Catherine Poyner 

Catherine is the Head of the Defence Project Delivery Function for Defence. Her role is to improve the way Defence delivers its projects and support and develop our project professionals.

Catherine joined from the Cabinet Office where she was the Head of Transformation for Government Security Group, the unit responsible for setting policy and standards for protective security. She led the most significant transformation programme in government security for 30 years, improving the quality of physical, personnel and cyber security. Previously, she led the Government's back office shared services transformation programme, instigated by Francis Maude. Catherine began her career working for UNESCO in Santiago, Chile, supporting the education sector across South America. She moved back to the UK to work for local government in policy and programme roles across IT, health and social care.

When Catherine is not at work, she can be found doing yoga, on her motorbike or spending time with family and friends. She also loves spending time in her Scottish homeland - usually a quick stop in Glasgow to see friends and family and then somewhere as remote and windswept as possible.