LONDON (11 March 2020) — 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 in many ways, 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 (11 March).
Rebecca said: "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. 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."
About Rebecca George
Rebecca leads Deloitte's Public Sector practice across 13 countries in Europe. She is responsible for the work Deloitte does across the Public Sector including Health and Social Care, Education, Transport, Defense, National Security, Justice and Home Affairs, and Central and Local Government. Rebecca has worked exclusively with the Public Sector since 2001.
She is a senior business manager with practical experience of managing businesses and improving operational efficiency. She joined Deloitte as a Partner in 2006 after spending nearly 20 years at IBM in a variety of roles including sales, business process reengineering, and HR, in the UK, EMEA and globally.
From 2011 to 2016 Rebecca led Deloitte's Public Health practice in the UK and globally. She has extensive experience working with national health organizations and health providers. She specialized in transformation enabled by IT, including electronic patient record systems, population health infrastructure, and health data collection and processing.
She was honoured with an OBE in 2006 for work she did for the Government on Sustainable Communities and for services to the IT industry. Rebecca lives near Taunton and is married with two sons aged 27 and 25.
