As the most senior civil servant in Scotland and head of the civil service supporting the Scottish Government, the Permanent Secretary is the principal policy adviser to the First Minister and Secretary to the Scottish Cabinet.

JP leads the Scottish Government civil service to deliver the full range of devolved powers and duties set out in the Scotland Act. As the principal accountable officer for the Scottish Government, JP is personally responsible to the Scottish Parliament for the exercise of his responsibilities. This includes the management of the Scottish Government’s £59 billion budget and the economic, efficient and effective use of all related resources.

Leading more than 7,000 civil servants who work for the Scottish Government in Scotland, London and around the world, JP supports the development, implementation and communication of government policies. This work is undertaken in accordance with the Civil Service Code, upholding its four core values of integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality.

Married with two children, JP was born in the Channel Islands and lives in Scotland. JP is committed to building a world-class, values-led civil service which excels in serving the public.

Richard Lochhead was appointed as the Scottish Government’s Minister for Small Business, Innovation, Tourism and Trade in March 2023.  

Mr Lochhead has also represented the Moray Constituency in the Scottish Parliament since 2006. Prior to that, Mr Lochhead represented North East Scotland from 1999 to 2006. 

He attended Williamwood High School in Clarkston and Central College of Commerce in Glasgow, before graduating in Political Studies from the University of Stirling. Immediately prior to his election, he worked as an economic development officer for Dundee City Council. 

Mr Lochhead previously served as Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and the Environment between 2007 and 2016. 

Eilidh McLaughlin took up the position of Head of Digital Citizen Unit at Scottish Government in April 2022.  This is a new Unit, part of the Digital Directorate and Eilidh’s role is to head up the Connecting Scotland programme.  Connecting Scotland is a unique initiative, set up during the pandemic, to get devices and/or connectivity to those who needed it most.  The programme has delivered 60,000 devices and connectivity packages over the initial two years and has a commitment to deliver a further 300,000.

Eilidh has a background in Information Security and Governance as well as corporate governance services, equality and diversity, internal audit, complaints, information governance and various business support services from previous roles in NHS National Services Scotland.

Previously, she practiced as a lawyer both in the private sector with Maclay Murray & Spens and then in the public sector, firstly with West Lothian Council, as a member of the property and contracts team, and subsequently as legal adviser at Queen Margaret University in Musselburgh, East Lothian.

Outside of work, Eilidh’s time is very much taken up with her husband and young daughter, though when she can, she enjoys the rugby, a good book and cooking.

Megan Lee Devlin is Chief Executive of the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO), responsible for leading the government’s digital transformation from the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) in the Cabinet Office. CDDO leads the Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) function for HMG by putting the right conditions and capabilities in place to enable departments to transform through digital and technology. Megan joined the Civil Service from McKinsey & Company, where she worked with private sector and public sector organisations on technology, analytics and organisational transformation topics. 

Geoff Huggins is Director for Digital at the Scottish Government.  Previously he was Director of the NHS Education Scotland Digital Service working to create the NHS National Digital Platform.  From 2013 to 2018 he was Director for Health and Social Care Integration and from 2017 to 2018 also Director for Digital Health and Social Care.  Prior to that he was Head of Mental Health for nine years.  From 1991 to 1998 he worked for the Northern Ireland Office working on security and political development.  He holds degrees in law and criminology from Queen’s University, Belfast.  He is a non-executive director of Cornerstone, Penumbra and the International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership.  He runs a little, takes photographs and watches films.  

Sally Kerr has extensive experience of data and digital delivery, working primarily in the Public Sector but also across sectors with business and Universities. 

She has worked on a range of innovative data driven projects, leading the development and delivery of the City of Edinburgh Council’s Open Data Strategy, and creating EdinburghApps, an open data driven civic challenge programme. She was co-founder of Edinburgh Living Lab which used a data and design approach to bring insight to city issues and introduced innovative approaches to solving urban problems. Sally also led the City of Edinburgh Council’s web and digital estate programme for over 10 years, developing strategy, policies and best practice approaches.  

She have been involved in a range of collaborative work, sitting on the Scottish Government’s first Open Data Strategy working and review groups, as co-chair of Eurocities Data group, developing the European Citizen Data Principles and as an active member of a range of distinct project programmes locally and internationally promoting data. She has also been a member of the Open Government Civil Society Network specifically contributing to Scotland’s data commitment. 

Sally is currently working with Scottish Government as their Data Transformation Lead, with a focus on data maturity and delivering data improvement across the Scottish Public Sector 

Robbie has been Head of the Digital Connectivity Division in the Scottish Government since 2018, leading the delivery of a number of flagship infrastructure projects that are enhancing Scotland’s digital infrastructure and extending access to connectivity. Robbie has worked in several roles across Scottish Government – previously managing European Structural Funds programmes and helping to set up SPRUCE, the first investment fund specifically established to support urban development and regeneration activity in Scotland.

