Andrew has worked in the commercial, procurement and supply chain profession for the whole of his career, working in health, infrastructure international aid, construction and local government before joining the Civil Service. During this time he has delivered complex commercial deals, across property, infrastructure, IT categories and a range of national outsourcing service programmes in health, education and government. Andrew has been in Defence since 2017, initially as the Departments Chief Commercial Officer. He was recently appointed Director General Commercial for both the MOD and DE&S in July 2021 and is the senior commercial advisor across Defence. The role also covers the overall leadership of over 2,000 procurement and commercial professionals in Defence. The commercial function covers an annual spend in excess of £20bn across nearly 6,000 contracts, ranging from property and FM, corporate services, complex IT infrastructure and services, food, clothing & medical supplies to large military equipment platforms, such as ships, aircraft and vehicles. Andrew is also leading on the implementation of an ambitious reform agenda to ensure Defence procurement and supply chain system is more agile, capable and able to deliver the right equipment and services to the Armed Forces more quickly.

Bio coming soon...

Bio coming soon

Bio coming soon

Ian Schollar is the Head of CIPS Business Study Centre at CIPS and has had a progressive career in procurement and commercial roles spanning over 30 years in both public and private sectors. He started his career with Mallory Batteries (Duracell) in 1983, before spending 15 years working within both central and local public sector organisations. He was responsible for procuring a diverse range of categories from breathing apparatus for fire fighters to high tech radar systems for air traffic controllers. In 1998, Ian became a Senior Advisor for Crown Agents, an International Development Agency. He was project lead on numerous capacity building projects working in Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and Eastern Europe and headed up the procurement and supply chain training at their Training Centre. Ian has worked at CIPS since 2005 and has a particular passion for professional development. Ian is a Fellow of CIPS and holds a Master’s Degree in Management, Learning and Leadership from Lancaster University Management School.

James Gavin is the head of the Future Capability Group (FCG) at Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S). The FCG exists to help explore new capabilities so that they can then be exploited at scale. Increasingly projects are ‘Agile By Default’ to deliver early operational advantage. The Group works closely with all the Front-line Commands, DSTL and central MOD areas such as the DIU and DASA. James has served in the military, the civil service and industry before joining DE&S. He is a passionate advocate of delivering Operational Advantage through a better application of strategic thinking on innovation, inclusive cultures and sustainability.

John Russell joined the SSRO as Chief Executive in July 2023. John was a Senior Director at Ofwat from 2016. He has also worked in Shell’s group strategy and business environment teams and had a long career in Whitehall where, amongst other roles, he was the Chief Operating Officer for Infrastructure UK and Deputy Director for Growth and Productivity in HM Treasury.

Lieutenant General Rob Magowan joined the Royal Marines in 1989 after reading chemistry at Southampton University. His early command appointments included a tour of Northern Ireland. Returning from the US Marine Corps staff course, he was posted to HQ 3 UK Division, during which time he deployed to Afghanistan on the first International Security Assistance Force deployment. He returned to 42 Commando as Second in Command, deploying to Kuwait and Iraq for Operation Telic 1. Subsequently, he worked in the Cabinet Office, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence, with a focus on intelligence. He assumed command of the Royal Marines 30 Commando Information Exploitation Group, deploying to Helmand province. After Higher Command and Staff Course, as a Brigadier he was Chief of Staff to the National Contingent Commander in Kabul, Commodore Naval Personnel Strategy and then Commander Joint Forces Intelligence Group. He became Commandant General Royal Marines, for the first time, and Commander United Kingdom Amphibious Forces in 2016. He also assumed command of the European Union Naval Force Somalia. His staff appointments as a Major General were Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Capability) and Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Capability and Force Design). In January 2020, he assumed the role as Deputy Commander UK Strategic Command. He reassumed the position of Commandant General Royal Marines from April 2021 – November 2022. He started as the Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (Military Capability) in May 2022 and was Knighted in the 2024 New Years Honours.

Bio coming soon

Professor John Louth is an author, researcher and business leader working in the spaces where government, politics, the military, commerce, the third sector and general public intersect. His passion is to explore, understand and explain the complexities of defence capability generation and management drawn from a multi-faceted public-private enterprise, embracing defence prime contractors, technologists, SMEs, the armed forces, families, investors and governments. Between 2011 and 2019, John was the director of the defence, industries and society research programme at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI). During this time, he published extensively on defence industrial strategy and procurement practices, both in the UK and internationally. He advised the Colombian government on defence industrial reform as part of the peace process and chaired the UK-Australian Defence Maritime Collaboration Dialogue in London and Sydney. John was also the independent chair of the MoD-Industry Nuclear Engineering Skills Review. Since 2012, John has been a specialist adviser to the UK House of Commons’ Defence Select Committee. Before Brexit, he was the UK representative on the pan-European research body for the EU on defence capability and readiness. John is a non-executive director and advisory board member of a number of businesses operating in the defence, security and advisory sectors. He works with the NATO SHAPE Headquarters in developing and mentoring the Management Board. John served in the Royal Air Force for sixteen years before working as an executive in defence businesses ahead of his time with RUSI. His latest book on UK defence policy and practice was published by Routledge in 2019, reissued in 2021, and his next on defence exports will be published shortly. Much of his mentoring work is conducted from his home in rural North Devon where he gardens adequately though with enthusiasm.

Tom McDonald is currently a Director at the UK National Audit Office, where he is responsible for leading value for money audit work on defence and national security expenditure. He has worked at the NAO since 2001 and has focused his career on the defence, health and international sectors. Since 2015 he has also been the NAO’s lead Director for cyber security across the UK public sector. Between 2010 and 2013 he was seconded to the Department for International Development to establish and run the Independent Commission for Aid Impact. Before his NAO career, he worked in international affairs research and acted as an overseas election observer on behalf of the UN, EU and OSCE. He has degrees in modern languages, international relations and management from Bristol University and Ashridge Business School and is a fellow of the Centre for Science and Policy at Cambridge University.