Coaching & Mentoring

John has considerable operational and MOD experience. He has had 4 sea commands including the Task Group that delivered maritime strike into Libya in 2011. He also served 4 times in the MOD. As Head of Finance and Military Capability (Navy) he was the maritime advisor to the MOD’s finance director and provided analysis on the Navy’s financial performance and where appropriate the reapportionment of resources. In 2005 he was the first senior advisor to the newly established head of the Iraqi Navy in Baghdad.

As a Rear Admiral John was the Director of the Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre (DCDC) – the MOD’s independent strategic think tank providing impartial and objective advice to highest level policy makers in defence and across government. In addition to delivering all UK joint doctrine he oversaw the strategic trends programme (Global Strategic Trends and the Future Operating Environment) which set the long term context for policy makers.

He was then the Deputy Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies and in his final role before leaving the Service was the Commandant (2019-2020). RCDS is responsible for preparing the next generation of strategic military, civilian and industry leaders from the UK and 55 other nations.

Fidelma brings a wealth of experience operating in a number of areas from cyber, to people, to business mentoring and strategy, and beyond. She is a senior member of the Accredited Counsellors, Coaches, Psychotherapists and Hypnotherapists (ACCPH). She is also an Associate Member of the Institute of Legal Executives and was on the Co-Founder and Board Member of an AIM Listed Company.

Fidelma’s passion is helping clients to grow their businesses not only through the sourcing excellent candidates to fill vacancies but also in providing strategy and business development support where necessary.

His last tour was as the Head of UAS Team within Defence Equipment & Support where he was responsible for equipping and sustaining UAS operations for all UK Armed Forces whilst maximising synergies and efficiencies across the programmes.

He also had additional pan-government responsibility for developing the UK government policy and strategy for the UK UAS enterprise. Prior to this, he was on loan service to the US Department of Defense in the multi-national F-35 Joint Program Office where, as Deputy Director Logistics and Sustainment, he was instrumental in developing the global support solution for F-35. He now manages his own business consultancy helping clients with strategy development and optimizing marketing opportunities.