Shannon Vallor is the Baillie Gifford Professor in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence at the University of Edinburgh, where she directs the Centre for Technomoral Futures in the Edinburgh Futures Institute. A Fellow of the Alan Turing Institute, Professor Vallor’s research maps the ethical challenges and opportunities posed by new uses of data and artificial intelligence. Her work includes advising academia, government and industry on the ethical design and use of AI, and she co-leads the UKRI’s Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID) programme. She is the author of Technology and the Virtues: A Philosophical Guide to a Future Worth Wanting (Oxford University Press, 2016) and editor of the Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Technology (2022). She is the recipient of multiple awards for teaching, scholarship and public engagement, including the 2022 Covey Award and the 2015 World Technology Award in Ethics.

Before moving to Scottish Government, Joy held a number of posts across UK government. She is an experienced transformation lead. Driven by her passion for delivering excellent public services, Joy has been involved in designing some extraordinary services, recognised by their many awards. As Head of Digital Transformation, Joy’s goals include ensuring all services are designed in collaboration with the people who use them and that people are always encouraged to challenge the status quo.

Tom is the Chief Data Officer at the Scottish Government, with extensive hands-on experience working across Data Science, Data Analysis, Data Architecture, Software Development and Data Engineering. With his wealth of experience working in various UK government departments, he has spent several years developing and improving organisations’ use of data to inform policy and operational decisions.

Kimberley is the Head of Business Intelligence at Glasgow City Council, looking at how data can be used to support both council and city transformation.   She leads a broad range of innovative data analytics projects that inform policy, transform services, and ultimately aim to deliver better outcomes for the people of Glasgow. She is a champion of open data and an advocate for better data sharing across the public sector.  She is a member of the Digital Glasgow Board that is responsible for overseeing the development of the Digital Glasgow Strategy, and is also actively involved in developing data analytics capabilities across Scottish Local Government in collaboration with the Scottish Local Government Digital Office.  

GLASS: The Citizen-focused e-Government Digital Wallet supporting Engagement, Privacy and Freedom of Movement

William (Bill) J Buchanan OBE is a Professor in the School of Computing at Edinburgh Napier University, and a Fellow of the BCS and Principal Fellow of the HEA. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to cybersecurity. Bill lives and works in Edinburgh and is a believer in fairness, justice, and freedom. His social media tagline reflects his strong belief in changing the world for the better: “A Serial Innovator. An Old World Breaker. A New World Creator.” He also has a strong belief in the power of education and in supporting innovation from every angle, and currently leads the Blockpass ID Lab and the Centre for Cybersystems, IoT and Cyberphysical. Bill works in the areas of blockchain, cryptography, trust and digital identity. He has one of the most extensive cryptography sites in the World (asecuritysite.com), and is involved in many areas of novel research and teaching. Bill has published over 30 academic books and over 300 academic research papers. Along with this, Bill’s work has led to many areas of impact, including three highly successful spin-out companies (Zonefox, Symphonic Software and Cyan Forensics), along with awards for excellence in knowledge transfer and for teaching. Bill recently received an ”Outstanding Contribution to Knowledge Exchange” award and was included in the FutureScot “Top 50 Scottish Tech People Who Are Changing The World”.

Isaac Smith is Deputy Director for Cloud and Digital Services within the Digital Directorate of the Scottish Government.  Previously he was Deputy Director of Product, Delivery and Capability (interim) at the Department of Health and Social Care where he provided leadership to the DDaT profession. Prior to this he was Head of Technology at NHSX working to create sustainable digital transformation in health and care. Since 2014 he has specialised in Digital with a focus on technology and user centred design within the Department of Health and Social Care, the Home Office, and the Department of Work and Pensions. He holds degrees in Law and History from The University of Dundee.

Colleen is the Business Change Manager at Aberdeenshire Council where she leads several teams delivering programmes of Digital and Strategic change across the organisation which will improve service delivery and build resilience. Colleen developed and is leading on the delivery of the Council’s Digital Strategy and is passionate about embedding User Centred Design to inform and improve user experience, leading the growth of this discipline across services. 

Colleen holds an MSc in Criminal Justice and is a Qualified BCS Business Analyst and PRINCE 2 Practitioner. Alongside certifications in Service Design and Leadership, she has held various Voluntary Board positions and is a 2022 graduate of the SOLACE Springboard Leadership programme. Colleen lives in a small village in Aberdeenshire with her young family and enjoys visiting the local beaches and forests, as well as spending time in her home city of Edinburgh.

Clinical Director, North East of Scotland Breast Screening Programme

Consultant Radiologist, NHS Grampian

Vice Chair, RCR British Society of Breast Radiology

National Innovation Fellow, Chief Scientists Office

Dr Gerald Lip is the Clinical Director for breast screening in the North East of Scotland and the Principal Investigator of the GEMINI prospective evaluation of mammography artificial intelligence supported by the NHS National Strategy for AI in Health and Social Care.  He has recently completed a 4-year retrospective research project in the same topic with the Industrial Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Diagnostics in Scotland.

