Felicity Oswald, chief operating officer at UK’s NCSC, set to leave cyber agency

Felicity Oswald, the chief operating officer at Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), plans to leave the agency in September and join the Girlguiding charity — the girls’ version of the Boy Scouts — as its new chief executive.

Oswald, who served as the NCSC’s chief executive on an interim basis last year, has been a stalwart presence at the agency’s headquarters in London since it was formed in 2016.

Alongside colleagues, she played a key role last year in briefing incoming government ministers about the nature of the threats facing the country and Britain’s vulnerability to attack. Those briefings helped push the government towards a range of pledged reforms, including introducing the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, and inspired the significant focus put on cybersecurity in Britain’s new national security strategy.

Oswald, who had been a girl guide in her own childhood, said she was “honoured and delighted to be joining Girlguiding as CEO” and was expecting to bring NCSC’s focus on advocating for girls and women in STEM to the new role.

Initiatives such as the CyberFirst Girls Competition, aimed at inspiring girls’ interests in technology, have been a significant pillar at NCSC and its parent agency GCHQ’s efforts to expand the number of girls and women entering the cybersecurity workforce.

Girlguiding itself — which caters to over 300,000 girls across the country — said Oswald’s leadership would be “instrumental in supporting girls and young women to grow up confident, vocal, and empowered to face modern challenges, and in ensuring the organisation has the tools and infrastructure it needs for today and tomorrow.”

 “In a fast-changing world, the views of girls and young women are all too often under-represented," Oswald said. "I am passionate about amplifying girls' voices and ensuring the world sits up and listens.”