Non-Executive Director

Dany Cotton has a combination of 32 years of fire service experience and now works across a range of public and private sector organisations delivering keynote speeches and leadership presentations.

She joined London Fire Brigade in 1988 aged 18 as one of 30 women firefighters out of a workforce of 9000.

Working her way up through the ranks, in 2000 was the first woman Station Officer in the UK and subsequently served in a number of different roles and departments including Assistant Commissioner for Operational Assurance and the Director for Safety and Assurance prior to her promotion in 2017 where she became the first woman Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade in its’ 151 year history.

Throughout her career she attended many high profile operational incidents including the Cutty Sark fire in 2007 and a 40 pump fire on the day of the Olympic closing ceremony in 2012. During her first six months in the role of Commissioner she led the Brigade during major incidents including the unprecedented fire at Grenfell Tower and the terrorist incidents at London Bridge and Finsbury Park. She retired from LFB at the end of 2019.

Additional roles and responsibilities included the national lead for the UK Fire Service for Counter Terrorism and Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear threats, and a government advisor for fire service related matters.

In 2004, Dany was the first woman in history to be awarded the Queen’s Fire Service Medal for distinguished service, in 2010 she was named by The Independent as one of the ‘100 women who changed the world’ and in 2011 was voted among the most influential women in London. In 2015 she won the Public Service Category at the First Women Awards and in 2017 she won the Women of the Year Leadership Award.

Since retiring from LFB she presents on leadership and various other subjects to a number of different organisations and delivers inputs to the national multi agency gold incident command course (MAGIC).

Dany is also very proud to be:

• Vice President of the charity PTSD999
• Patron of Women in the Fire Service (WFS)
• Ambassador for the Antarctic Fire Angels

In February 2024, Dany joined the Securitatem Group as a non-executive director, playing a pivotal role in guiding our strategic initiatives, ensuring sound governance practices, and fostering a culture of excellence and accountability. Her dedication to excellence aligns seamlessly with our core values and objectives.

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