Dave Collins OBE, Chief Technology Officer at Nova Blue Technologies

Dave Collins is Chief Technology Officer at Nova Blue Technologies.

Dave is an 18-year veteran of the UK Royal Air Force. During his military career he was at the forefront of the development of cyber as a domain of military operations, including time working in the Ministry of Defence, GCHQ and commanding the Royal Air Force's cyber defence wing in support of operations around the world. He was awarded the OBE in the King's Birthday Honours List 2024 for services to the cyber defence of the Royal Air Force and Ministry of Defence.

Why this matters for the guides on this site

The MOD's cyber assurance requirements are not an abstract compliance topic here. Dave worked inside the organisations that wrote them, and has since taken defence suppliers through Cyber Essentials, DefStan 05-138 alignment and Defence Cyber Certification from the other side of the table.

The guides in this library are written to answer the question a supplier actually has, in the words they would use to ask it, and to be honest about the cases where the answer is "you probably do not need to buy anything".