Veterans Program Advisory Council

Chris Barlow

Managing Director at Cerco IT Ltd (U.K.)

Chris Barlow joined Cerco in 2003 and since then has established a recruitment division for graduates through Cerco Training, a large proportion of which were British forces veterans. Chris has made employment connections for new engineers with Global IT companies such as Fujitsu, Hewlett Packard, and IBM. Chris acquired the entire business in 2017 and the company has continued to grow, prosper, and develop further. The vision for Cerco is to become a market leader in taking novice talent and guiding them to the highest levels of IT support and cybersecurity.

Marty Donoghue

RNZRSA National Office Chief Executive

Marty Donoghue has been Chief Executive of the RNZRSA since October 2020. Marty has a 35-year track record of transformational leadership, successfully building and managing teams and mobilising volunteers in New Zealand and internationally across defence, sport, science and in the not-for-profit sector.  Marty served in the New Zealand Army for 25 years and is a veteran of Bosnia, Angola, Bougainville and Iraq. 

Colin Grimes

Training Coordinator of TechVets Programme, The Forces Employment Charity (U.K.)

Colin Grimes joined TechVets from the education sphere where he worked as a primary school teacher with responsibility for computing across the curriculum. During his time in education he also worked as a consultant to schools for the National Centre of Computing Education, delivering training to schools in computing and remote learning, leaning on lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic. Before this he enjoyed a 24-year career as an air battle management specialist in the Royal Air Force. He also served as an instructor within the RAF’s School of Aerospace Battle Management where he was responsible for training the next generation of air surveillance specialists.

Tom Marsland

Board Chairman and CEO at VetSec, Inc (U.S.)

Tom Marsland is a cybersecurity professional with over 21 years of experience in the information technology and nuclear power industry. He's served over 21 years in the U.S. Navy and has a B.S. in IT security and M.S. in cybersecurity. He is the board chairman of VetSec and the VP of technology and technical services at Cloud Range.

Heath Moodie

Director of Vets in Cyber

Heath Moodie, a 5-year Australian Army Infantry Veteran transitioned into cyber security and was immediately confronted with the different cultures between the military community and civilian life. Wanting to be the change that he needed, Heath created a grassroots organisation, Vets in Cyber, which is focused on helping to build a community around veterans, to offer them the support they need within the cybersecurity industry.

Heath is now the Director of Vets in Cyber, where he is helping to build a mentoring program, running community events, and partnering with industry leading training providers, to offer employment assistance to veterans.

James Murphy

Director of TechVets Programme, The Forces Employment Charity (U.K.)

James Murphy joined TechVets from Government Digital Services in the Cabinet Office where he was employed as the head of threat intelligence. He provided strategic cyberthreat intelligence advice to key decision makers within central government with specific focus on protecting national infrastructure. Prior to this, James served for 19 years in the British military, deploying to Northern Ireland, East Africa, and Afghanistan with the infantry, receiving lifelong injuries as a result of enemy action. James then served the remainder of his service in intelligence, developing the army’s exploitation capability, providing support to U.K. defence engagement in East Asia, before delivering strategic support to global joint military operations.

Bryan Radliff

Program Manager Education and Training D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families

Bryan Radliff serves as the CyberVets program manager in the Onward to Opportunity program for the D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) at Syracuse University. CyberVets is a skills-to-job pathway that aims to fast-track veterans into high-demand cyber careers by providing no-cost employment training, industry certifications, and career services to transitioning service members, veterans, and military spouses. Bryan is a 31-year veteran of the U.S. Army, serving as an enlisted medical supply specialist, infantryman, and an armor/cavalry officer before retiring as a lieutenant colonel.

Patrick Shaw

Founder of Cyber Catalyst (Canada) and Tech Vets Canada

Founder of Cyber Catalyst and co-founder of Coding For Veterans (CFV), Pat has initiated Cyber Catalyst Talent Solutions to assist veterans achieve meaningful and rewarding careers using the skills developed through their upskilling or reskilling studies. Pat curated the CFV secure software development and the cybersecurity curriculum and established the learning approach aligning widely recognized industry certification exams to meet the cyber talent needs of employers. Cyber Catalyst Talent Solutions offers job-focused microcredentialing and certifications in support of job placement. Tech Vets Canada engages veterans and military family members with career mentorship and learning support.

Mark Wilcox

Cyber Training, Opportunities and Partnership at Cerco IT Ltd (U.K.)

Mark has over 30 years of commercial software development experience, the majority of which has involved web technologies. Throughout his career, Mark has developed and supported complex systems for a range of clients including the London Stock Exchange, Lloyds Bank, Ryman Stationers, Debenhams, and Woolworths. In January 2022 Mark joined Cerco IT to head up the cybersecurity training and employment division. 

As a key architect of Cerco's Cradle to Cyber training programme—an initiative to provide advanced network security skills to trained graduates (many of whom are ex-armed forces)—Mark continues to forge relationships with internationally renowned tech and training partners, such as Fortinet and CompTIA.