EMCSC founder and director Dr Ismini Vasileiou has been recognised as a Tech Gold Industry Expert.

It follows her contribution in shaping new national standards for leadership and management in the technology sector – including a role on the UK Government’s Women in Tech Taskforce.

Working as part of an expert development group convened by TechSkills, Dr Vasileiou, who is also associate professor at De Montfort University, played a central role in informing the framework that will underpin new qualifications delivered by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI). The initiative aims to ensure that leadership training keeps pace with the demands of an increasingly complex and fast-evolving digital economy.

Tech Industry Gold is the leading employer-led accreditation for digital and tech education in the UK, managed by TechSkills (part of techUK) to ensure training meets rigorous industry standards for job readiness. It validates degrees and apprenticeships in areas like cyber security, data, and software engineering.

The standards have been designed to better reflect the realities facing modern organisations, where leaders are expected to navigate not only commercial and operational pressures, but also rapid technological change, cyber risk and ethical considerations linked to data and artificial intelligence.

Dr Vasileiou’s involvement brought a strong industry perspective to the process, helping to ensure the framework is grounded in practical experience as well as academic theory. Her contribution focused on embedding the skills and behaviours required for effective leadership in technology-driven environments.

Speaking about the importance of the work, she said: “Embedding industry specialist expertise in AI, cyber security and data into management and leadership qualifications is essential if we are to prepare leaders for the realities of today’s digital world. 

“Effective leadership now requires not only strategic and people skills, but also an informed understanding of digital risk, opportunity, ethics and resilience. By bringing specialist insight into the development of these qualifications, CMI is helping to ensure that future leaders are better equipped to make confident, responsible and forward-looking decisions in increasingly complex environments.”

The new standards are expected to have a wide-reaching impact, shaping how current and future leaders are developed across the UK. 

By aligning qualifications more closely with industry needs, the framework aims to strengthen leadership capability and support organisations as they adapt to ongoing digital transformation.

The award of the Tech Industry Gold credential recognises Dr Vasileiou’s expertise and her contribution to a project that is set to influence leadership development across the sector.