Who am I?

If you were to meet me, you’d quickly find I’m someone who brings energy, clarity and drive to any role — qualities forged early in my life and refined through decades leading project, security, procurement and operations teams around the world.

My passion for technology first sparked back in 1981, when our school chaplain unveiled a Sinclair ZX81 computer and promptly founded the School Computer Club. I wandered in out of curiosity, and from that moment on, I was hooked – I’d found my calling.

At boarding school, though I thrived more on the sports fields than in the classroom, I taught myself to code and quickly began to understand the transformational power of technology, particularly when posing the question, “What can it do for me?“.

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An Officer and A Gentleman: The Military Chapter

Following my early education at Neville Holt Preparatory School and after moving to The Duke of York’s Royal Military School, I took part in the school’s Combined Cadet Force (CCF) and so began my pursuit of another passion: leadership.

After graduating from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, I was honoured to accept a commission with the Royal Regiment of Artillery.

…it was a huge shock and disappointment to me personally that my devotion and lifelong commitment I had made to the Army were being so easily and misguidedly discarded. At the time the Right Honourable John Major was vying for re-election as Prime Minister, he offered the promise of tax cuts and that ultimately swung the vote in his favour. Those tax cuts were funded, at least in part, by the Whitehall civil servant-led reduction in the armed services over a 5 year period from 1990 to 1995.

My time in the British Army taught me 6 incredibly valuable lessons that have underpinned every chapter of my professional life:

As a Commissioned Officer in the British Army, the premature termination of my Short Service Commission under Options for Change marked a profound and unexpected turning point in my early career. Though the decision was not performance-related, its effect was nonetheless disruptive; personally disorienting and professionally dislocating. Like many of my peers, I was forced to adapt swiftly to civilian life at a time of significant institutional upheaval.

What transpired is that this turn of events unleashed an untapped drive within me that I channelled into the next phase of my life.

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A New Direction: Technology Leadership

“Solving complex problems involving people, process and technology with innovative, intelligent and intuitive solutions is what drives me.“

In August 1995 I took my regimental rugby team on tour to Cardiff. We won 2 of 3 games and on the final night went out to celebrate. That night I met a beautiful and unique woman, Sharon, who would later become my wife. Together we decided to move to Wimbledon, London and began our lives together.

I quickly discovered that the dedication and resilience the Army instilled in me were eminently transferable to the technology sector and provided a real competitive advantage.

Over the years, I took on increasingly complex project and programme delivery and leadership roles for many areas of the UK Government as I still held high level security clearance at that time.

Fujitsu Services UK	Over a period of 10 years at Fujitsu, I guided project delivery teams across several UK government departments. My primary focus, though, was leading the project portfolio for the intelligence and security community. Alongside my delivery role I implemented ISO 20000 processes and mentored future project leaders.
Capita Secure Software Solutions	At Capita, I took on a more senior delivery role leading the delivery of command and control communcation solutions for the police, fire and rescue and ambulance services both in the UK and across the globe. I was immensley proud to have grown a £50m revenue stream and significantly increased the profit margin by focussing on talent recruitment, process efficiency and automation.
Leonardo MW	I joined Leonardo to lead their cyber security teams who were resposible for defending both our own company and our many clients from increasingly more hostile threat actors. Most memorable was playing a leading role in resolving the WannaCry1 ransomeware attack in 2017. Together, we succeeded by balancing cutting-edge technical expertise with mission-focused leadership.
Aviva Central Services	At Aviva, I designed and excuted strategic sourcing initiatives in cybersecurity across three continents. The role required a new focus on regulatory rigour with the PRA and FCA frameworks in play. In consecutive years, through a mixture of tenacity and commercial acumen, we exceeded the £100m annual savings target we had been set.
Alshaya International	At Alshaya International, I took a more senior role as their Head of Commercial and Vendor Management. Dealing with the world’s largest companies such as Microsoft, Oracle, Adobe and Panasonic I achieved a $63 million cost saving during a period of major geopolitical unrest in the Middle East. Given the complexity of situation and the pressure I was under to deliver in 9 months I am proud to have secured a successful outcome for my colleagues in Kuwait.

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Today’s Challenge

My mission has remained consistent throughout my professional journey: define success clearly, align people, process and technology to achieve it, lead with integrity and never stop learning.