Brigadier (Ret'd) Sara Sharkey CBE

Sara Sharkey is the Strategy Director and an Executive Company Director at Prolinx, a UK Sovereign Cloud SME based in Wiltshire.

Sara served in the British Army for 30 years, where recognising the dominance of data, applications and cloud for military strategic advantage, she spearheaded the transformation of Army information services to agile software development practices and shared data services. Subsequently appointed to lead the development of shared defence cloud (MOD CLOUD backed by AWS and Azure) and application services, she delivered a pan defence service that rapidly scaled to be the largest public sector cloud service in the UK.

She was awarded a CBE for her actions in leading defence’s digital response to COVID, standing up an accelerated delivery cell she was personally accountable for the financing, procurement, delivery and operation of new and enhanced digital services to enable defence’s support to the NHS and continued operations. Prior to joining Prolinx, Sara was a Director at Deloitte, where she led their Digital in Defence Account, supporting digital transformation spanning artificial intelligence to re-imagining cloud migration for clients.

Credited with introducing agile methodologies into defence, she is a sought-after speaker on digital transformation and the importance of culture and high performing teams in delivering value in complex digital programmes. Sara supported the formation of the Royal Signals Inspiring Women in Technology Forum and, as a mother of daughters, is an ardent advocate for supporting the recruitment and retention of women in STEM roles. She is the Digital Governor at Cirencester College and a Trustee of the Royal Signals Charity.