Gaven Smith FREng

Director General for Technology, GCHQ 

Gaven Smith is a distinguished and internationally respected engineering leader. He is currently the Director General for Technology at GCHQ: one of the UK’s intelligence and security agencies. His role is one of the most senior engineering roles in UK government. He is responsible for decisions that directly affect the safety and security of UK citizens in a range of technologies that include large-scale computation, telecommunications, and information security. He oversees research and investment in, and the operation of, a wide range of UK critical infrastructure. He leads and manages a large team of highly expert technical staff based both in the UK and overseas. He is passionate about inclusion in engineering and sponsors a number of development programmes for under-represented groups in technology.  He is the Board-level champion for the LGBT+ community in GCHQ.