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About the CREST Team

Our dedicated team delivers services such as accreditation, examinations, certification, business development, governance and communications to our members around the world.

We also work closely with trusted contractors in the UK and internationally to deliver other services such as finance, marketing and events.

The accreditation team audits almost 300 members across a range of regions and cyber security disciplines. Accredited companies enjoy a range of benefits that support their businesses in the marketplace.

Our certifications team manage qualifications for thousands of cyber security professionals globally, supporting capabilities and competencies within the industry and helping to grow capacity to meet the rising demand for services.

The team also provides strategic leadership, business development, governance, communication and finance services to the CREST organisation. In this we work closely with our Regional Councils, which represent our members and cyber security disciplines globally, and the International Council which is our senior governing body.

Our team is here to help, and we welcome enquiries and input from members and stakeholders. Please see below and the contact page for details.

 

Meet the team

Rowland Johnson

President

Rowland is focused on driving initiatives to deliver increased engagement across the 290+ CREST members and all CREST qualified individuals globally. He is responsible for working internationally with governments, regulators and other key industry stakeholders to build stronger technical cyber security ecosystems.

A former member of the CREST GB Executive, serving between 2014 and 2020, he has been a dedicated supporter of the organisation for many years. He was instrumental in CREST’s international growth, playing an integral role in the creation of CREST chapters in Singapore, USA and Hong Kong.

Rowland was a founding director of cyber security company Nettitude and oversaw its acquisition by Lloyd’s Register in 2018. Following the acquisition, he worked with the leadership team as a strategic advisor focusing on global growth.

Rowland has worked closely with international governments and regulators to bring about increased levels of capability in the Penetration Testing, Threat Intelligence, Incident Response and Security Operations Centre markets. He is able to talk about these from a government and strategy perspective as well as sharing real-world examples from what is seen in the field. Rowland presents at many international events and is a passionate cyber security leader that is actively trying to professionalise the industry.

Contact: [email protected]

Nick Benson

Chief Executive Officer

Nick has a track record of building and leading teams through transformation, having previously been the Chief Operating Officer of ORX, the largest global trade association supporting operational risk management in financial services (FS). In this role at ORX, Nick led a programme of fundamental organisational change whilst delivering strong growth and improved service quality.

Before ORX Nick worked in executive roles across finance and risk management divisions at Nationwide Building Society, one of the UK’s largest retail financial services providers.

Nick started his career at KPMG in their IT advisory divisions in London and Sydney, also qualifying as a Chartered Accountant (ICAS) in 2005. Nick earned a BA degree in accounting and finance from Exeter University.

 

Elaine Luck

Head of Governance & Legal

Elaine has worked at board level in industry for over 40 years, predominantly for the leading trade association in the defence and public security sectors but latterly in the facilities environment. Her roles have included company secretary, business and operations management, membership management, event organisation and personnel management. Within CREST she is responsible to the International and Local Councils for all legal, compliance and governance matters and also for aspects of day-to-day operations.

Contact: [email protected]

Andy Woolhead

Head of Global Product

Andy served in the Royal Navy for 24 years with most of his career at sea in a variety of roles including navigation, anti-submarine and command. Latterly, he was responsible for developing the uniformed cyber profession in terms of training, culture, infrastructure and supporting operational capability. As Head of Information Warfare, he was responsible for the development of Naval Cyber doctrine.

Andy left the military in 2017 to join SANS as a Business Development Director working closely with the UK Ministry of Defence, law enforcement and broader government. He has an MBA in Cyber Security and GIAC qualifications in Security Leadership, Security Fundamentals Security Awareness Professional.

Contact: [email protected]

Jonathan Armstrong

Principal Accreditor

Jonathan is an experienced relationship manager having worked for over a decade in the banking industry. He has experience of quality assurance and internal auditing. Within CREST Jonathan leads the accreditation team and manages company audits and membership enquiries. Jonathan read Criminology at university and has a keen interest in cyber security.

Contact: [email protected]

Sarah Kirkpatrick

Head of Member Engagement

Sarah has a wealth of experience in marketing, communications and brand management. Previously, she led the global member, marketing, communications and events strategy at the Institute of Masters of Wine, a not-for-profit professional membership organisation. In addition, for over ten years, Sarah worked in the higher education sector for UK universities, focusing on creative integrated campaigns to recruit and retain students from around the world. At CREST, Sarah is responsible for developing the membership engagement strategy, raising CREST’s global profile and promoting international services.

Contact: [email protected]

Diana Cole-Williams

Project and Research Manager

Diana is a certified Project Manager with the Association of Project Management and holds APM PMQ and PRINCE2 Practitioner qualifications. With 10 years of experience in a project environment, she has successfully project managed the release of CREST’s first remote exam from inception to launch, as well as the delivery of CREST’s high profile Cyber security Maturity Assessment of the Global Ecosystem (CMAGE) project.

Contact: [email protected]

Adriana Costa-McFadden

Community Manager

Having come from a software engineering background in the telecoms industry, Adriana has been with CREST since its inception and her experience spans membership accreditation, examination bookings & equivalencies and the administration of the Approved Training Provider and Academic Partner programmes. As Community Manager she engages with multiple elements of our community providing overall support to CREST members whilst working closely with internal and external marketing and comms teams.

Contact: [email protected]

Sally Fitzmaurice

Examination Co-Ordination Manager

Sally has extensive, high-level experience in administration and a strong background in customer engagement and time management. Within CREST she is responsible for managing all aspects of the examination booking process.

Contact: [email protected]

Mathna Mahdi

Associate Accreditor

Mathna has extensive experience working within the banking industry.

Within CREST, Mathna supports the Accreditation team with membership enquiries, reviewing and approving the membership applications, onboarding new members by guiding them through the accreditation process. Mathna also conducts annual membership renewals.

Contact: [email protected]

Inge Park

Examination and Team Support Coordinator

Inge has worked for CREST for the last 10 years providing key administrative and business support to all departments. Inge has extensive knowledge of business administration.

Contact: [email protected]

Faye Percival

CREST Asia Secretariat

Faye is responsible for regional support of marketing, PR and operations for Asia.

Faye is based in Singapore.

Contact: [email protected]

Emma Mather

Executive Assistant

Emma has over 20 years’ experience in training, events and Executive Assistant roles within the financial, charity, and automotive sectors. Within CREST, Emma provides key administrative, business and project support to the Executive Team.

Contact: [email protected]

Jamie Speller

IT Technician

Jamie completed his BTEC Extended Diploma in Computing in 2020 and joined CREST straight out of college. He had previously worked as a staff trainer at Nando’s for two years. He understands common practices in cyber security and been involved in some exam development for CREST. Jamie is mainly involved in IT support.

Jessica Ludlam

Assistant Accreditor

Jessica brings a wealth of customer service and administration experience to her role as Assistant Accreditor within CREST. She has completed a Business Administration Level 3 NVQ and has considerable knowledge of compliance from working at a recruitment firm in the education sector. Jessica assists the Accreditation team with day-to-day duties, supports CREST membership applications and renewals, and helps with credit control.

Contact: [email protected]

Core contractors

We work with a dedicated team of contractors providing additional services and support to CREST and its members and stakeholders.

Finance services are provided by Silverleaf Advisory Limited. Contact [email protected]

Marketing and PR services are provided by PRPR. Contact [email protected] or [email protected]

Examinations marking, development and delivery is supported by the CREST Assessors.