Resilience isn’t a tick-box exercise — it’s a strategic imperative.
Director and Head of Resilience at Alba Partners, Cameron Holt, joins host Jennifer Geary to demystify operational resilience — from the regulatory origins of the agenda through to what truly resilient organisations look like in today’s turbulent geopolitical landscape.
Drawing on 17 years of financial services experience across Accenture, BCS Consulting, and now Alba Partners, Cameron explains how organisations can move beyond compliance and embed resilience by design into their strategy, operations, and culture.
You’ll learn how to:
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Move from regulatory compliance to genuine resilience by design.
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Identify your most important business services and map their vulnerabilities.
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Manage third-party risk as a core pillar of your resilience strategy.
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Run scenario testing, war games, and crisis simulations that actually prepare you.
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Use AI effectively — without creating “artificial resilience”.
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Think like a threat actor to find and close your organisation’s open wounds.
About Cameron Holt:
Cameron Holt is Director and Head of Resilience at Alba Partners, a financial services consultancy operating globally from offices in London, Edinburgh and Dubai. Cameron has over 17 years of experience in financial services, specialising in operational resilience, non-financial risk, and operating model transformation. He has served as a Resilience Subject Matter Advisor, UK Head of Resilience, and Resilience Programme Director across some of the UK’s leading financial institutions. Prior to Alba, he held senior roles at Accenture and BCS Consulting.
Chapters:
00:00 — Introduction — why resilience matters now
03:00 — Cameron’s background and the pivot to resilience
05:28 — The geopolitical case for resilience in 2025
06:51 — The evolution of the UK resilience regulatory agenda
09:44 — From regulatory requirement to strategic advantage
11:02 — Resilience by design vs. the tick-box approach
13:00 — Ownership, governance, and the COO’s role
15:17 — Resilience as an outcome, not a risk type
16:25 — Third-party risk and the multi-domain resilience framework
19:24 — Backups, single points of failure, and commercial trade-offs
21:06 — Resilience as a competitive differentiator for FinTechs
25:53 — Real-world case studies: RBS, TSB, CrowdStrike, and beyond
28:51 — Scenario testing, war games, and crisis simulations
30:40 — Human capital: the hidden resilience asset
32:11 — Practical steps for a new COO or CRO
34:34 — AI and the risk of ‘artificial resilience’
38:05 — Resources and further reading
Resources & Links:
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C-suite Framework courses & books: https://csuiteframework.co.uk/
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CMORG (Cross Market Operational Resilience Group) — industry guidance and best practice materials on operational resilience
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UK Resilience Academy — learning materials and professional development resources
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National Preparedness Commission — independent body running events and thought leadership on resilience
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Resilience First — business resilience network and resources
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Centre for Long-Term Resilience — research and policy on systemic resilience
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