shaped the cyber security and technology landscape of ComparetheMarket, one of the UK’s leading fintech brands, by driving a bold and innovative security transformation across modern cloud technologies.
Today, as Co-Founder and CEO of AI Score, Alex leads a mission to redefine how organisations understand, measure, and manage artificial intelligence performance and risk. His leadership combines a deep technical foundation with a strategic vision for trustworthy, transparent, and resilient AI systems.
With nearly a decade of experience in pentesting, Ben brings a wealth of commercial expertise to the AppSec sector. Known for insights into the evolving AppSec testing landscape and the effective utilisation of tools and technology driving teams today.
Cian Heasley is a Principal Consultant at Acumen Cyber and a cybersecurity threat specialist who has run threat intelligence programs and built threat hunting functions in previous roles. For the last 3 years he was the Head of Threat at Adarma Security, having previously worked as a consultant in SIEM onboarding and detection and response. He is a Mitre ATT&CK and Sigma contributor and has presented at security conferences across the UK on topics ranging from mobile surveillance apps to the history of ransomware.
Chris Wallis has over a decade of experience in cyber security, having previously provided counsel on the cybersecurity operations of numerous FTSE 100 companies, as well as blue teams defending critical national infrastructure. He founded Intruder with a clear mission 10 years ago to solve the overload crisis in vulnerability management and Intruder is now protecting over 3,000 companies worldwide.
Danielle Sudai manages the Security Operations and Automation team at Deliveroo, managing and optimising all Organisational Cloud Assets and SaaS solutions’ security monitoring and identifying real-time threats and security breaches.
Danielle was also a Cloud Security Engineer. In her career, she co-engineered a CSPM internal solution, reviewed and governed different cloud services from a security perspective, Cloud IAM misconfigurations and KMS services automation.
Gary Hayslip is an experienced Global Security Executive with a proven track record of delivering innovative security programs that protect billion-dollar enterprises at every touchpoint. He is intensely focused on driving continuous improvement to maximize the efficiency of security programs while minimizing costs. As an insightful thought leader, he possesses strong business acumen and a commitment to organizational mission, values, and goals. He has demonstrated the ability to collaborate with all levels of an organization to champion new ideas, gain buy-in, and build consensus. Hayslip brings extensive experience in information technology, security leadership, physical security, and risk management to his role as the Senior Security Advisor | Field CISO for Halcyon.ai. His previous executive positions include multiple roles as Chief Information Security Officer, Chief Information Officer, Deputy Director of IT, and Chief Privacy Officer for the U.S. Navy (Active Duty), the U.S. Navy (Federal Government employee), the City of San Diego, California, Webroot Software, and SoftBank Investments (Vision Fund & Vision Fund II).
Hayslip is a proven cybersecurity expert with excellent communication and public speaking skills. He is skilled at explaining complex security and risk concepts to audiences with different levels of knowledge. Hayslip has earned a reputation as a highly effective communicator, author, and keynote speaker. He co-authored the “CISO Desk Reference Guide: A Practical Guide for CISOs – Volumes 1 & 2,” “The Executive Primer: An Executive’s Guide to Security Programs,” “Developing Your Cybersecurity Career Path,” and the “The Essential Guide to Cybersecurity for SMBs.” He recently coauthored and published “Mastering Third Party Risk,” a guide aimed specifically for security practitioners to help them manage the risk exposure to organizations from vendors and supply chains. These books are among the top resources for helping CISOs improve their leadership and business skills. Hayslip currently serves as an independent director on several boards and advises various other security and technology firms. He is an active member of the cybersecurity community and belongs to professional organizations such as ISC2, NACD, ISACA, and Infragard. Hayslip holds several professional certifications, including CISSP, CISA, and CRISC, and has earned a BS in Information Systems Management from the University of Maryland, University College, and an MBA from San Diego State University.
LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ghayslip
James is a Solutions Architect at Synack, the leading crowdsourced security testing company, where he manages the UK and Ireland region. He helps organisations strengthen their cybersecurity through Synack’s human-led, AI-augmented testing platform, enabling them to test faster, at scale, and on-demand.
James provides clients with strategic insights into systemic problems. His background is in cybersecurity across diverse sectors, including Government, Defence, and Security. His experience spans areas such as business intelligence, the delivery of quantum-resistant secure communications systems, and large-scale cloud migrations.
