New Year Honour for our CEO George Williamson

We are proud to announce that our CEO George Williamson has been awarded a prestigious title in the New Year Honours list 2026. 

George has been made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG), an honour which recognises prominent and highly distinguished contributions overseas and in international affairs. 

Appointed HMGCC’s CEO in 2021, prior to this George held a series of senior roles within the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), most recently as a Director General in Technology. 

A Classics graduate from University of Oxford, the early part of George’s career was spent in academia. He holds a DPhil from Oxford, was a Kennedy Memorial Scholar at Harvard University, and was a Lecturer in Ancient History at Corpus Christi College, Oxford.

 For more than two decades he has held important roles in the UK’s diplomatic service both in the UK and abroad. 

To this day he has continued to work hard for the benefit of this country’s national security mission, driving change in the field of innovation and technology through his leadership at HMGCC. 

He has led HMGCC through what has arguably been the greatest time of change in its 88-year history, pivoting its work from solely in-house design and manufacture and enabling it to become an organisation ready and able to collaborate on technology projects with innovators from outside. 

HMGCC creates essential technology to be used by national security organisations both at home and across the world, so the impact of this operational transformation is of global importance and is critical to keeping the UK safe. 

This entire move has been to address the growing adversary threat faced by the UK amid unprecedented advances in modern technology. By HMGCC working more extensively with outside industry and academia, national security has been able to tap into pools of innovation, wherever they may be. 

Commenting on his award, George said: “I am deeply honoured by this recognition. I've been so lucky to learn from and lead exceptional teams in my career and have loved finding ways to help our national security community innovate and adapt to a changing world. This award is a tribute to their dedication as much as mine."