SC Media UK is deeply saddened to report that Stephanie Daman, CEO, Cyber Security Challenge UK, passed away peacefully on the morning of 26 June 2017, aged 56, following a long battle with cancer.
Cyber Security Challenge UK has told SC that Stephanie was first diagnosed days after being appointed CEO in 2012 but fought to avoid it having any impact on her ability to be both an inspirational business leader and devoted mother.
She was a role model, not just for women in this male-dominated industry, where she worked hard to help bring gender equality to the cyber-security workforce, but also for all with whom she came into contact. She cared passionately about Cyber Security Challenge UK and its twin missions to find and nurture talented people to join the cyber-security profession and promote career opportunities in cyber security generally.
During nearly five years at the helm of Cyber Security Challenge UK, Stephanie oversaw a step change in the number and variety of activities it undertook; nurturing it on the journey from an ambitious start-up to a well-established and mature not-for-profit company consistently punching above its weight.
She introduced programmes specifically targeted at universities and schools; expanded the Challenge's network of sponsors and supporters and even ensured that the UK is a key member of the steering committee for the European Cyber Security Challenge.
Before joining the board of Cyber Security Challenge UK, Stephanie was Head of Group Information Risk at HSBC and a founder member and creator of Get Safe Online. Always keen to play her part in the wider security community, she was an active member of both the Information Assurance Advisory Council and the Risk and Security Management Forum.
Earlier in her career, Stephanie worked as a Government security official where her postings included the British Embassy in Washington DC and the Cabinet Office.
In an email statement to SC, Cyber Security Challenge UK summed up, “Stephanie's hard work and dedication touched an enormous number of people across the sector... [including through] ... her desire for innovative approaches to solving the UK's cyber skills deficit; or her incredible ability to generate support for new ideas that would give people the opportunities they deserved. Stephanie Daman's infectious dynamism and resolve made things happen that truly changed peoples' lives for the better. We will all miss her greatly.”
