The CI-ISAC Team

Management Board, Executives and Advisors.

Stephen Beaumont Stephen Beaumont AM

Non-Executive Director / Chair

Stephen joined the CI-ISAC Board as a non-executive Director and Chairman in January 2023. After a distinguished 35-year Army career, Stephen has undertaken a variety of advisory and NFP board roles while running a business advisory service helping companies engage and win business with Defence. Stephen Is building a track record of helping businesses grow in the Defence sector. During his Army career, Stephen was an intelligence and capability development professional his final seven years as a Brigadier was spent leading intelligence analysis and capability development programs. From 2017 to 2020, Stephen was the accountable officer for three Joint Programs: Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), Electronic Warfare (EW) and Cyber; in the last case building the foundations for the fast-growing ADF cyber capability.
An Arts graduate with multiple Masters degrees, he is passionate about the application of new technologies and techniques to provide capability advantage and of the power of sharing data and intelligence within trusted communities. He is a graduate of the AICD Company Director's Course, the Harvard Kennedy School and is certified as a Managing Successful Programs (MSP) practitioner.


David Sandell David Sandell

Co-Founder / Chief Executive Officer

David is a security professional with a career spanning two decades locally and abroad, having moved to Australia in 2019 from the UK. He’s worked for several global organisations leading both technical and non-technical teams to establish new products and capabilities. A builder at heart, his true passion is creating and leading teams to achieve great outcomes while ensuring a healthy dose of innovation is included along the way. Having built one of the leading Threat Intelligence functions in the APAC region at the National Australia Bank (NAB), he was the driving force behind intelligence sharing across the public and private sectors.
David advises companies on designing and implementing Intelligence and Zero Trust capabilities, driving execution, and making technical concepts universally understood. He is passionate about making Intelligence capabilities accessible, having presented on the topic at AISA Canberra in 2022. He co-founded CI-ISAC Australia with the vision of building a suite of enabling capabilities that our nation’s critical infrastructure entities can leverage to uplift their collective cyber defences.
David holds numerous technical and security certifications (CISSP, CCSP) in addition to his Masters in Business Administration (MBA), awarded with Merit by the Open University (UK) in 2011.


Helaine Leggat Helaine Leggat

Non-Executive Director

Helaine Leggat, a practicing solicitor admitted to the Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia. She is the former Co-chair of the Australian Women in Security Network (AWSN), Director of ISACA (South Africa), and the Australian Information Security Association (AISA).
Helaine is an internationally experienced legal advisor to global companies and government. Currently, Managing Partner of ICTLC Australia, part of the ICTLC International Group that offers strategic support in legal compliance (Privacy, IP, TMT) and assists in drafting and developing governance, organisation, management, and control models for data-driven organisations.
Helaine holds the following security and corporate governance certifications and has been in good standing for 16+ years: CISSP, CISM, CIPP, CIPT, GAICD. She is recognised as a Fellow of Privacy with the International Association of Privacy Professionals.
Helaine is the author of numerous publications in Australia and internationally on the application of national legal systems to cyberspace, privacy and data protection, surveillance, ethics and cyber warfare. She regularly presents at international conferences and has been actively engaged in teaching and knowledge transfer for government, the private sector and academia for many years. She is currently a teacher at the European Centre for Privacy and Cybersecurity (ECPC) at Maastricht University Faculty of Law.


Gary Waters Gary Waters

Strategic Advisor

Dr Gary Waters (Air Commodore, ret’d) has been invited to act as a strategic advisor to the CEO, David Sandell and Chairman of the Board, Stephen Beaumont, through the early stages of CI-ISAC.
Gary served for just over 33 years in the Royal Australian Air Force (retiring early as an Air Commodore); served as a senior public servant in Defence for a further four years; and worked in the private sector as Head of Strategy for Jacobs Australia for seven years. He retired in 2013 and now works on a casual basis as an independent strategy consultant.
He has written over twenty books or papers on diverse topics, including cyber security and cyber warfare. Gary continues to pursue his interests in strategy and high-level policy, and in emergent and disruptive technologies, including those associated with digital transformation and cyber security.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (graduating with majors in accounting and economics); a graduate of the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force Staff College; a graduate of the University of New South Wales, with an MA (Hons) in history; a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors; and a graduate of the Australian National University with a PhD in political science and international relations. He is currently a founding director (since 2018) of the Integrated Institute for Economic Research – Australia.


Scott Flower Scott Flower

Co-Founder / Advisor to the Board

Prior to supporting the establishment of CI-ISAC Australia in 2022, Scott worked as the Global Intelligence Officer for FS-ISAC (2019-2022), where he was responsible for leading the threat intelligence fusion cell for the global financial sector in Asia Pacific. Scott’s shift to the private sector followed over a decade in academia at the University of Melbourne and the University of Western Australia, where his research focused on international security issues, psychology, and extremism, while his teaching areas were global criminology and field research methodology.
Scott’s journey to academia followed a stint (2006-08) at the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation’s (ASIO) critical infrastructure protection directorate (CIPD), where he was Lead Analyst responsible for banking and finance and oil and gas sectors. There, Scott authored national threat assessments and delivered assessments to key state government and private sector CI owners and operators. Scott is regularly engaged as a subject matter expert by governments, international private sector MNEs, universities, and think tanks. He holds a PhD from the Australian National University (ANU) and a master’s in strategic studies (ANU) and has published two books and over a dozen leading peer-reviewed academic journal articles in journals such as the Australian Journal of International Affairs, Defence and Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy, Journal of Pacific Affairs, and the Journal of Pacific History.
Earlier in his career (1992-1995), Scott was a signaller and command post operator in the Royal Australian Artillery. After the army, Scott lived and worked in New Zealand as a mountain guide and in Emergency Management as a professional mountain rescuer and team leader for the Department of Conservation in Mt Cook and the New Zealand Police in Christchurch (1997-2004).