Dr Lip has recently been awarded a two-year Innovation Fellowship by the Chief Scientists Office of Scotland to lead innovation adoption in the NHS. Dr Lip is the vice chair of the British Society of Breast Radiology and sits on the UK Royal College of Radiology Informatics committee, on the Advisory Board of the Centre for Doctoral Training for Biomedical AI in Edinburgh University and is a scientific advisor to the National Covid Chest Imaging Database.

Dr Lip is active in research, education and training publishing on work with radiology trainees in AI, opinions on the member of the public and professional colleagues on AI and also sits on the British Institute of Radiology AI special interest group leading on education.

A graduate of Trinity College Medicine, along with his medical degree he also qualified with an Msc. in Health Informatics and completed his radiology training in Aberdeen. He is an honorary senior clinical lecturer in the University of Aberdeen. Dr Lip has published and spoken on topics nationally and internationally such as patient engagement, innovation in breast imaging techniques, quality assurance and safety and monitoring in AI.

Steph Wright has a diverse background ranging from astrophysics to genomics in academia and film & TV to dance in the arts and the third sector. A project and programme management professional with extensive experience in the data and AI space, she loves to develop and build collaborations across organisations to help people with their data/AI journey. Steph led on Data Lab’s efforts in support of the Scottish Government in developing Scotland’s AI Strategy and she’s now leading on the delivery of the strategy’s vision for Scotland to be a leader in the development and use of trustworthy, ethical and inclusive AI. She is also Co-Founder of Diverse AI, a not-for-profit working to support and grow diversity in AI. 

Sarah is the Programme Director for Digital Infrastructure at Scottish Futures Trust, a centre of infrastructure expertise. She leads a team of industry and commercial specialist that support the Scottish Government in the development and delivery of their digital infrastructure strategies that covers international connectivity, data centres, fibre broadband and advance wireless infrastructure across Scotland. Taking an active leadership role across major infrastructure programmes with central government, local authorities and public sector bodies, Sarah brings a unique mix of skills, experience, and knowledge to bear to deliver improved outcomes from Scotland’s public sector infrastructure.

Sarah sits on the Scotland 5G Centre Governing Board with a drive to ensure that 5G is tied into the broader tech scene in Scotland and that best practice is shared across the UK. With a commercial background in fibre and mobile deployment, she promotes an inclusive and holistic approach across the regional boards and working groups that she sits on and encourages collaboration across all her work.

Colin Birchenall is the Chief Technology Officer of the Digital Office for Scottish Local Government. In 2016 the Local Government Digital Partnership appointed him and Martyn Wallace to establish the Digital Office.
He has a particular interest in the role that digital technology can play to deliver better outcomes such as quality of life, the economy and the environment. He has first-hand experience of demonstrating how technology such as the Internet of Things (IoT), data, cloud computing, and mobility can enable public services to be transformed by enabling greater transparency, better decision-making, place-based approaches, partnership working, and prevention/early-intervention.
Colin brings eight years of experience of local government technology transformation having worked with Glasgow City Council, where he recently acted as the lead architect for the £24M Innovate UK Glasgow Future Cities Demonstrator. Prior to this he spent ten years in the telecommunications sector based at Adastral Park in Suffolk.

Hugh Wallace is Chief Information Officer at Research Data Scotland (RDS), an organisation that helps researchers find and make use of data that can improve the lives of people in Scotland.

Prior to RDS, Hugh led a high-profile programme to deliver a common payments platform in Scottish Government and support digital service development within Scotland’s Social Security agency. His previous roles include leading the digital teams at Oxfam and National Museums Scotland, as well as heading up the design function in a digital agency.

Lisa has worked in the Civil Service for over 20 years and brings a wealth of experience and proven track record in leading and managing large scale multi-disciplinary transformational change programmes in Government.

Having joined Scottish Government in 2016 as Programme Director within the Social Security Directorate, she is currently responsible for the successful delivery of one of the largest, most complex Programmes in the history of the Scottish Government: a high-profile, highly political Programme to establish Social Security Scotland, a brand new public service.

Through setting the strategic direction for designing, building and delivering a new Social Security Agency and Infrastructure, Lisa has championed a new approach to Service Design and Digital Delivery, placing customers at the heart, ensuring services are user-centric and easily accessible.

Despite being the first time any country has attempted to devolve powers from such an integrated and complex system of social security, Social Security Scotland is now recognised as a modern, award-winning digital service delivering a world class customer experience – an achievement Lisa ranks as one of the biggest and proudest of her career.

Steven Flockhart is a professional Technology & Change Executive who leads the Digital & Security team. Steven has spent time working with well-established companies such as Royal Bank of Scotland, Sainsburys Bank, Lloyds Banking Group & Tesco.

After spending more than 20 years in Information Technology Services, Steven has delivered large scale Transformation and Technology change programmes with a strong focus across Public and Private Cloud Services, Data Architecture, Data Science and Advanced Analytics.

Steven holds professional qualifications in Programme Management, Enterprise Architecture and Cloud Solutions.

Digital and Security Responsibility:

Maintain and incrementally improve the Digital and Security suite of services across the entire customer and user base. Focusing on provision of scalable, secure digital solutions that support NHS Scotland to achieve it’s digital outcomes.

