Non-Executive Director

Technology has become material to the board's risk register, but no one at the table can interrogate it independently. AI is being adopted faster than it is being governed. An acquisition, a major systems replacement or a regulatory change is approaching, and the board's view of its technology position rests entirely on what the executive team chooses to present.

Challenge and support, in that order when it matters. Stress-testing technology assumptions against the commercial thesis. Audit and risk committee input on cyber resilience, data sovereignty and vendor dependency. Technology scrutiny on acquisitions. AI governance that goes deeper than policy documents. The role is to ensure the board understands the trade-offs it is authorising — not merely the recommendation it is approving.

A director who can read a technology paper and tell the board what it is actually agreeing to. Audit and risk committee input on cyber resilience, data sovereignty and vendor dependency. Technology scrutiny on acquisitions before they close, and AI governance examined past the policy document.

Technology stops arriving at the board as a finished recommendation and starts arriving as a decision the board genuinely makes — with the risks named before they are authorised, not after they have matured.

Neil Catton, GCG's Chief Technology Officer, takes these appointments. Thirty-eight years in technology across more than twenty sectors, from computer operator to Group CTO. A former chief information security officer, with an active fractional CTO practice advising PE-backed businesses and scale-ups, and governance experience across policing and the wider public sector.