Morgan Stanley, the global financial services leader and one of Scotland’s largest employers of technology professionals has become the latest industry partner to join the “Empowering Women to Lead Cyber Security” initiative.
The programme, supported by ScotlandIS, The Scottish Government’s Digital Directorate and Scottish Digital Academy, launched in June and follows on from the success of an earlier initiative focussing on diversity in digital leadership. Running from September-November, the cross-sector initiative, led by leadership coaching experts “Empowering-You”, aims to develop a collaborative and powerful community of emerging women leaders in cyber security roles across Scotland, and help to address the long standing lack of women working within one of Scotland’s most critical and fastest growing sectors.
The three-month programme, consisting of a combination of virtual and in-person group workshops and one-to-one sessions, opened its call for applications in June, with the organisers stressing that the title of the programme should not be off-putting to potential applicants who don’t have the words “cyber security” within their job title.
Steve Cliff, Managing Director for Empowering-You and one of the programmes co-leaders, stressed that “this programme is not fixated on technological platforms or methodologies. At its heart, it is about the principles of leadership and empowering the participants to understand those leadership skills that they already have and how best to utilise and communicate them to others.”
As such, the organisers were keen to hear from potential applicants in roles within information governance and management, data protection and risk assurance, as much as they were from some of those roles more immediately identified with cyber security.
The Autumn cohort will consist of 20-24 early-mid career cyber security and information management professionals, selected via an open application process by a Programme Panel including Ciara Mitchell, Head of Cyber Security at ScotlandIS, The Scottish Government’s Lead for Talent Attraction & Capability in the Digital Profession, Roz Britton and Clare el Azebbi, Head of Cyber Resilience Policy at The Scottish Government.
Commenting on why Morgan Stanley had taken the decision to back the new initiative, Emily Beeney, a vice president within Morgan Stanley’s technology division, said, “One of Morgan Stanley’s core values is Commit to Diversity and Inclusion. Having a diverse and inclusive workforce has long been accepted as one of the differentiating components which contribute to success, and to enable that in the Cyber Sector we need to ensure that women enter and progress within the field. We are excited to partner with this programme to proactively drive this agenda by supporting women to progress their careers within cyber security and providing them with the tools they need to succeed.”
The deadline for applications to the free programme is the 13th of August and further details, including application information can be found at https://www.empowering-you.co.uk/ewlcs-scotland-autumn-2021