Key priorities:

• Digital Strategy & Innovation
• Secure Digital Services
• National Shared Services Provision
• Digital Transformation
• National Cyber Operations Centre
• Clinical Informatics

Tessa has led digital transformation in heritage, financial, government and third sectors for over 20 years. She is currently responsible for the design and delivery of the complex services required to welcome displaced people from Ukraine to Scotland. Tessa has previously led digital strategy and programmes for the British Film Institute, National Galleries of Scotland, National Trust for Scotland and Royal London Group. She is a Trustee for the Scottish Seabird Centre and served for 3 years on the British Council’s Digital Advisory Board. She has a real passion for using technology to change lives for the better. 

Highly respected and trusted leader, Alisdair is recognised by his peers as one of Scotland’s prominent professional advisers in Scotland’s digital and technology sector. As the Director leading the development and growth of the Glasgow City Innovation District (Scotland’s first Innovation District), Alisdair is a board adviser to several of Scotland’s leading, prominent Digital Product SMEs. Alisdair also founded Framewire, Scotland’s first advisory practice focused on developing Scotland’s Digital and Tech Ecosystem as well as mentoring the founders of Scotland’s leading digital technology businesses. Alisdair is also recognised for his passion and dedication to developing the growth of Scotland’s Tech Ecosystem and Tech Clusters and is currently focused on scaling Glasgow’s Digital and Tech sector as part of the Glasgow City Innovation District. 

Alisdair is the co-founder of the internationally acclaimed Turing Festival (now Turing Fest) and at the inaugural Scottish Tech Startup Awards was awarded the first Tech Ecosystem award where his peers recognised his expertise and commitment to developing Scotland’s tech ecosystem. Alisdair was a finalist in the Barclays Entrepreneur Awards and has been inducted into the BIMA 100 as one of the UK’s leading digital tech leaders. Alongside being a board member of BIMA in Scotland, Alisdair is a board member of digital tech companies Amiqus, Cut Media and VeryConnect. Alisdair is also a member of the ScotlandIS policy steering group, which provides strategic advice to the UK and Scottish Governments on developing Scotland’s tech sector and is a member of Johnston Carmichael’s Tech Advisory Board. 

Dr Taylor is Director of Strategic Partnerships and part of the leadership team at Edinburgh Innovations Ltd, the University of Edinburgh’s commercialisation arm. She leads a team securing large multidisciplinary international strategic partnerships with industry. This has included Neurii, a multi partner deal with Gates Ventures, Eisai, HDRUK and LifeArc) to develop digital products for neurodegenerative disorders. 

Andrea has spent 25 years in the healthcare sector. Following a PhD in genetics at Edinburgh University, and several post docs in the area of cancer research (CRUK) she worked within the drug discover industry both in Pharma (Smith Kline Beecham now GSK) and Biotech (Oxford Glycosciences, latterly UCB). Andrea has also worked for several consultancy companies in Oxford and Cambridge providing deal making advice, market forecasting and due diligence to the life sciences industry. Prior to joining Edinburgh Innovations in 2017, Andrea spent 6 years with Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Development International working with CEOs to support company growth and to also attract inward investment.  

Over the last 20 years Michelle has been working with leading technology to automate processes.  She has travelled the world advising companies in how to automate processes, especially in the invoice automation arena.

Michelle joined Aberdeenshire Council 6 years ago and has introduced this expertise across services. Councils and other public bodies need to reduce processing costs and can see that Process Automation and Artificial Intelligence are tools to achieve those goals.

One of Michelle’s experiences was to travel to the Ivory Coast to introduce invoice automation into a large oil and gas company.  An experience that followed travelling to Australia, Europe and South America. 

Paul is a Digital Architect substantively for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde but also in the Scottish Government Digital Health and Care Directorate. Primarily focussed on applications, data and interoperability Paul has extensive knowledge of the digital landscape in NHS Scotland and uses that experience to ensure major programmes and architectures are fit for purpose. Paul has worked in several roles and organisations in NHS Scotland and can bring the perspective of both a large territorial board and Scottish Government strategic decisions to influence and inform decision making at senior levels. 

Paul has been working in the senior digital leadership team at Registers of Scotland for 4 years. A technology enthusiast who believes in delivering success through service aligned, autonomous, high performing teams. 

Registers of Scotland have been through several “digital transformation” iterations over the last ten years. Their journey has seen the delivery of several transformational services which benefit Scottish Citizens and underpin the Scottish Property Market, such as SCOTLIS and Digital Submissions Service.  

With many lessons learned on the way, and many more inevitably to come, Paul and the Registers of Scotland team would like to share their digital transformation journey with you. 

Hayden Edwards is the Director of the Scottish Wide Area Network (SWAN) for BT Business, with accountability for all aspects of BT performance including service, delivery, contract performance, service evolution and innovation. Before this, he led Business Development in Scotland for BT, including go to market strategy and leading strategic major business deals, across Health, Government, Emergency services, Local Councils and Universities.