Now cyber operations manager at Lloyds banking group, former CISO and Global DPO, James Kwaan is a recognised expert in his field, having covered AI, simulation, energy and financial services for several blue-chip companies. He has managed and mitigated cyber security incidents since 2007 and has set up and run incident response and cyber intelligence teams. He has in depth knowledge of Geopolitics actively participating in professional groups. An active contribute to the MITRE Center for Threat Informed Defense, he is president of ISC2 Scotland and has won several prizes and accolades for his contributions to the cyber security field – helping other professional succeed in their careers.
Findlay is a recognised thought leader, specialising in insider threats and security operations, with her career spanning security operations, consultancy and leadership roles. A published author and award-winning practitioner, her professional interests include tackling human-centric cyber risks and leveraging advanced technologies to address modern challenges. Her research and practical insights empower organisations to strengthen resilience and manage insider threats in an evolving digital landscape.
Jonathan is an experienced lawyer based at Punter Southall Law in London working on compliance & technology. He is also a Professor at Fordham Law School teaching a new post-graduate course on international compliance and a Director at L-EV8 working to increase cybersecurity skills on boards.
Jonathan’s professional practice includes advising organisations on risk and compliance across Europe. This includes work on:
Jonathan has handled legal matters in more than 60 countries. He has handled more than 250 data breaches and has worked extensively with technology legislation including GDPR, NIS2, DORA & the EU AI Act. He has conducted a wide range of investigations of various shapes and sizes, a request to appear before a UK Parliamentary enquiry and led clients through real and simulated bet-the-company situations.
Jonathan is also regarded as an acknowledged expert on AI and he currently serves on the New York State Bar Association’s AI Task Force looking at the impact of AI on law and regulation. Jonathan also sits on the Law Society AI Group.
Jonathan is a co-author of LexisNexis’ definitive work on technology law, “Managing Risk: Technology & Communications”. In addition to being a lawyer, Jonathan is a Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Marketing. He has spoken at conferences in the US, Japan, Korea, Canada, China, Brazil, Singapore, Vietnam, Mexico, the Middle East & across Europe.
Jonathan qualified as a lawyer in the UK in 1991 and has focused on technology and risk and governance matters for more than 25 years. Jonathan has been selected as one of the Thomson Reuters stand-out lawyers for 2024 – an honour bestowed on him every year since the survey began. Thomson Reuters has listed Jonathan as the 6th most influential figure in risk, compliance and fintech in the UK. Jonathan is listed as a Super Lawyer and has been listed in Legal Experts from 2002 to date.
25+ years in cyber security. Successful trade sale of SecureTest to NCC. Briefed boards of BoE, LSEG, Tesco. Regulatory / government: Briefed EU Parliament, UK Parliamentary groups, US gov agencies. He’s heavily involved in lobbying for regulatory change and sits on industry accreditation groups.
An accomplished Head of Cyber Security/CISO and international keynote speaker, experienced in delivering highly engaging, interactive presentations that translate complex technical topics into clear, relatable insights for both technical and non‑technical audiences. Known for bringing energy, storytelling, and practicality to stages around the world—ensuring audiences are not only informed, but genuinely entertained.
Brings extensive expertise in designing, building, and leading large-scale cyber security programmes across global enterprises. Proven success managing security operations, cyber risk, data protection, and security architecture across regions including Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America.
Specialises in the development of enterprise security strategies aligned with leading frameworks such as NIST, NIS2, DORA, and CIS, while ensuring ongoing compliance with GDPR, ISO 27001, NDPR, Cyber Essentials, PCI‑DSS, and region‑specific regulatory requirements.
Experienced in delivering complex projects through both internal teams and outsourced operating models, creating scalable security capabilities that strengthen resilience and support business growth.
Martyn is Chief information security officer at dunnhumby, the world’s largest consumer data analytics organisation. He runs a large team and is an experienced cyber security practitioner, with over 20 years experience in the field, spanning big-4 consulting and running large teams. He advises multiple VCs and start ups, operates at board level and is seen as a strategic partner to the businesses that he advises. His technical background, coupled with his MBA for Durham, enables him to operate at the highest levels of business with a deep technical understanding of the security domain.
