The 2025 programme is currently being developed, the latest event flyer and programme can always be found on the downloads tab.
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.
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.
Barry Coatesworth, FCIIS, CISSP
Senior Security Government Advisor & Cybersecurity Leader
Barry Coatesworth is a globally recognized cybersecurity expert with a track record of shaping security strategies in financial services, public sector, and critical infrastructure. As a trusted advisor to governments and global enterprises, he has led security transformations, built high-performing teams, and developed regulatory frameworks that protect millions. Currently advising the UK’s national pension dashboard program, Barry plays a key role in securing the financial well-being of millions of UK citizens. A recipient of the IFSEC Global Influencer Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Cyber OSPAs, he continues to mentor future cybersecurity leaders while speaking at major industry conferences.
The BMA’s mission is to look after doctors so that they can look after you.
The CIO is accountable for the development and delivery of the IT & Digital Strategy and capabilities which support the BMA Group in the fulfilment of its mission.
Ivan Milenkovic is a Vice President for Cyber Risk Technology at Qualys, a pioneer and leading provider of disruptive cloud-based IT, security and compliance solutions designed to streamline and consolidate customers’ security and compliance solutions in a single platform. Ivan has over 20 years of experience aligning complex technology landscapes and fluctuating risks with business objectives. His professional background includes serving as Group CISO at a $4.8bn multi-national BPO, leading a cyber advisory business, and holding multiple advisory board positions. Ivan is a Certified Information Security Officer (S-CISO®) and instructor for the CISO2.0 course by SECO Institute. His ongoing pursuit of domain knowledge continues at Lancaster University, where he is a Cyber MBA candidate in the first NCSC-accredited programme in the UK.
Jake Bernardes is a seasoned CISO with extensive experience spanning technical consultancy, advisory roles, and executive leadership. Throughout his career, Jake has worked and lived across the globe, amassing deep insights into building and scaling security programs for growth-stage and enterprise organizations alike. A proven expert in developing robust security and IT functions, Jake equally specializes in driving go-to-market strategies for security-focused products, particularly for international companies expanding into the U.S. market. His holistic approach to cybersecurity enables businesses to align their security posture with operational and strategic goals, ensuring resilience in today’s evolving threat landscape. Jake’s dedication to innovation and his practical understanding of security challenges make him a trusted partner to companies navigating complex regulatory environments and seeking scalable security solutions. He was an early adopter of many GRC solutions and have served in multiple customer advisory boards prior to joining Anecdotes, where he continues to lead with a vision of empowering organizations through smarter, data-driven compliance management.
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.
James started his career in Information Security in the late 1990’s working in the desktop anti-virus software field, progressing to email security in the early 2000’s where he joined Microsoft’s security team during the trustworthy computing era. James now works in the threat detection and investigation response marketplace holding the position of Regional Sales Manager at Exabeam. During his spare time, he is an avid volunteer at The National Museum of Computing located at Bletchley Park.
Justin joins Risk Ledger after a career supporting the US Government in cyber security. He worked as a technical director for cyber security operations at the US Department of Defense (DoD), which included a secondment to the UK National Cyber Security Centre. Most recently, he advised senior executives of top global corporations and investment firms on enhancing their management of cyber risk.
Kev Eley is Vice President UKI at Exabeam. For nearly three decades he has delivered expert insight and solutions to the IT and software industry, dedicating 15 years specifically to cybersecurity and fraud detection. He has been personally involved in over 150 security information and event management (SIEM), User and Entity Behaviour Analytics (UEBA) and Security Analytics deployments, with a core focus on customer success and value realisation.
Previous to Exabeam, Kev held notable positions at IBM, Microsoft, TrapX Security, Egress Software Technologies and LogRhythm. He possesses a keen interest in all aspects of cyber and its impact on business and society and has worked across a wide variety of sectors, including financial services, utilities, the public sector and more.
Leandro Ferreira is a cybersecurity expert with extensive experience in digital security for public institutions. He led the cyber crisis response at Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice (STJ), managing one of the country’s most high-profile cyber incidents. He has advised government bodies on cybersecurity resilience, delivered talks at national and international conferences, and co-authored I Am Hacked! What Now?, a book on cyber crisis management. Currently, he is engaged in initiatives to enhance cybersecurity maturity across Brazilian public institutions, bridging the gap between policy leaders and operational cybersecurity.
Dr Meera Sarma spent years as a cybersecurity researcher profiling hackers, examining facets of cyber-crime and the deep links to physical terrorism and the dark web, and subsequently, a PhD on hackers (information systems) at the University of London. Meera has worked with a number of public and private sector agencies in consulting roles. With 20 years of cumulative experience in consulting as well researching and publishing in areas of cybersecurity, digital transformation, and AI/Quantum Computing, and contributing to the UK’s Parliamentary Office of Science and. Technology as an expert on Cybersecurity and Quantum Computing. Dr Sarma set upCybersecurity and Quantum Computing company, Cystel, that is underpinned by scientific research and years of experience in the field.
