Rebecca George OBE – a Managing Partner at business advisory firm Deloitte – has been inaugurated as the new President of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.
Rebecca is Deloitte’s Managing Partner for Government and Public Services in North and South Europe (NSE) and has worked in IT for over 30 years, focusing on IT transformation. In her current role, Rebecca leads teams supporting governments, including by implementing large-scale digital transformation projects to improve the way in which people, organisations and processes work together.
Rebecca has worked with the Public Sector for the last 20 years and has been leading initiatives to increase the participation of women in the IT industry since the mid-1990s. She is passionate about improving outcomes across a wide variety of public sector programmes, especially health and social care.
Rebecca is a member of Deloitte’s NSE Executive Committee and is on the Board of the City Mental Health Alliance. She is also the Non-executive Chair of the T-Level Reform Programme Board and sits on a Business Advisory Group for the Department of Education.
Taking on the role of President of BCS is the culmination of a long involvement with the Institute, which has 65,000 members working across the IT industry. Rebecca is currently serving as Vice President, with her new role confirmed at the Institute’s AGM on 11 March.
“It is a huge honour to be announced as President of BCS, and I look forward to supporting the Institution in its mission to Make IT Good for Society,” said Rebecca.
“It will be crucial to encourage a more diverse group of people to begin a career in IT. New technologies must work for every community and individual, and diversity will be essential to this.
“Promoting professional accreditation and highlighting new apprenticeship opportunities will be a key focus for my Presidency. IT systems are the hidden critical infrastructure of our world and are ever more complex. It’s vital to have expertly trained and qualified people building them, who undertake continual professional development throughout their careers.
“Encouraging a wider range of people to enter the industry and to be acknowledged for their expertise throughout their career will continue to improve standards in the IT industry and the pride professionals have in their roles.”
Paul Fletcher, Chief Executive of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT said: “Rebecca has already made an outstanding contribution to the IT profession. As President of BCS her experience and insight will help us focus on vital challenges including ensuring a rich, diverse pipeline of new entrants to our industry.
“Our thanks also go to outgoing President Michael Grant, who brought all the influence and knowledge of a 35 year career in IT to the role and leaves with our thanks and best wishes.”
John Higgins CBE who takes up the role of Deputy President is the former director general of the association Intellect (now TechUK) and then its Brussels based equivalent, DIGITALEUROPE. Today he has a number of chair and advisory roles ranging from a European Commission project for 100 leading cities, to the University of Warwick and the global communications company Burson, Cohn & Wolfe.
He said: “Society faces a growing number of ‘wicked problems’ – for some, like climate change or health and well-being, tech is a potential solution, but for others like hate speech and biased AI, it’s seen as part of the problem. I want to help bring the unique know-how of BCS’s members to bear on these problems and showcase their amazing talents that demonstrate just how relevant we are to members, prospective members and wider society.”