Hayden has been at BT since 2009 and has worked in a variety of roles covering Major Deal Architecture, Programme Delivery, Contract Management, IT transformation and as Chief Technology Officer for Local Government. Having worked in public sector for over 20 years, he has developed significant insight into the challenges of transforming citizen experiences using technology and communication solutions.  A creative and innovative thinker, he enjoys bringing practical thinking to customer challenges, and firmly believes in not just doing the same things differently – but doing different things.

Hayden is a Community Councillor for his local Ward in East Lothian, taking a particular interest in digital inclusion and how technology can support education and place based transformation. An undergraduate and recent Masters graduate from the University of Aberdeen Business School, he now lives in Aberlady with his wife and two children. Outside of work, he is a lifelong rugby fan, having played and refereed at all levels of the game.  Any other spare time is spent on his home golf course at Craigielaw.

Thomas Rysgaard Christiansen is the former CEO of KOMBIT, Inc. He spent the last 13 years overseeing the procurement and development of efficient, coherent, and user-friendly IT-solutions for both the state and local government in Denmark. Drawing on his technical and business background, Thomas led the company through the immense task of replacing and modernizing a monopolized critical case management and self-service systems portfolio as well as ensure new critical infrastructure for the local Danish government.

Thomas is a strong advocate of digitalization and coherent digital development of the public sector. He applies his extensive experience from the private sector to his approach to digital transformation in the public sector. Thomas is a frequent member on expert boards and facilitates several networks on the subject of digital development and transformation. Thomas joined Netcompany in 2023 as International Market Development Partner. Thomas will be the overall Group responsible for our digital government vertical and will lead our large new project EU-Wallet.

Kevin is Head of Ethics and Sustainability Consulting at Sopra Steria. He has led numerous projects with financial services, government agencies and devolved governments in digital ethics and sustainability. Prior to joining Sopra Steria, Kevin had 12 years’ experience as an academic and consultant in digital ethics and was a lead contributor to the EU SHERPA project on the ethics and human rights implications of AI. Kevin has published over 50 academic articles, chapters and books in ethics and technology.

Kjersti has over two decades of experience of leading digital transformation within the Public Sector. She’s an expert in Lean Six Sigma for service and office environments.

Kjersti has worked with many organisations across the Scottish Public Sector and has delivered and supported a wide range of initiatives from complex transformations to using intelligent automation to deliver streamlined operating models and drive more efficient services.

Mikko Uusitalo is the Global Director of Mission Critical & Private Networks at Cellnex Telecom. He is responsible for driving and leading strategic initiatives, building partnerships, and leading the company’s sales efforts for the mission critical network business. With over 25 years as a global ICT business executive with HP, Alcatel-Lucent and Canon globally, he holds a leadership position on Private Wireless Network Business unite at Cellnex Telecom. At the moment, he has took part in 30+ live implementations of Private Network solutions in the Nordics in addition to Vice President and Business Development for Global brands. and Worldwide and Go-to-market sales strategy expertise.

Dan is a leader in Zuhlke’s Data and AI practice and has extensive experience working across a diverse range of sectors including government, transport, telecoms and manufacturing. As a skilled engineer and strategic advisor, Dan effectively connects the needs of leadership with the technical expertise of teams to successfully drive data transformation initiatives for organisations. He brings a unique combination of strategic thinking and deep knowledge of data and engineering to his consulting work.

Yasmin Sulaiman is VP of Partnerships at CodeBase, an organisation dedicated to helping people build better startups. Yasmin started her career in journalism, working at the BBC and the Guardian before a stint as Editor-in-Chief at Scottish arts publication The List. Yasmin then joined Creative Edinburgh as Executive Director, where she worked with and advocated for the capital’s creative community. Since joining CodeBase, Yasmin has worked with hundreds of founders to help bridge the gap between the creative and tech sectors. Yasmin is also Trustee at the Edinburgh International Festival.

Dr. Robert Gardner is a telecommunications expert with more than 20 years of experience. He was instrumental in the rollout of Network Rail’s IP fixed telecoms network programmes, which brought together cutting-edge signaling, telecom and information management systems to enhance resilience and capabilities of the United Kingdom’s rail network. For a two year period, he also worked in a consultancy role defining many of the telecommunications requirements for California High Speed Rail, before returning to the UK to bring new age satellite communications to the rail sector. At Scottish Futures Trust, Robert leads on advanced wireless connectivity and trunk fibre provision in Scotland. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering and a PhD from the University of Strathclyde.

Philip is responsible for UiPath’s market engagement with the Public Sector across the UK and Ireland.

He brings more than 20 years’ experience of driving engagement between technology and Public Sector organisations.

A core priority at UiPath is helping address some of the systemic challenges facing the UK, driving enhanced citizen outcomes and bridging the digital skills gap which exists across Agencies, Departments and wider Public Sector bodies.

Andrew is Head of Clinical Innovation at Amazon Web Services and also the Director of Innovation at the UCL Centre for Digital Innovation powered by AWS. He is a physician by background with 20 years’ experience of working in the NHS. Over the past 15 years he has worked in a variety of Health Technology roles including on the UK National Programme for IT, BMJ, Hearst Health and DXC Technology. He helps healthcare organisations progress at all stages of their digital transformation journey. In his current role, he supports customers and partners to build healthcare solutions using AWS’ cloud services to improve patient experience and clinical outcomes.

