Building the Smarter State 2025

Julian David OBE

CEO, techUK

Julian David is the CEO of techUK, the Digital Technology Trade Association. 

Julian leads techUK's 60 strong team in representing over 800 member companies, comprising global and national champions and more than 500 SMEs. He is a member of the UK Government and Industry Cyber Growth Partnership, the Digital Economy Council and the Department of International Trade’s Strategic Trade Advisory Group. He is also the Vice President for National Trade Associations, on the Executive Board of DIGITALEUROPE, Vice President representing Europe on the board of WITSA the Worldwide IT Association, and a member of the board of the Health innovation Network, the South London Academic Health Science Network. 

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Sarah Walker

Chief Executive, Cisco, UK & Ireland 

As Chief Executive for the UK & Ireland, Sarah Walker has direct responsibility for Cisco’s sales operations in the region and oversees a diverse community of employees who represent over 40 areas of Cisco’s global business. 

Sarah has built a career in digital technology and communications, focussed on customer centricity and using technology to deliver outcomes aligned to business objectives. With early roles in mobile telephony, working her way up the technology stack, Sarah spent 25 years in BT in various senior leadership positions across both the public and private sector before joining Cisco two years ago to lead its Enterprise business in the UK and Ireland. 

In her prior role leading Cisco’s Enterprise business, Sarah was responsible for the company’s relationships with more than a hundred large, private sector organisations across key sectors for the UK and Ireland – ranging from transport to pharmaceuticals and financial services.

Sarah is also an advisor to the UK Government’s Board of Trade, a Non-Executive Director at Liverpool Women’s Hospital Trust, Chair of the Board of Trustees at Greater Manchester Academies Trust as well as the proud Executive Sponsor for Women of Cisco UKI.
 

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The Rt Hon Peter Kyle MP

Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology,

Peter Kyle was appointed Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology on 5 July 2024, and is the member of parliament for Hove & Portslade.
 
Peter Kyle was first elected as MP for Hove and Portslade in 2015, and has twice been re-elected.
Before being appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology  he was Shadow Secretary for Northern Ireland and Chair of  the influential Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee, where he has served on the high-profile Carillion and Thomas Cook inquiries. Peter also chaired the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Southern Rail, and on Further Education and Lifelong Learning.
Since his election Peter has led campaigns in Parliament to protect victims of domestic abuse and reform family courts, to lower the voting age to 16, and proposed the amendment for a confirmatory public vote on Brexit. Locally he has supported affordable housing, campaigned against school cuts, worked with the council to create 1,000 local apprenticeships, and spearheaded the response to the Southern Rail crisis.

He campaigned for remain during the EU membership referendum, 2016. In June 2018, he said “Brexit is a big deal but it’s not a done deal”. In March 2019, alongside fellow Labour MP Phil Wilson, Peter put forward an amendment to Theresa May’s Brexit Withdrawal Agreement. Dubbed the “Kyle-Wilson” amendment, it aimed to pass the Withdrawal Agreement Bill on the condition that the deal on offer would go back to the British people through a confirmatory vote.

Peter overcame difficulties with severe dyslexia to return to school aged 25 and achieve a PhD in community economic development from Sussex University. In his earlier career he worked as an aid worker in Eastern Europe and the Balkans, helping children and young people whose lives had been radically affected by war.  The orphanage he set up in Romania still exists today. He then moved on to work as a policy maker in the Cabinet Office, focusing on social exclusion.
Prior to his election Peter was deputy chief exective of ACEVO, the umbrella body for the voluntary sector, and he was head of youth employment charity Working for Youth.
He has lived in Hove for over 20 years.

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Adele Every

Managing Director, Public Sector, Cisco, UK & Ireland

Focused on enabling secure, next generation, government services, Adele and her team work with complex ecosystems bringing value to government and their transformation agenda.  Adele is passionate about closing the digital skills gap and works proactively with academia, start ups, government and large business to collaboratively establish regional training hubs and programmes to uplift skills across communities.
Prior to joining Cisco, Adele spent 17 years at Capgemini. As a Vice President she led a high performing cross functional team to deliver on their largest global account fulfilling programmes of national importance including BREXIT and COVID 19 support packages. She has also established and sat on innovation programme boards within the public sector focused on bringing a broad ecosystem of partner offers to support the transformation and SME agenda. 
She is a trustee for the National Centre for Universities and Business and has a mature network across government, connecting MPs, lobby groups, SME tech partners and start ups and has featured in many tech publications including, Technology Record, IT Pro Journal and the New Statesman. 
 

: https://www.cisco.com/c/en_uk/index.html
: Cisco
: @CiscoUKI

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Joanna Davinson

Executive Director, Central Digital and Data Office

Joanna Davinson is interim Government Chief Digital Officer, with overarching leadership responsibility for the digital centre. She is also the Head of Profession of the Digital and Data Function across government.

Joanna was previously Director General at Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) and Head of the Digital and Data Function. Prior to CDDO, Joanna was Chief Digital and Information Officer at the Home Office.

Joanna has held a number of high-profile business and technology leadership roles in both the public and private sectors. Previously, she had a successful and varied 30-year career as a management consultant and programme director in PWC and as a senior leader in IBM. In her last role in IBM she was general manager of its European Public Sector Consulting and Systems Integration business. She has a wealth of experience in shaping, delivery and assuring complex technology-based programmes.

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Owen Pritchard

Head of Cyber Digital and Technology Programme, Local Government Association

Owen leads the Local Government Association’s Cyber, Digital, and Technology team. With over two decades of experience in public sector leadership and management, he began specialising in information management and digital technology in 2010. Owen has continuously enhanced his professional expertise through postgraduate studies at Cranfield University, Manchester Business School, and the Saïd Business School. Beyond his professional role, he is also a partner in a small business and previously served as the Deputy Leader of a London Council.

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Gus Tugendhat

Founder, Tussell

Gus leads Tussell, the market’s trusted source of data on UK government contracts. He discovered the power of data when he started his career in investment banking at Lazard and other banks. Then he pivoted to building data-driven businesses, first at Thomson Reuters where he was a Managing Director, and then by founding Tussell. A few years on, Tussell is a high-growth and profitable software business

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Sue Bateman

Chief Data Officer, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs

Sue Bateman joined Defra in April 2024 as Chief Data Officer for the group to lead work in how data and information are used to support Defra’s own transformation journey. The vision is to put data and information at the heart of everything we do in Defra group – maximising the rich and varied data that we hold to support our missions – through the delivery of our Data and Information Strategic Roadmap.  
Sue is a longstanding civil servant with digital, data and strategy leadership experience – most recently having been the interim Government Chief Data Officer at Central Digital and Data Office where she led on the development and delivery of the National Data Strategy and Digital and Data Roadmap.  
 

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Hannah Roden

Innovation Officer for the Integrated Digital Service, Leeds City Council/ Leeds Office of West Yorkshire ICB

Hannah Roden is the Digital Innovation Officer for the Integrated Digital Service, providing digital services for both Leeds City Council and the Integrated Care Board (ICB) in Leeds, with a passion for driving positive change through technology and connectivity. Hannah plays a pivotal role in driving strategic initiatives and fostering innovation. With a keen eye for identifying emerging trends and a strategic mindset, Hannah excels in developing and implementing innovative solutions that address complex challenges. Hannah is particularly passionate about AI, smart city initiatives and technology enabled care, aiming to harness innovation to enhance the quality of life for residents in Leeds and beyond.

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