The UK’s cybersecurity leadership does not follow a single ladder. Of the six people below, one built a penetration testing firm from her kitchen table in the late 1990s, one ran television operations for a decade before taking charge of a national network’s security, and one earned a PhD in semiconductor physics before becoming a defence giant’s CISO. Two have since moved beyond the CISO role into broader positions, and one now advises the industry after nearly 15 years protecting a national broadcaster. Together they span telecoms, energy, defence, broadcasting, payments, and the advisory world that connects them.
Jane Frankland – CEO, KnewStart
In 1997, Jane Frankland helped launch Corsaire, a penetration testing consultancy that started from her home. She owned and grew it into a seven-figure business operating across Europe, Africa, and Asia-Pacific before it was sold in 2012. Before that she had been a nominated Young British Designer, selling work to clients including Christie’s Contemporary Gallery. After Corsaire she led operations at NCC Group, built SensePost’s European presence and took it through CREST certification, and later served as a Managing Director in Accenture’s cybersecurity practice. Frankland wrote the bestselling book IN Security and founded the IN Security Movement, which has awarded more than 452 scholarships to women. She was awarded an MBE, is a founding member of Women4Cyber, and sits on the advisory board of the Black Hat Executive Summit. Through KnewStart, the company she has run since 2011, she advises cybersecurity firms on strategy and brand.
Greg McCall – Chief Security and Networks Officer, BT Group
Greg McCall came to security from operations. He spent six years as European IT Director at Carphone Warehouse, covering nine markets, then ran business operations at TalkTalk, where he delivered its billing and order management overhaul. At the BBC he was launch director for YouView, the connected television platform. McCall joined BT in 2013 as COO for Television and Content and spent a decade there, later adding responsibility as managing director of converged service platforms spanning TV, broadband, mobile, and voice. He became Chief Networks Officer in November 2022. In January 2026 BT combined that remit with security, and he now holds the title of Chief Security and Networks Officer.
Nick Desforges-Poths – CISO, Group Functions, National Grid
Nick Desforges-Poths spent nine years in HM Forces. He trained in battlefield signals interception, advised on information assurance for highly sensitive systems worldwide, and later commanded a rapid-response electronic warfare detachment while serving as a senior electronic intelligence analyst. His civilian career began in information assurance at CSC and the Environment Agency. He then ran his own consultancy for more than five years, working with clients including Zurich, Dyson, NFU Mutual, and EDF, where he advised on security within the nuclear industry. After stints at AXA PPP healthcare and several security consultancies, including NCC Group, he joined National Grid in December 2022 as CISO for Group Functions. His work covers operational technology and compliance with the NIS regulations.
Mary Haigh – Director of Digital Delivery and Deputy Global CIO, BAE Systems
Mary Haigh earned a PhD studying noise in cadmium mercury telluride semiconductor diodes while working as a research scientist at QinetiQ. She spent 13 years there, moving from gas sensing research into business development and then cybersecurity, where she led the SyBard cross-domain security products team and later the company’s cyber defence services. At BAE Systems Applied Intelligence she managed product lines for threat detection and industrial control system protection before becoming Director of Cyber Propositions. Haigh served as BAE Systems’ Global CISO from January 2021 to May 2025. She now leads digital delivery as Director of Digital Delivery and Deputy Global CIO, with responsibility for digital, data, and cyber across the group. She sits on the board of the UK Cyber Security Council and is a senior associate fellow at RUSI.
Brian Brackenborough – (Former) CISO, Channel 4
Brian Brackenborough spent most of his career inside British broadcasting. He started at BBC Worldwide managing desktop systems, served as technical design authority for devices used by 28,000 BBC staff, and went on to lead information security at the corporation. In December 2011 he became CISO of Channel 4, a role he held for nearly 15 years. There he led the broadcaster to ISO 27001 accreditation, oversaw security for the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics, and set up an internal penetration testing programme that saved £120,000 in its first year. He also led Channel 4’s approach to the Cyber Assessment Framework and the Cyber Resilience Act, and tripled the security budget over three years. Since leaving Channel 4 in May 2026, Brackenborough has continued his advisory work with CXO Portals and serves on the advisory board for HotTopics’ Studio @ Home, helping shape the agenda for enterprise technology leaders.
Bronwyn Boyle – CISO, PPRO
Bronwyn Boyle has worked across nearly every part of the financial services security world. She consulted at PwC, IBM, and Ernst & Young, spent seven years as a director in Barclays’ information risk management function, and nearly six more leading cybersecurity transformation at Lloyds Banking Group. At Open Banking she headed security and counter-fraud, then became CISO at the banking platform Mambu. After a contract leading security transformation and AI enablement at TSB, she joined PPRO as CISO in April 2024. Boyle founded The Security Sisterhood, a community supporting women in cyber, and serves as Executive Vice President of Resilient Communities at Cybermindz. She has been regularly listed among the Top 50 Women in FinTech and previously sat on the board of Cyber Alarm as a non-executive director.
Careers Built Sideways
What stands out in this group is how few of them followed a straight line into security. McCall ran television and network operations before his security remit arrived. Haigh started in semiconductor research, and Frankland in design and recruitment before co-founding a penetration testing firm. Desforges-Poths came through military signals intelligence, Brackenborough through desktop engineering at the BBC, and Boyle through consulting and banking risk. Several have also moved beyond the traditional CISO seat, into broader technology leadership, advisory work, or building communities that bring more people into the field. It is a reminder that the UK’s security leadership is shaped as much by what its leaders did before security as by what they have done since.
Discover more CISOs securing their organizations:
- Made in Germany: The Country’s Cybersecurity Leaders to Watch
- Grown From Within: The Netherlands’ Cybersecurity Leaders to Watch
- Military City’s Cybersecurity Leaders to Watch
- The Flower City’s CISOs to Watch
- The Sun City’s Cybersecurity Leaders to Watch
John Kevin Hao is a news and feature writer covering cybersecurity, technology, and business targeted for professional audiences.