TCCA welcomes new board member

The TCCA board has welcomed Steve Whatson, representing the UK Home Office.

Whatson is the Product Director for the new Emergency Services Network (ESN) Air and ESN Prime+, including Device to Device, in the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP).

This is the Home Office-based team leading the delivery of the world’s first ‘second generation’ integrated critical communications system.

Whatson joined the Home Office in January 2014 as Deputy Director on the ESMCP in charge of the technical solutions area, responsible for the delivery of the User Services and Mobile Services and dependent programs including Crossrail and London Underground, and latterly was in charge of user engagement.

“We are very pleased to welcome Steve to the board, and look forward to his unique experience and insight contributing much to the future development of TCCA,” said Mladen Vratonjić, TCCA Board Chair.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Steve’s predecessor on the board, Ari Toivonen from the Home Office, who served us well and was an invaluable member of our team.”

Whatson joined the Home Office from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) where he managed the ICT security for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the UK’s largest ever peacetime mobilisation of police officers. Under Whatson’s management, ICT security was delivered ahead of schedule and to budget.

After the Games, he continued to manage the MPS’s largest ICT projects, amounting to a value of £80 million per year. These included leading the replacement of the UK’s largest emergency services call handling system, driving the MPS’s mobility program and replacing the MPS’s many legacy operational systems with a single solution.

Whatson has more than 20 years’ experience in IT, is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and is a visiting lecturer at Leeds University Business School.

TCCA’s board comprises: Mladen Vratonjić (Chair), Independent; Dr Barbara Held (Vice Chair), BDBOS Germany; Tero Pesonen, Suomen Virveverkko Oy; Francesco Pasquali, Leonardo; Jason Johur, Ericsson; Philippe Agard, Nokia; Jeppe Jepsen, Motorola Solutions; Ali Helenius, Airbus Defence & Space; Steve Whatson, UK Home Office.

Image caption: Steve Whatson, new TCCA board member.

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