PwC adds four female partners to Cybersecurity and Digital Trust arm
PwC has promoted six new partners in its Cybersecurity and Digital Trust practice during its mid-year partnership intake, notably four of which are female.
At the start of this month, PwC welcomed its largest ever number of new partners in Australia for a single intake, 92 in total, demonstrating the firm’s “strong resilience to the pandemic and confidence in its growth prospects into the future,” said CEO Tom Seymour in a statement.
While the number of women joining the partner team across the firm has been on the rise for years on the back of manager-up diversity measures rolled out internally, the list of new partners in the Cybersecurity and Digital Trust practice (arguably one of the more male dominated segments the firm operates in, particularly at senior levels) deserves particular notice.
Female leaders Pip Wyrdeman, Richa Arora, Mary Attard and Philippa Cogswell all have been admitted into the partnership, flanked by ‘just’ two male colleagues (Ryan Menezes and Mike Younger), significantly boosting the diversity of PwC’s Cybersecurity and Digital Trust leadership. “This indicates the growth of women and opportunities in the sector,” said PwC Australia’s Cybersecurity Leader Mike Cerny.
Pip Wyrdeman joins PwC externally, previously working for Providence Consulting. She has over 15 years of experience in ICT Security policy and cyber security and was formerly Senior Cyber Security policy adviser at the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. She has also held positions in the Department of Defence covering roles in ICT Policy, Architecture and Business Relationship Management.
Richa Arora has over 14 years of experience in technology consulting, leading digital transformations and cybersecurity programs of work supporting organisations in federal and state government, financial, healthcare and education sector. Prior to joining PwC, Arora was responsible for leading the cybersecurity practice at Deloitte in Perth and built and scaled the digital identity strategy capability nationally.
Mary Attard (who was admitted in January 2021) joined the Cybersecurity and Digital Trust practice almost four years ago after 12 years in financial services. She is currently the leader of PwC Australia’s Digital Identity team.
Philippa Cogswell is the firm’s Defensive Security lead, with twenty years experience in cyber security and operations. She joined the Big Four firm in 2018, and has extensive global and cross-sector experience, with a focus on critical national infrastructure.
