Andrew Kays, CEO of Cardiff-based Socura, from Penarth, has been named among the UK’s top 50 most ambitious business leaders for 2026.
Mr Kays shares the honour with Socura’s chief technology officer and founder, Jamie Brummell.
The accolade comes from the LDC Top 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders programme, an annual initiative by private equity investor LDC – part of Lloyds Banking Group – in partnership with The Times.
Andrew Kays, CEO at Socura, said: “Being named alongside the UK’s most driven business leaders is a massive honour, but truly it reflects the relentless dedication of the entire Socura team.
“When we set out, our goal was to change the narrative in cyber security – moving away from fear-mongering and instead delivering true operational resilience.
“This recognition confirms that our focus on sustainable growth and high-touch customer support is making a profound impact on the UK’s digital economy.”
The programme celebrates entrepreneurs leading the UK’s most successful medium-sized businesses.
This year’s list was highly competitive, with more than 620 nominations from across the UK and spanning every sector.
Socura, which operates a 24/7 managed detection and response (MDR) service and a state-of-the-art security operations centre, is recognised for its growth and approach to cyber security.
The company serves critical national infrastructure, NHS trusts, public services, and major enterprises across the UK.
Jamie Brummell, CTO and founder at Socura, said: “Innovation is at the heart of everything we do at Socura.
“Cyber threats are constantly evolving, which means our platform and engineering approach has to move fast to stay ahead.
“Being recognised by LDC and The Times validates our long-term vision: building a massively scalable, AI-enhanced cyber defence platform that takes the complexity out of security operations for our clients.”
The businesses featured in this year’s Top 50 collectively generate £1.4 billion in annual revenues and employ nearly 8,500 people across 55 towns and cities.
John Garner, managing partner at LDC, said: “What stands out about this year’s LDC Top 50 is not only what these leaders have already achieved, but their determination to keep moving forward.”