Marcus Vaughan is Cofounder at iluminr, working with CISOs and resilience leaders to test and strengthen critical response capability in real-world conditions. His work helps security leaders evidence readiness to boards and regulators with data grounded in actual response.
Experienced CSO/CISO and Cyber Underwriter with than 25 years experience in financial services. Has a strong side-interest in computer forensics and in the management of digital evidence. Graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1987 where he studied Mathematics and Computer Science. He has since lived in three continents and has lectured globally on security technology issues. Since 1996 has been working in Security and Technology in Financial Services primarily in London.
Nick Gerteisen is a cybersecurity leader with over 20 years of experience in developing, implementing and optimizing cybersecurity programs protecting digital health, medical technology and SaaS organizations. Nick has experience leading large scale security transformations, regulatory compliance initiatives, and risk management programs for global organizations.
Nick has built and scaled cybersecurity teams, integrating security frameworks into product development lifecycles and ensuring compliance across multiple domains such as FedRAMP, SOC2, GDPR and HIPAA-HiTrust. His expertise spans Governance Risk & Compliance, Identity and Access Management, Security Operations, Threat Modeling, Threat Intelligence, Cloud Security, Product and Application Security and Secure SDLC-DevSecOps.Previously serving in leadership roles at Smith + Nephew, Insulet Corporation and Mark43, he has influenced medical technology cybersecurity standards, collaborated with regulatory bodies and driven innovative security strategies for enterprise and product security. Nicholas continues to influence the future of digital and medical cybersecurity practices through speaking or chairing multiple cybersecurity and industry events per year.”
Owanate is the founder of Bestman Solutions, a firm dedicated to helping leaders hire cyber security professionals. He advises CISOs and Executives on market factors that impact their growth plans and designs bespoke solutions to address this. Firmly embedded in the cyber security space, he possesses a global core network of well-respected and proven security specialists. Owanate has spent almost a decade recruiting in the Cyber Security field. Before this, he recruited Technology and Operational Risk specialists and successfully staffed a number of high profile banking regulatory programmes. He is also a keen industry speaker and writer for security associations and international publications. Outside of Security and staffing, Owanate is interested in all things Martial Arts.
Oliver is a commercial leader with more than 15 years of experience in the information technology, software, and services industry. He is known for building strong relationships with customers, partners, and colleagues, and for delivering innovative, customer focused solutions that drive business growth, operational efficiency, and measurable value.
As Chief Commercial Officer, Oliver leads the global go to market strategy and oversees teams across sales, marketing, customer success and support, partnerships, pre sales, solution delivery, and revenue operations. Drawing on experience across both the private and public sector, he designs and executes multi-channel strategies that deliver measurable results and create meaningful impact for customers and organizations alike.
Oliver’s focus is on strengthening brand awareness, driving sustainable revenue growth, and delivering exceptional experiences for prospects, customers, and partners.
Pete is an accomplished business leader with more than 40 years of experience in the Defence, Security, Cyber and Technology sectors. He has a proven record of leading complex organisations, delivering strategic growth, and managing large-scale operations across international markets.
Pete is the Managing Director of QCC Global Ltd, the world’s leading provider of Technical Surveillance Counter Measures (TSCM), Cyber TSCM, Digital & Mobile Forensics, and counter-eavesdropping services.
In this role, Pete drives the overall strategy, performance, and global growth of a company that has completed operations in more than 105 countries, with companies established in UK, Singapore, Dubai and Ireland.
Prior to joining QCC Global, Pete served as Managing Director of L3Harris Intelligence and Cyber International (ICI) business and prior to this as Managing Director of Thales Cyber & Consulting UK.
Pete holds a BSc in Mathematical Studies and is a Fellow of the Association for Project Management (FAPM) as well as a Member of the Institute of Directors.
Based in Somerset, Pete is married to Charlotte with four children. Away from work, Pete enjoys shooting, golf, skiing and classic cars.
Paul Colnan is the CISO at NewDay, financial services. Paul has 15 years of cyber security experience, including advising some of the world’s largest brands and he works with the board to enable secure and trusted commerce. He has an ‘ethical hacker’ background, which helps him tackle complex security issues, but he also cares about driving effective change through clear leadership and communication. Paul has been a CISO in various sectors, including fintech, logistics, and manufacturing, and before joining NewDay he was CISO at ION, he was an Executive Director at JP Morgan Chase, where he held security roles in retail banking, M&A and cloud platform security teams. He was CISO of Revolut and Group CISO of Unipart Group. Paul likes aviation and is pursuing his private pilot’s licence in his spare time.
