Meet the team

Mark Ryan

Principal Strategic Advisor

Over 30 years scaling high-growth businesses across fintech, telecoms, PE and digital. Former Caudwell Group leader driving a £1.45Bn exit; founding Chairman and seed investor in The Hut Group (THG). Currently CEO of My Medical Gateway, a first-mover digital health-tech platform. Advises on strategic growth, commercial excellence, partnerships, and enterprise-scale expansion.

Larry Embra MBE

Chairman

Entrepreneur and experienced board leader, founder of MBE Construction (£30M turnover) and co-founder of a £750M property group. Awarded an MBE for charitable services and served 21 years as a Justice of the Peace. Provides governance, strategic oversight and trusted leadership for high-growth security-critical operations.

Chris Littlewood

Co-Founder & CEO

Serial founder with 20+ years in regulated IT, data security, NHS digital transformation, and enterprise service delivery. Former IT sector Sales Director leading major public-sector accounts. Drives DSS’s rigorous frameworks, innovation, and compliance-first operational execution. Builds core client and partner relationships to drive commercial strategy and future growth.

Derek Johnston

Co-Founder & Director

Co-founder and operations specialist with deep experience in IT asset management, regulated data destruction and ISO-certified delivery. Over 20+ years senior leadership experience in the financial services industry. Oversees end-to-end service execution, ensuring safe, compliant, scalable projects for enterprise and public-sector clients. Focused on efficiency, quality, and international roll-out. Provides commercial insight to support long-term strategy and global expansion.

Simon Reynolds

Fractional CFO | FCA

Chartered Accountant and senior finance leader with 18+ years’ experience across corporate finance and private equity-backed businesses. Completed 30+ transactions and raised over €550M in long-term funding, leading acquisitions, integrations and exit readiness at premium EBITDA multiples. Provides strategic financial leadership across capital structuring, investor readiness and scalable financial governance as DSS expands internationally.

Rafal Gorczynski

Chief Technology Officer

Architect of patented, cloud-native, compliance-first platforms used across NHS, government and enterprise clients. Leads engineering, product and cybersecurity, delivering automated lifecycle control and sovereign data architectures. Ensures DSS’s technology remains scalable, resilient, and audit-ready.

Louise Ryan

Chief People Officer

20+ years in strategic people leadership and talent strategy, organisational development, and leadership design across tech, fintech, telecoms, retail, hospitality and banking. Former senior leader at Dixons Stores Group, THG, Caudwell Group and Barclays. Builds high-performance teams, scalable people systems and culture aligned to rapid growth.

Paul Kallee-Grover MBE

Non-Executive Director

Senior board advisor with 25+ years’ experience supporting growth, transformation and governance across public and private sectors. Brings deep expertise in strategic planning, international partnerships, risk management and executive decision-making. Provides independent challenge, commercial insight and trusted counsel, helping leadership teams strengthen governance, test assumptions and drive sustainable long-term value.