Henry Pearson OBE

Henry has lived in the Guildford area for over 40 years, first visiting Painshill when it opened to the public in the early 1980s. He has been a lifelong gardener and is now a Liveryman and Finance Committee member of the Worshipful Company of Gardeners. In addition to gardening, his main leisure activities and interests are golf, bridge, modern history, walking, and listening to music, particularly opera. Henry is a Trustee and Management Committee Member of the Surrey Hills International Music Festival. From 2007 to 2013, he was Chairman of the Governors of the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, and is a Board member of RGS Guildford International.

Henry has a doctorate in Environmental Fluid Mechanics from Cambridge University.

Henry retired from Government service in October 2021 as the UK Cyber Security Ambassador, advising foreign governments on their cyber security strategies and supporting the UK industry in selling cyber security products and services to these governments. This was the culmination of a career advising a range of Government departments on significant IT and cyber security projects, first working for the consultancy Detica (now BAE Systems Digital Intelligence), which he helped build up from a dozen to 1,600 consultants and then as a freelance adviser.