Paula Kershaw is a senior Cybersecurity, Resilience, and Operational Risk leader with more than 30 years of financial services experience across both traditional and challenger banking environments. Her most recent roles as Chief Controls Officer for Security & Resilience Barclays and UK & Europe CISO at HSBC provide a unique perspective regarding balancing technical and business outcomes with appropriate risk & control challenge and oversight and translating complex cyber and resilience risk into governance decisions that boards can own and act on.
Richard Holland is Field CISO at Quorum Cyber. He has over 25 years’ experience working in various sectors from higher education, local government, housing, aerospace, defence, finance, and outsourcing. Prior to joining Quorum Cyber, Richard held several senior positions, including Assistant Director of Office CIO at Queen Mary University of London, Head of IT Systems and Cyber Security at Notting Hill Genesis, Assistant Director Technology Innovation at London Borough of Waltham Forest, and Head of Business Solutions at Genesis Housing Association.
Robert has over 35 years of audit, risk and cybersecurity experience and has held a number of senior leadership positions, including CISO for the NHS and health & care system, GSK, National Grid, and Merrill Lynch and Head of InfoSec at Royal Bank of Scotland, and he was a partner at KPMG. Robert is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Assurance Research and Engineering at George Mason University, Washington DC. He is also an Honorary Professor at UCL. He was awarded a PhD in psychology by the University of Leeds for his work on the perceptions of information and IT risk and has published and presented on this and other topics. He continues to undertake research in these areas. He was also awarded an MBA from Manchester Business School. Robert also holds a number of commercial board positions including Chair of the Crossword Consulting Ltd Board, Non-Executive Director of Crossword Cybersecurity PLC, and Chair of the Board at Think Cyber Ltd and advisor to the Government of Singapore Ministry of Health. He is also a Governor/Trustee and Audit Committee Member of the University of Brighton.
Dr Leivesley, sally@newrisk.com works on generic solutions to catastrophic risks to critical infrastructure across all disciplines and contributes practical applications to government policy and business. She has been a Panel adviser to for the British IET and CPNI supported publication for Cyber Security in the Built Environment.
As an Advisor to companies and governments on protection of people and infrastructure and strategies for security and business Dr Leivesley has worked across industry sectors gas and petrochemicals; power distribution; hazardous goods transportation by rail; underground and aboveground rail; underground mines; bulk shipping and banks.
As an international media commentator she has commentated for BBC World Service and other news outlets on extreme threats – Chinese spy balloon over USA nuclear missile site, uranium package at London Heathrow airport, cyber; terrorism; aviation losses; nuclear reactor explosions; Kabul 2021 evacuation; South China Sea; Polonium-210 and Novichok poisonings, Beslan siege; Iran; DPRK; USA Presidential security abroad; Covid-19, unexplained incidents such as MH370 and chemical incidents.
Dr Leivesley has held international scientific meetings on issues of catastrophic risk including risks of emerging nuclear weapons, infrastructure resilience including cyber, Covid-19 solutions and hazardous near-earth objects.
She was director of two disaster recovery units in Australia (weather and chemical incidents) and trained by British Home Office as Scientific Advisor holding a Cold War appointment as on all aspects of nuclear war.
PhD London University; Member of the Register of Security Engineers and Specialists RSES; International Association of Bomb Technicians and Investigator; Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies, and the British Information Assurance Advisory Council Community.
Tarek Kuzbari is a seasoned leader with 20+ years of experience in the Technology Media and Telecommunications (TMT) sector, specializing in international market expansion, revenue growth, and P&L management. He has held senior roles at HUMAN, Cybereason, Bitdefender, Group-IB, SABA Software, and Kaspersky, managing $58m ARR across regions including MEA, APAC, and Eastern Europe. Tarek, an acknowledged industry influencer, has been listed among the top “30 under 30” by Gulf businesses and ACN’s “Top 25 Most Powerful Executives in the Middle East”. He also earned a spot in Network Middle East’s “Top Executives in the Security Industry in the Middle East”. He holds an MBA from London Business School and actively supports NGOs like Agastya International Foundation and the Grow Movement.
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