Jeff Whitton Jeff Whitton FAICD

Advisor to the Board

Councillor Jeff Whitton is a highly experienced and well-regarded professional with a broad background in the Telecoms, IT, Cyber Security, and Intelligence industries. With four decades of experience, he is a renowned expert in all layers of the OSI stack, holding a vast array of industry certifications in infrastructure, networking, platform, programming, and cyber security during his career as an engineer, mentor, advisor, and leader.
As a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Whitton brings 30 years of boardroom experience, serving as a CEO, executive, non-executive director, and chair. In addition, he has served as a local government councillor with the Orange City Council for 20 years, including as Deputy Mayor and chair of various committees covering planning, finance, employment and economic development, and infrastructure.
Councillor Whitton is a founding director of a First Nations cyber security company and Australian Defence Industry Security Program member, his role is mentoring the Indigenous senior management team and driving strategy and partnerships.
As a consultant to industry and governments, he provides invaluable insights and guidance to boards and executive-level management on technology, cyber threat preparation, cyber incident response and governance, risk, and compliance. In the cyber security industry, he is an ambassador for the NSW Cyber Hub, an executive committee member for the Sydney branch of the Australian Information Security Association (AISA), and a member of various advisory boards, including the University of Western Sydney and Macquarie University. He is also a sought-after speaker, delivering presentations on cyber security for company directors and executive staff at the University of Technology Sydney.
With a deep understanding of his field, a commitment to excellence, and a passion for making a positive impact, Councillor Whitton is a highly valuable resource who has advised all industry verticles and Local, State and Federal Government agencies during his career.


Frazer Dixon Frazer Dixon

Chief Technology Officer

In his role as Chief Technology Officer of CI-ISAC Australia, Frazer is responsible for overseeing CI-ISAC’s direction in developing, implementing, evaluating, managing the company’s technology relative to its resources. He leads the development of customer-centric strategies to support CS-ISAC Australia member needs, with a clear focus on driving integration and increasing information sharing through automation. His experience spans 30 years and various roles leading business technology design, development, and execution across sales, marketing, product management, consultation and operations.
Before CI-ISAC, Frazer focused on group leadership in the design, development and implementation of solutions addressing the areas of risk and regulatory challenges for a global Fortune 200 organisation. His work centred around data privacy and AI ethics in proactive support of the company’s growing privacy, security and data requirements.
Before his work in privacy and security, Frazer had worked on providing integrated document and process automation solutions as EVP of a European-based software company. In his 17-year tenure, he supported the sales and integration of their solutions for enterprise clients, major financial institutions and employment services organisations in the US and Asia.
In addition to his US-based career path, Frazer has managed product development and technical consulting services throughout the Asia Pacific. With a rich technology background, he has gained extensive experience in multiple industries with a myriad of solution-based products and systems that have been well beyond typical informational system environments.


Robbie Sinclair Robbie Sinclair

Chief Risk Officer

Robbie Sinclair has a 30-year risk and security leadership career delivering strategic and operational risk outcomes and customer-centric solutions.
He has lead the delivery of tangible achievements in building, nurturing and maturing Risk Management cultures, systems, and monitoring and reporting processes nationally and internationally across energy utilities, digital health universities and rail operations sectors.
He has substantial contemporary cyber and physical risk knowledge across highly regulated and externally scrutinised sectors delivering outcomes in activity including risk articulation, framework development, monitoring, reporting and engagement.
His entrepreneurial and engaging style helps drive risk management capability uplift and trust from the C-suite and Board through to the shop floor and field sites.
Robbie is a highly valued senior board member who contributes security, risk, audit and management expertise to peak governance and advocacy boards and achieves this through collaboration and consensus building.


Kevin Vanhaelen Kevin Vanhaelen

Strategic Advisor

Kevin Vanhaelen is a cybersecurity executive with over 20 years of experience operating from the EMEA and APJ theatres. He has held global and pan-regional leadership roles in large organisations including a Fortune 100 global IT technology & services provider, in telecommunications as well as cybersecurity technology start-ups in the threat intelligence, and network and cloud threat detection and response domains as the first person on the ground in the region.
Throughout his career, he has been privileged to work with large high performing cross-functional and multicultural teams in fast-paced and dynamic environments and had the opportunity to deeply engage with enterprise clients, governments and partners and alliances on strategic initiatives and complex multi-year projects.
His diverse background spans technical roles in security engineering, penetration testing, consulting, and managed security services. In the leadership roles he held his responsibilities included building cybersecurity technology businesses, developing and executing go-to-market strategies, operational excellence, scale and client experience focusing on online safety and business outcomes.
Throughout his career, he held numerous certifications including CISSP, CISM, CISA, CRISC, and PCI QSA.

David Robinson David Robinson

Strategic Intelligence Advisor

David is the Co-Founder of Internet 2.0. He is a former Australian Army Intelligence Officer.
He is the Co-Author of reports which made headlines in news outlets globally.

  • SANA Botnet Attack on Pentagon - March 21
  • TikTok Source Code Review - Jul 22
  • Wechat Security and Propaganda Review - May 22
  • Beijing Olympics App Security review - Jan 22
  • Procuring for a Pandemic, PCR procurement in Wuhan in 2019 - Oct 21
  • PSB Surveillance Leak - May 21
  • CCP Shanghai Members Leak - Dec 20
  • Zhenhua Data Leak - Sep 20