National Security

Fred is responsible for techUK's activities across the Defence and National Security sectors, working to provide members with access to key stakeholders across the Defence and National Security community. Before taking on the role of Associate Director for Defence and National Security, Fred was the Programme Head for Defence at techUK, leading the organisation's engagement with the Ministry of Defence. Before joining techUK in 2018, , he worked at ADS, the national trade association representing Aerospace, Defence, Security & Space companies in the UK. Fred is responsible for techUK’s market engagement and policy development activities across the Defence and National Security sectors, working closely with various organisations within the Ministry of Defence, and across the wider National Security and Intelligence community. Fred works closely with many techUK member companies that have an interest in these sectors, and is responsible for the activities of techUK's senior Defence & Security Board. Working closely with techUK's Programme Head for Cyber Security, Fred oversees a broad range of activities for techUK members. Outside of work, Fred's interests include football (a Watford FC fan) and skiing.

Raya Tsolova is a Senior Programme Manager at techUK. Prior to joining techUK, Raya worked in Business Development for an expert network firm within the institutional investment space. Before this Raya spent a year in industry working for a tech start-up in London as part of their Growth team which included the formation and development of a 'Let's Talk Tech' podcast and involvement in London Tech Week. Raya has a degree in Politics and International Relations (Bsc Hons) from the University of Bath where she focused primarily on national security and counter-terrorism policies, centreing research on female-led terrorism and specific approaches to justice there. Outside of work, Raya's interests include baking, spin classes and true-crime Netflix shows!

Matt Evans is techUK's Chief Operating Officer and leads our Market Programme teams. The Market Programme teams help techUK members apply innovative technology solutions across a range of sectors, including the Public Sector, Telecoms, Climate, Financial Services and Cyber. Matt also leads our Nations and Regions work. Matt sits on a number of industry bodies, including the UKspace Executive Committee and the Task & Finish Group on Industry Resilience for Critical Minerals. Matt has previously represented techUK on the Steering Board of the Electric Vehicle Energy Taskforce, Digital Framework Task Group and the advisory board for the Prospering from the Energy Revolution industrial challenge fund. Prior to his appointment in early 2019, Matt led techUK’s Smart Infrastructure and IoT work, as well as being CEO of the Broadband Stakeholder Group (now Digital Connectivity Forum). During this time he led the telecoms industry’s approach to lowering the cost of network deployment, played a key role in coordinating it’s response to Brexit and was closely involved in the development of the Government’s Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review. He also assisted in the development of the UK’s first secure by design Code of Practice aimed at consumer IoT, oversaw the publication of a paper outlining the tech sector’s view of future mobility services and drove engagement around the use of digital twins. Prior to joining techUK, Matt worked in Arqiva's public policy team, across the broadcast and telecoms markets. Before that he was a researcher for an MP at Westminster.