Jackie has been working collaboratively with Public Sector colleagues for over twenty-five years helping them to take a user centred design approach to transforming their citizen facing services. After a career in Energies and Utilities and Financial Services consulting she began to work with the Public Sector space, shaping, winning and delivering a variety of interesting assignments covering everything from low carbon energy projects to digital services, IT consulting and full business transformation.

She joined Sopra Steria in 2018 after working for Logica, Xansa and BT Global services and successfully running her own business. Since joining Sopra Steria she has tripled the size of the Scotland based consulting team who now comprising design team, change, technology consultants and business analysts. We work in multi-disciplinary teams with our colleagues delivering a range of digital services.

She is the co-chair of the Business Services Association (BSA) Scotland and represents Sopra Steria in Scotland at all events, conferences and leads our sponsorship of the Empowering Women to Lead Digital Transformation programme.

Nia is an experienced leader of digital transformation who has helped the Scottish public sector deliver services that are more efficient to run and meet the raised expectations of today’s customers. She now helps organisations transition to working in the cloud.
Before that Nia spent 19 years working in both the Welsh and English public sector delivering policy improvements, community development, digital connectivity and business transformation.

Mark, the Chief Solution Architect at Leidos, boasts 28 years of expertise in bridging real-world problems with digital solutions. His unwavering passion lies in Scotland, where he envisions data as the catalyst for perpetual enhancement across various sectors, encompassing education, welfare, agriculture, healthcare, law enforcement, and cultural affairs. Mark also serves as a prominent member of the Digital Twin steering group at TechUK and is actively advocating for government adoption of a ‘Digital Twin First’ strategy across all public services.

Our Data & AI Practice Lead is a professional with over three decades of experience as a leading Practice Lead in the realm of Data and AI. With a robust background in consultancy, service management, project delivery, strategy and adoption, and solution architecture, Lise has spearheaded numerous successful digital transformation initiatives across diverse business sectors.

Under her guidance, the practice has specialised in delivering cutting-edge cloud-based solutions in Azure, particularly focusing on Modern Data Platforms for facilitating intelligent analysis and machine learning. Additionally, the practice extends comprehensive support to clients in adopting Power BI as a robust enterprise reporting solution.

Kim McAllister is a freelance journalist and communications consultant at Connect. She presents Clever About Cash on BBC Radio Scotland and contributes to a number of BBC shows including Radio 4’s Inside Science. She regularly writes for the Herald and other business titles. Since the pandemic hit, Kim has been involved with a wide range of events online, from chairing the three day annual international conference of the British Occupational Hygiene Society to hosting business recovery webinars for the Herald. Her space podcast series “Scotland’s Secret Space Race”, which she made with the University of Edinburgh, is the no 6 physics podcast in the UK and she is currently working on a special edition.

Glenn heads the Ofcom Scotland team in addition to being Ofcom’s senior leader in Scotland.  Ofcom has an office in Edinburgh with c80 multi-disciplinary colleagues from across Ofcom’s Groups.  The Ofcom Scotland team represents Ofcom in Scotland and Scotland in Ofcom across all of Ofcom’s regulatory responsibilities.

Glenn joined Ofcom in October 2016 having spent 17 years in the Civil Service.  Between 2011 and 2013 he was the Deputy Director for Information Rights at the UK Ministry of Justice (including acting as the lead sponsor for the UK Information Commissioner’s Office) and from 2013 to 2016 he was the Policy Deputy Director at the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland, working across a range of UK-wide policy issues including broadcasting and telecoms.

He held a wide variety of policy posts in the Scottish and UK Governments covering rural diversification and strategy, constitutional policy and intergovernmental relations, human rights, freedom of information and data protection.

Stephen Broadbridge left the British Army back in 2018 and is now the Cyber Exercising Coordinator at the Cyber and Fraud Centre Scotland organising and facilitating Exercise in a Box Cyber Exercises to multiple organisations from many different sectors to test their incident response to a potential cyber-attack. As a 3rd year student at Abertay studying Ethical Hacking, Stephen has a great perspective and understanding on the tactics and methodologies cyber-criminals will use.

Richard Jones joined Foreign and Commonwealth office and completed 26 years of technology and engineering work including a very strong security element.

Moving to Leidos in 2014, Richard leads the Cyber Security and Assurance capability in support of all our clients and delivering results in all aspects of IT security including Cyber Operations.    Richard has invested in both the people and technology to develop the Leidos UK Cyber security and works with our global corporation to bring practical innovations and ever more effective cyber solutions.

Richard’s team provides support to national bodies with a focus on Government, Defence, National Security, Critical National Infrastructure, and key public services.  Our strong relationships with key partners in providing Cyber solutions brings insights and assurance wherever and whenever our customers need it.

