Meet The Team
Mark J Ward
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Consulting CISO
Mark is an ex-military man and has a successful career spanning over 30 years. Since 2002 Mark has operated as an independent fraud, risk and security consultant specialising in the creation and transformation of information security teams within organisations.
Mark has gained a wealth of experience from both mid, senior and executive management standpoints, covering many different activities related to fraud, risk and security.
Mark is a highly experienced and pragmatic consultant and is expert in the fields of Information/Cyber and Operational Risk Management, IT Security, Fraud, Cyber/e-Crime, Incident/Crisis Management, Physical Security and Intelligence Management.
Mark has worked across many sectors including financial services, insurance, telecoms and utilities, providing him with a rare and unique set of skills and experience that all contribute to his being a respected expert in his field and a successful security visionary and CISO.
Andrew Watson
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Governance, Risk and Compliance
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Andrew is a highly experienced information security consultant with over 28 years of industry expertise spanning multiple sectors including retail, utilities, government, defence and finance.
Andrew has a strong technical security background having spent the early part of his career in what is now called cyber defence / security operations. He went on to deliver some of the earliest known security Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) frameworks such as BS7799/ISO17799 and is now responsible for several multi-national security systems which are certified to ISO27001. Having held senior roles across all areas of security Andrew has accumulated knowledge covering technical, physical and administrative security, this is supported by him holding many of the world’s leading security qualifications.
During his career Andrew has been responsible for the delivery of several multi-million pound engagements, leading the delivery of the governance, risk, control and compliance strategies and transformation programmes.
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Don Watt
Data Protection Expert
Don is an experienced data protection professional with 35 years’ experience in the financial services sector. He has spent the last 15 years in senior data protection roles, which have afforded him a wealth of experience and a detailed knowledge of data protection law, aligned to a keen understanding of how to apply this in practice across diverse functions of an organisation. Don was a key influencer in the preparations of two significant firms to meet the demanding requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’), which took effect in 2018.
A practical and pragmatic thinker, Don has designed and implemented data protection frameworks to address organisations’ obligations to comply with the law to the necessary level of detail, always in a proportionate and user-friendly manner.
Throughout the last 15 years, Don has been an active member of various financial services industry groups, using his knowledge and experience to help influence the industry’s embracing of changes in data protection law and practice.