The CEO of Cyber Security Challenge UK, Stephanie Daman, has passed away peacefully at the age of 56 following a long battle with cancer.
Stephanie was a remarkable role-model who inspired all of those with whom she came into contact. She cared passionately about Cyber Security Challenge UK and it’s twin missions to find and nurture talented people to join the cyber security profession and promote career opportunities in cyber security generally.
She was first diagnosed days after being appointed CEO in 2012 but fought resolutely and bravely to avoid it having any impact on her ability to be both an inspirational business leader and devoted mother to her beloved daughter Katrina, aged 8.
During nearly five years at the helm of Cyber Security Challenge UK, Stephanie oversaw a step change in the number and variety of activities it undertook; nurturing it on the journey from an ambitious start-up to a well-established and mature not-for-profit company consistently punching above its weight. She introduced programmes specifically targeted at universities and schools; expanded the Challenge’s network of sponsors and supporters and even ensured that the UK is a key member of the steering committee for the European Cyber Security Challenge.
Before joining the board of Cyber Security Challenge UK, Stephanie was Head of Group Information Risk at HSBC and a founder member and creator of Get Safe Online. Always keen to play her part in the wider security community, she was an active member of both the Information Assurance Advisory Council and the Risk and Security Management Forum. Earlier in her career, Stephanie worked as a Government security official where her postings included the British Embassy in Washington DC and the Cabinet Office.
Stephanie’s hard work and dedication touched an enormous number of people across the sector – whether it was her drive to bring gender equality to the cyber security workforce; her desire for innovative approaches to solving the UK’s cyber skills deficit; or her incredible ability to generate support for new ideas that would give people the opportunities they deserved. Stephanie Daman’s infectious dynamism and resolve made things happen that truly changed peoples’ lives for the better. We will all miss her greatly.