Andy Sinclair has over 15 years of experience delivering complex technical solutions, driving innovation and leading successful teams. As CTO of Brightsolid, Andy is responsible for shaping and overseeing the company’s technology and product strategy, developing innovative solutions that address our customers’ diverse and dynamic needs. Andy leads Brightsolid’s team of cloud, cyber security, network and solution engineers, ensuring that the company leverages the latest technological innovations to deliver desirable value to our market.

Ross is responsible for Identity Protection product strategy at Crowdstrike, working in the Office of the CTO. He works closely with product management, engineering, the field and our customers to ensure the product has all the capabilities required to stop identity based attacks. He has worked in the identity, authentication and credential management space for most of his career, with roles at Telefonica, Citrix and most recently at Veridium, where he was Chief Product Officer. 

Rebecca is an experienced operations manager and strategic business partner in transformational change, who has worked across a range of public and private sector organisations.

Rebecca has worked for large-scale global organisations set in high volume, high paced environments, in roles which have focused on putting customers, empowered employees, quality data and insights, at the heart of successful service delivery and change programmes.

Rebecca has adopted this ethos in her current role as Change Manager, to drive the strategic business and organisational development of Falkirk Council, to embed a culture that is data-driven, entrepreneurial, embraces transformational change, strives for performance excellence, and delivers Best Value.

Rebecca holds an MBA and has practiced a range of programme, project and change management methodologies including MSP, Prince 2, Agile, EFQM and Lean Systems Thinking over her working career.

Rebecca is a keen spectator of sports and enjoys a variety of musical pursuits.

Jonny De Silva is an established and experienced security solutions engineer. Having been in the industry since 2010, initially as a security practitioner himself, he has an in-depth knowledge on the endpoint security space and is currently Security Solutions Engineer at SentinelOne. 

Our CTO, Greg, is a great believer that technology has the ability to make a huge difference, if it’s used properly and aligned to well understood goals. Greg’s role ensures that we can make a difference for our customers by having relevant offerings which address well understood needs.

In his role Greg ensures we are listening carefully to how our customers’ needs are evolving, as well as maintaining productive relationships with our technology partners and most importantly, continue to develop our skills and capabilities in line with evolving technology.

Gordon is the (Roads) Asset Management Officer for Falkirk Council with a background in GIS and more recently Civil Engineering.  He is particularly passionate about providing greater transparency across the public sector via open data and is an advocate of harnessing data to facilitate informed decision making, ultimately ensuring Council resources are allocated in an efficient manner.  Gordon has led several transformational projects and continues to develop and implement data management practices to support roads asset management as Falkirk Council’s digital journey continues to mature.

Alan Lees is Scotland Director for BT Business, with responsibility for all Corporate and Public  

Sector business in Scotland, which includes health, national and local government, emergency  

services, local councils and universities. His remit is to implement a new strategic direction to  

increase local focus nationwide.  

Alan joined BT in 2001 from NTL. Alan has worked in a variety of General Manager and  

Director positions at BT, developing a unique insight into customer challenges and how  

technology and communication solutions can enable economic growth and prosperity for  

places in Scotland. Alan also passionately supports SME growth in Scotland and is an advocate  

for many support services provided by BT, including Skills for Tomorrow training and Barefoot  

Computing in primary schools. 

Alan is also an advisory board member of Glasgow Warriors. He was born in  

Glasgow and studied Economics & Law at the University of Strathclyde. He now lives in  

Bishopton with his wife and two children and outside of work he is passionate about  

supporting rugby at all levels in Scotland. 

Paula Wilkie is an Information Technology professional working 21+ years in the private and public sector in multiple countries. She started her IT journey in consumer software and hardware support then going on to application testing, Server support, EMEA wide operational support and management and then global operational management. Her role covered trouble shooting, service transformation, global team management, rolling out an EMEA wide remote service and Business Partner management.  

Paula currently works as a Supplier Manager for a shared IT service to 4 NDPB; SDS, SE, HIE and SoSE and has worked with application, network, cloud, and security suppliers. She was part of the team that moved critical services and applications from on prem to cloud, placing those NDPB in a good position for the remote working mandated by the pandemic.  

She continues her interest in emerging technologies with two tiny robots; Mr T and Mellow helping her to explore AI and get to grips with python and JSON. 

What Paula’s friends say is her true claim to fame; she does dispute this, considering her dancing skills as a potential ‘Britain’s got Talent’ winner, is being a former Scottish Welterweight Champion in Thai boxing and competing at the World Amateur Thai Boxing Championships in Kazakhstan for Scotland. Although retired from Thai boxing, she keeps her fitness up by taking part in adventure races, the most recent being a successful 250+ mile race in 2022. Cycling, kayaking, and running from the north to the south of Iceland in 5 days. Next one is Guatemala in 2024. 

Part of James’ role within Dumfries and Galloway Council is to act as the single point of contact for digital connectivity. This includes facilitating the delivery of both UK, Scottish Government and private sector led digital connectivity investment programmes within Dumfries and Galloway. 

He is currently the Chair of the Management Board and joint SRO for the Scottish Wide Area Network (SWAN), a framework contract that enables digital connectivity to around 6,020 sites across the Scottish public sector including schools, hospitals, libraries, and offices. 

