Lindy Cameron will this month take over from Ciaran Martin as chief executive officer of the National Cyber Security Centre.

She joins GCHQ's cyber division with over two decades’ experience in national security policy and crisis management. She is the second most senior civil servant at the Northern Ireland Office and was previously the director-general responsible for the Department for International Development’s programmes in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, with a budget of £4bn a year and over thirty country offices. She was appointed CB in the 2020 New Year’s Honours List for her services to international development.

Cameron began her career in the private sector with McKinsey and has served across government at home and overseas, including in Baghdad and Kabul with DFID and in Helmand for the Foreign Office. She was in the Cabinet Office during the 2008 financial crisis and is a graduate of the Ministry of Defence’s Royal College of Defence Studies.

Cameron said: “Over the past four years, the NCSC has transformed the UK’s approach to cyber security and set a benchmark for other countries to follow. I am delighted to join the NCSC and relish the opportunity to take this world-leading organisation to the next level.”

Jeremy Fleming, director at GCHQ, said: “I am excited to welcome Lindy to the NCSC and GCHQ. She joins at a time when cyber security has never been more essential to the nation’s resilience and prosperity. Lindy’s unique blend of experience in Government, overseas and in security and policy issues make her the ideal leader to take NCSC into the next stage of its delivery.”

Ciaran Martin will be taking up an appointment as a Professor of Practice in Public Management, based at the Blavatnik School of Government.

“I would like to thank Ciaran Martin for the way he has pioneered cyber security in the UK. He leaves the NCSC having led the development of a world leading capability. We wish him the best of success as he embarks on the next stage of his career in academia and business,” Fleming added.

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