Mark is Chief Information Security Officer for NHS England having joined from UKHSA (Test and Trace) where he was head of Cyber Assurance and Oversight. With over 30 years of experience in security, Mark has held a number of high profile roles in the public and private sectors. He has a strong business focus seeing security as a business enabler. At every opportunity Mark seeks to manage the needs of business against those of security and risk. Outside of work, Mark works to raise much needed funds for NSPCC Childline. He is a member and former Chair of the WhiteHat Ball Committee which to date has raised over £2M for the NSPCC. less
Nish is triple qualified in medicine, law and economics. He has started, run and advised businesses and governmental organisations at board-level across multiple industries and sectors, in the UK and abroad. Nish originally trained and worked as a doctor for a number of years, both in the NHS and internationally, predominantly in the fields of acute medicine and intensive care. After cross-qualifying into law, he worked as a lawyer at a leading law firm, initially specialising in corporate and commercial work, with a focus on the health sector, before expanding into intellectual property. Subsequently, Nish left law establishing a health clinic in the UK and a health consultancy business abroad, and remains active in the latter. He later rejoined the law to project manage and provide specialist support in a multi-jurisdictional pharmaceutical litigation. Following its successful conclusion, he remained part-time in law, but pivoted towards the commercial aspects of law firms – leading on strategy, consultancy and innovation – while also maintaining his personal business interests, before having to give up the former due to expansion of the latter. With his varied educational and professional background, Nish has acquired a wealth of board-level experience of a diverse nature. Some of this has been obtained by serving on the Board of his own companies as Chair (or other Director in rotation), while other elements have been acquired through experience over many years of advising other companies’ or institutions’ boards as an appointed member, Non-Executive Director, secondee or specialist advisor, in both private and public sectors. Outside of formal work, Nish provides career advice and mentoring for university students as an Alumni Fellow, and volunteers for a national medical charity’s support helpline for patients and their carers.
Lady Olga Maitland, Founder, Defense and Security Forum and Chairman, Copenhagen Compliance – has wide experience in all major Governance, risk Management and Compliance issues in general and global Fraud and Corruption problems in particular. 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. Lady Olga is a former British MP for the Conservative party. Prior to her political career she was a reporter for the Fleet Street News Agency, a columnist in the London.
Dr Runli Guo, the Founder and CEO of AI Dionic. She is the driving force behind the organisation’s mission to deliver enterprise-grade AI agents with trust, security, and technological sophistication. As a former CISO with a PhD in artificial intelligence, Runli identified a pressing need for robust and reliable AI agents designed specifically for enterprise use. AI Dionic’s current focus is on the applications of Agentic AI in proactive reduction of enterprise risks including strategic risks, financial risks, operational risks, compliance and regulatory risks, tech and cyber risks as well as supply chain risks. Previously Runli has held leadership roles at FTSE 250 and Fortune 500 companies. She was the former CISO at Gett, IT Security Manager at AXA Health, and the Global Head of Digital Cybersecurity Initiatives at Marsh McLennan. Winner of the “Top 30 UK CISO” Award in 2022 by CSO Online.
Experienced visionary with a demonstrated history of building high performing teams that deliver mission-critical results for financial industry risk reduction. A people focused leader with ultimate focus on results in production through inspirational approaches. Ability to leverage strong understanding on complex business, technical and risk baselines and apply quantitative techniques to collaboratively create solutions to business problems. Deep expertise in building measurable and scalable ROI focused risk remediation strategies, operating models in financial space to prepare the industry and my current enterprise towards the next digital readiness.
Sandip Wadje is Managing Director and Global Head of Emerging Technology Risks at BNP Paribas since 2017 where he is focused on governance and oversight of emerging technology domains such as cloud, artificial intelligence, digital assets, and quantum. Sandip also leads group-wide oversight on all aspects of “outside-in” intelligence collection with a particular focus on external attack surface, geopolitical risks, social media liquidity risk, cyber-posture of corporate clients and emerging threats such as deep fakes or synthetic identities. Sandip also represents the bank at various external forums. Sandip has been a member of European Cybercrime Centres (EC3) Financial Services Advisory Group since September 2017 and is also co-chair of European Financial Roundtable (EFR) Cyber Experts Group since February 2020. EFR comprises of 25 leading Financial Institutions in the UK & Europe and is represented by Chairman / CEO’s of the participating institutions. He has over 24 years of experience in cybersecurity, operational risk, IT risk, internal controls, and compliance. Sandip has a hands on technology background and his previous stints include BT Global Services, RiskIQ, SecureWorks, KPMG, JPMorgan Chase, and Deloitte.
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.
Steve is an independent Senior Board Adviser helping clients navigate geopolitical risks, national security, and cybersecurity/resilience challenges.
Steve served in the UK Government for over three decades in a variety of National Security roles countering transnational threats such as terrorism, espionage and proliferation. In 2017, he was Deputy Director in the National Security Secretariat of the UK Cabinet Office, with responsibility for aspects of cybersecurity policy. Subsequently, Steve served in a senior of senior executive roles at Credit Suisse including Global Head of Technology, Cyber and Third Party Risk, head of Operational Resilience and Group CISO.
Steve is a senior visiting research fellow at King’s College, London, and a member of the Dell Technologies Global Security Advisory Board.
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