Prior to joining the council, James worked for Scottish Enterprise Grampian providing advice and guidance on the adoption of ICT to small and medium sized businesses. 

Sam Eaton serves as  Public Sector Account Director for The Clarus Networks Group, a role which situates him at the forefront of delivering innovative technology solutions for governmental entities. With a specialized focus on enhancing connectivity and communication within the public sector, Sam has been instrumental in implementing cutting-edge infrastructure such as low-earth orbit satellite internet services, which provide high-speed, low-latency broadband across remote and rural areas of Scotland, ensuring that no community is left behind in the digital age.

Under his guidance, The Clarus Networks Group has also developed robust Mobile Private Networks that offer secure, flexible, and dedicated wireless coverage, empowering public sector agencies to operate more efficiently and respond more quickly to the needs of citizens. Sam’s vision for a digitally inclusive Scotland is fuelled by his commitment to leveraging technology to improve public services and support socio-economic growth.

His extensive experience in strategic planning and customer relationship management, paired with a deep understanding of public sector challenges and opportunities, make him a key contributor to the Digital Scotland event, where he aims to foster dialogue on harnessing technology for the public good. Sam’s leadership in deploying scalable and resilient network solutions positions The Clarus Networks Group as a pivotal player in Scotland’s digital transformation journey.

After graduating from the University of Stirling, Jon secured his first teaching post in Dumfries & Galloway. He has worked in several local authorities including Scottish Borders and the City of Edinburgh, where he was a Head Teacher for three years. In January 2010, he took up the post of Rector at Larbert High School (Falkirk Council), which is the largest non-denominational school in Scotland (with over 2,057 young people).  The school has achieved several national accolades for work across a broad range of areas and received an ‘excellent’ inspection report from HMIe.

During his time with Falkirk Council, Jon has also undertaken two short, part-time secondments focussing on school leaver destinations and ‘Developing the Young Workforce’ and contributed towards the ambitious education plans in Falkirk’s ‘Council of the Future’ transformation programme.  Last year, he was President of School Leaders Scotland, he is a member of the national BOCSH group of Headteachers, sits on the SQA Qualifications Committee, is a Director of Tryst Community Sports Club and is on the Board of Directors for the national SSERC organisation.

Graham has over 25 years’ experience in technology strategy and change implementation, working for global organisations in both the private and public sector. His career encompasses strategy, planning, design and delivery and he understands what it takes to implement technology change in a complex environment.

Combining significant financial services and Government advisory experience with a strong technology and business track record, he provides a pragmatic, realistic understanding of technology trends and how they can help (or hinder) transformation.

As Transformation Director at ServiceNow, Graham supports the technology leaders in our key customers, helping shape and delivery transformation programmes and strategies.

Previous experience includes CIO/CTO and programme director roles as well as several non executive director and angel investor roles with sector leading tech start-ups in Cyber and AI.  As a major project reviewer with the Infrastructure Projects Authority, Graham supports significant digital change programmes for both the UK and Scottish Governments.

Murat Dilek is a results-driven professional with extensive experience as an Enterprise Network and SOC (Security Operations Center) Lead at Falkirk Council. With years of experience, he has demonstrated a proven track record in steering complex network infrastructure and cybersecurity operations.

In his role, Murat oversees the design, implementation, and management of Falkirk Council’s enterprise-level networks, ensuring optimal performance and connectivity across diverse departments. His proficiency lies in employing cutting-edge technologies and industry best practices to enhance network efficiency and reliability.

Additionally, he holds pivotal responsibility for safeguarding the council’s digital assets as the lead of the Security Operations Center. Murat orchestrates proactive defence measures, monitors for potential threats, and orchestrates swift incident responses, ensuring the security posture remains robust against evolving cyber risks.

Known for his adept leadership, Murat collaborates seamlessly with cross-functional teams and cultivates an environment of innovation and continuous improvement.

Andrew Husak is the VP of Product Architecture at Emergn. He joined in 2011 and for several years acted as the Solution Lead across key consulting engagements, creating compelling and valuable solutions to the most pressing, and often wicked, problems Emergn customers have faced. He held the vision for how changes in mindset (how we think), measures (how we understand success) and mechanics (what we do) combine to transform customers’ bottom line and their ability to improve performance. In his role now, Andrew helps ensure that Emergn’s Value, Flow, Quality philosophy (VFQ) continues to be pragmatically and consistently applied across engagements. He contributes thought leadership and guidance to VFQ practitioners within and outside of the company. He is the creator of the Product Estate concept, the Increment Definition technique and the brain power behind Systemic Flow Analysis and Emergn’s VFQ Analytics platform.

Andrew brings more than 30 years of experience in product development, PLM, and technology, having previously held senior positions at Ivar Jacobson Consulting, PTC, and Inso. His expertise blends sociology, pedagogy, economics, math, design and engineering to challenge the way people think about work.  He enjoys changing things with clients so that work becomes more purposeful, effective, rewarding … and fun!