IRMA: Management committee

Chair
John Mitchell PhD, MBA, CEng, CITP, FBCS, CFIIA, CIA, CISA, CGEIT, QiCA, CFE

Managing Director, LHS Business Control

Email address: chair.irma@bcs.org or treasurer.irma@bcs.org

John is a Fellow of both the BCS and the IIA-UK and has previously been Membership Secretary, Journal Editor and Chair of IRMA. He has also served on BCS Council, the Specialist Group Management Committee and the Security Committee. He was previously a member of its Risk, Audit & Finance Committee.

His doctorate in risk analysis techniques was awarded by City University, London, England. His MBA in financial control was awarded, with distinction, by Middlesex University, England.

John has been an expert adviser in a number of UK commercial and criminal cases and has been featured in a major British computing publication as the ‘IT Detective’.

He is an international authority on corporate governance, risk management and control self-assessment and the impact of regulatory and compliance issues on the delivery of corporate services. He has presented papers on these subjects at many international conferences and holds ISACA’s prestigious John Kuyers’ award for best conference contributor, as well as the BCS’s John Ivinson medal for services to the Institute.

Vice Chair 
Andy Moattari, M.Sc, CITP, FBCS

Email address: vice.chair.irma@bcs.org

Andy spent the 1st twelve years of his industrial career as a design & development engineer in UK Electronics and Telecommunication industries. He then moved into IT Consultancy with IBM in 1978 and continued in that capacity offering PMO services to several clients in Telecoms, finance, software house and energy industries. He has had roles and responsibilities as Analyst, Quality Manager, Change Manager, ISO Auditor, Configuration Manager & Process Improvement Manager on a number of major multi-site software development projects in Europe & USA.

Treasurer 
Martin Douglas MBCS

Email address: treasurer.irma@bcs.org

Communication & Social Media Officer
Dom Aslan, CITP, FBCS

Email address: pr.irma@bcs.org

"Dominic (“Dom’s”) career commenced as technical support resource for CompuServ in the mid 1990’s, where he honed his skills and embarked on a path of continuous growth and achievement.

Through dedication and expertise, Dom ascended the ranks from server support to become a technical engineer. With a flair for leadership, he became a team manager, overseeing a team of professionals.

Dom’s evolution continued as he assumed the role of a project manager, a testament to his organizational skills and ability to steer complex initiatives to success. He was then recruited by Nestle in Lausanne, Switzerland. In this role, he held the reins of the global data centre, responsibly managing 1400 servers, ensuring seamless operations on a grand scale. He was then head hunted and joined ED&F Man an agricultural commodity trading house. At ED&F Man, Dom was Head of IT. He built on his expertise to manage commodity-based IT systems and went on to become the Head of IT and Chief Information Security Officer for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Dom then decided to turn his attention to smaller businesses, startups and scaleups where he hoped to make a bigger impact. He helped to build, grow and/or exit several companies in industries such as data analytics and FinTech.

For the past few years’ Dom has been building his own companies focused on bringing the experience, quality and technology that is available to large enterprises to small and medium sized businesses. In CyberAlarm he has built a CSPM tool that delivers enterprise grade cloud security at a fraction of the cost."

Dominic joined the BCS about 10 years ago and is now Fellow of the BCS and a Chartered IT Professional. He is also a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologist, a full member of CIISEC and the Chairman of the Charity IT Association.

Secretary & Membership Secretary
Tony Daniel, MBCS, CISSP, CCP (SIRA), ISO27001 Lead Auditor

Email address: meetings.irma@bcs.org

I’ve had a successful career covering areas of communications, security risk assurance and governance with time in the Royal Signals as a Radio Tech, BT as an engineer and manager, the NHS as an Information Security and Governance specialist, and cyber security control and assurance consultant working on many central government and defence contracts. My certifications include CISSP, CCP (SIRA) and ISO27001 Lead Auditor.

Areas of experience include the development and implementation of algorithms to facilitate line fault diagnosis with correct dispatch to field repair staff, national programs supporting BTs external network by combining automatic line scanning and historical fault trends leading to improving network health and developing the national performance measurement program of BTs ADSL network in 1998.

Within the NHS, I lead the Southwest team for the introduction of NHS Smart Card PKI solution (both Technical and Administrative elements) and worked on what is now known as the national summary care record and managed the introduction of Information Governance in SW Devon.

In 2020 I joined Atos and works as the Client Security Manager for managed service customers providing day to day security management for major contracts such as the Dept of Health, and other central government departments, following this I joined Thales UK and worked on a number of IOT assurance activated before joining the defence team providing risk analysis and controls assurance for several defence projects for the UK and other nations.

I have spent 9 years as a trustee and medic responder for Festival Medical Services along with a role as DPO supporting the charity.

Early Careers Advocate, Inclusion Officer and Academic Relations
Tom O'Neil, MEng (Hons), FRSA, MBCS

Email address: earlycareers.irma@bcs.org or academic.irma@bcs.org

Tom is a recent graduate from the University of York and was awarded an MEng in Computer Science with Cyber Security. He chaired the University's cyber security society, where he spoke on digital forensics and incident response, and was a trustee of the students' union. Previously he worked in national government technical roles including in incident response and information security.

Currently, Tom is in identity and access management consultancy at iC Consult UK, where he has supported digital transformation at a global automotive company.

Event organisers

Heather Baird AMBCS

Heather is a member of BCS, the Institute of Risk Management (IRM) and a member of the IRM North West Regional Committee. She has a comprehensive background in safeguarding organisations against potential threats, primarily within financial services. Currently, Heather is involved in all aspects of the Information Security Management System at a building society, serving as a primary contact for information security assurance queries, managing third-party relationships, and plays a key role in the ongoing audit assurance program covering ISO27001 and Society controls. Heather also supports ISMS management, ensuring compliance, assurance returns, and collaborating with stakeholders to ensure policy adherence.

Emmanuel Osei-Brefo PhD, MSc, MBCS

Emmanuel is a recent graduate from the University of Reading and has been awarded a PhD in Computer Science which focused on the advancements of Machine learning for Financial risk management. His specialisation in machine learning and deep learning, with a specialised focus on reinforcement learning and generative AI, is suited for the complexities of risk management. His proficiency in predictive analysis, data visualization, and statistical modelling, backed by extensive Python and R programming skills, enables him to design and implement sophisticated risk assessment models. His research, evidenced by a strong publication record, particularly in applying AI to financial data, positions him well in leveraging the use of technology for risk mitigation. Emmanuel's interdisciplinary academic background further enhances his ability to innovate and apply comprehensive risk management solutions.