The brief
Veredus are the executive search partner for Defence Equipment & Support. We were tasked with identifying an experienced CDO who would be able to drive governance and technological controls across the battlespace. This required sound cyber security experience with big data complexities the likes of which are rare in government and private sector. The technological advances in modern warfare and equipment have led to disparity across data standards and network capability. The MoD required a CDO to manage senior stakeholders across the defence enterprise including front line commands and major industrial primes in order to drive a set of new standards and governance across the battlespace arena. The CDO task was to agree standards, regardless of manufacturer or equipment type, such that the real time data could be combined and manipulated to add strategic value to the military stakeholders. A new task force was being set up to achieve this and the CDO was a new post to lead a large team of circa 85 based across MoD departments.
Challenges
The stakeholders wanted different attributes, as this was a key leader in the battlespace domain. We held briefings with the various stakeholders in order to agree the final specification for the role. Priorities for our search were based around security, scale, complexity and wide technology experience coupled with an ability to negotiate at very senior levels across Government and industry and drive through change, Strong business acumen was also required in order to achieve the value add that the frontline commands required whilst holding tight budgetary constraints in order to deliver the new standards.
Security clearance was required to DV which added a further complexity.
The Results
In stakeholder discussions we managed to get agreement to widen the search net to include large scale data generators within a highly secure critical environments such as Banking, Network Rail, NHS, HMRC and National Power Distributors. We identified 185 CDO’s who met the essential criteria. Our search included targeted headhunting of the 185 CDO’s as well as an advert in “The Times”. During the selection process we examined the candidate’s influencing skills and leadership styles as well as their broad technological experience.
We produced a detailed candidate information pack, not only highlighting the EVP. We received 64 applications with a high degree of diversity. Subsequent selection process achieved a shortlist of 5. These candidates were subject to our MoD assessments which are ILA & Staff Engagement exercises. Following final panel presentations and interview 3 candidates were deemed appointable. The successful candidate was a diverse candidate, non-military and was working for EY. We received excellent client feedback on the campaign, having taken the stakeholders from “Must be Military” to having a non-military candidate appointed.