Board of Trustees
An introduction to the Council's Board of Trustees: who they are, their experience and their backgrounds.
It’s a privilege and a challenge to be part of the leadership of the Council, knowing that the future security and prosperity of the UK depends in part on the Council succeeding in its mission to develop the profession.Dr. Claudia Natanson, February 9th 2021
Jessica Figueras
Interim Chair, Board of Trustees
Jessica is Chief Executive of Pionen, a cyber security solution provider to government and critical national industries. She is also co-founder of CxB (Cyber Governance for Boards), a not-for-profit network that supports boards and non-executive directors to strengthen oversight of cyber security. As a strategist specialising in digital trust, cyber security, and the role of tech in civil society, she advises UK government on technology and policy issues relating to cyber security and cyber crime.
Previously Jessica led and advised numerous tech, data and research businesses, with a focus on government and highly regulated industries. She started her career as an industry analyst and has published extensive research on the application of emerging technologies. From 2017 - 2021 she was Chair of the Board at NCT, the UK's largest charity for parents, and is still active in the third sector as a board adviser, volunteer and mentor. A frequent conference speaker, she has been named one of Computer Weekly's Most Influential Women in Tech for four years running.
Mike Watson
Treasurer, Board of Trustees
Mike Watson’s career has spanned over 20 years in the technology sector, having held senior finance executive positions in Hewlett Packard and Dell in Europe and North America, and Applied Intelligence - the global cyber security business of BAE Systems Plc.
For the last few years, he has been working as an independent consultant CFO providing interim management expertise, primarily to private equity investment companies which are undergoing significant transformation.
Dr Claudia Natanson MBE
Trustee
Dr Claudia Natanson is a highly respected information and cyber security professional and thought leader within the international arena. She has served as board, steering committee member and programme chair for the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) and is a registered European Commission security expert.
She is Founder of the Corporate Executive Programme (CEP), a body that unites senior decision-makers from leading companies and public sector organisations across the world to discuss business impacting risks, and security related issues and threats.
A recognised top technology influencer by the Financial Times, her experience and expertise cover diverse industry sectors, FTSE 100, Fortune 500, government and growing organisations.
Carla Baker
Trustee
Carla is a recognised expert on cyber security policy, with over 15 years of public policy experience. Most recently, Carla joined Palo Alto Networks as its Senior Director for Policy & Government Affairs UK&I, responsible for driving the company’s public policy agenda in the UK and Ireland, developing policy positions on a range of issues, including cyber security, privacy and wider technology policy. Prior to this she was the Director of Government Affairs at Symantec, responsible for developing the company’s policy positions in the UK and Ireland and representing Symantec before governments, trade associations, think tanks and HM Government-industry boards.
Before joining Symantec, Carla was a director at techUK, the UK trade association for the technology industry, establishing and then leading its Cyber Security Programme. Carla has led the development of the cyber industry’s positions on specific cyber related issues and helped shape the development of government policy.
Carla started her career in Government and held a variety of different roles, ranging from facilitating procurement contracts to shaping the development of mental health legislation.
Dr Chitra Balakrishna
Trustee
Chitra Balakrishna, Ph.D. MBCS, SFHEA , CEH is an academic, author, futuristic technology and open source enthusiast. She has over 20 years of experience, spanning academia and industry, in the areas of cyber security, data networking, mobile communications, technologies and applications. She is a senior lecturer in cyber security at the Open University.
Nathan Nagaiah
Trustee
Nathan Nagaiah is a long-time educational expert with experience of administering nationally-recognised qualifications and advising on diversity. He has worked in roles with regulatory bodies in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland on issues including governance, diversity, and compliance.
Frances Le Grys
Trustee
Frances Le Grys is a former Partner & General Counsel at a global law firm and an experienced non-executive director. She advises chairs, boards and committees on matters of risk, professional and business ethics, governance, corporate structures, strategy and liability issues.
Edward Goodchild
Trustee
Edward Goodchild FRSA is an executive who has founded/co-founded multiple businesses. He brings experience of charity governance and extensive knowledge of issues around professional registration, standards and ethics.
Dai Davis
Trustee
Dai Davis is a solicitor, Chartered Engineer and Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology. He has masters degrees in both Physics and Computer Science.
He has advised clients in safety critical software for over thirty years. In the last twenty years he has also built a practice advising many clients who specialise in cyber security. He has lectured and written widely on these subjects.
Dai is a non-executive director of FAST (The Federation Against Software Theft) and a Liveryman of the City of London through the WCIT (Worshipful Company of Information Technologists). He has chaired an International Standards legal advisory committee on Dependability (an adjunct to IEC TC 56) for over a decade and is a recipient of the International Electrotechnical Commission’s 1906 award.
