Craig McEwen
Global CISO
Dechra
Craig McEwen is CISO at Dechra Pharmaceuticals, leading cyber strategy, risk management, and OT security. A former Army officer, he brings experience from Unilever and Vodafone, with a focus on resilience, leadership, and high-performing teams.
Speaker sessions
Plans Don’t Survive First Contact - What the Military Teaches Us About Cyber Incidents
Most incident response plans fail the moment something actually happens.Why? Because real incidents aren’t linear, calm, or predictable, they behave far more like military operations: long periods of quiet, followed by sudden chaos, incomplete information, friction between teams, and intense pressure.Drawing on operational military experience and real-world cyber incidents across telecoms, mining, OT, and pharma environments, this session introduces the Combat Estimate a seven-question decision-making framework used by the British military to create clarity under extreme pressure.You’ll learn how to apply the Combat Estimate to incident response and disaster recovery, how to prioritise crown jewels and minimum viable operations, how to recognise decisive points, and how to impose the right control measures to prevent chaos.This talk delivers a practical, battle-tested approach that will elevate how you lead cyber incidents, when it matters most.
- 13:40
- Wed
- 03 Dec
Stage:
Executive Summit
Sessions Type:
Presentation
Speaking Risk, not Tech: The Boardroom discussions
How to frame cyber in business terms - impact, likelihood, exposure, and options - so boards can weigh trade-offs, set appetite, and back the right investments.
- 14:00
- Wed
- 03 Dec
Stage:
Executive Summit
Sessions Type:
Panel