Andrew Forzani

UK Ministry of Defence Chief Commercial Officer

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 is currently the Chief Commercial Officer at the UK Ministry of Defence and is the senior responsible advisor across Defence for commercial and industrial issues. The role also covers the overall functional leadership of over 2,000 procurement and commercial professionals in Defence. The commercial function covers an annual spend in excess of £20bn across a diverse and complex set of programmes and categories covering major platform acquisition, infrastructure, estates and FM and IT & digital.
Andrew is also leading an Acquisition Review across Defence as part of the Departments transformation programme which is looking to fundamentally improve the way in which we acquire military capability in the future.

Fayola-Maria Jack

UK Ministry of Defence Head of Defence Commercial, Air

Fay has worked in Air Command as the Head of Commercial since 2018, joining from roles in the Cabinet Office as Deputy Director of the Complex Transactions Team and Head of the Commercial Dispute Resolution Practice. Fay previously worked in the private sector as Head of Legal & Commercial for a £22billion global company and has led and transformed commercial teams for global market leaders in a range of industries, including engineering, aerospace & defence, oil & gas, automotive, resourcing, utilities and pharmaceuticals.

Fay studied Law at the University of London and Economics at Oxford University, and is a qualified civil and commercial mediator, arbitrator, data protection practitioner, and media law practitioner. She is a published author on commercial best practice and has been recognised for her contributions in the commercial field, featuring in the 2018 Powerlist in partnership with Lloyds Banking Group, EY, Thomson Reuters and The Executive Leadership Council. In 2017 Fay was named as one of the Top 5 Women in UK Business by Management Today in partnership with Accenture, and in 2016 won the Woman of the Future Award.

With a background in defence, and a family committed to the forces, Fay is very proud to be a part of Air Command. Her vision is to ensure that the capability and empowerment of the commercial function is increased, enabling the Royal Air Force and the United Kingdom to meet the demands of modern defence.

Air Commodore Rich Withnall

UK Defence Medical Services Medical Director

Air Commodore Rich Withnall joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a Medical Cadet in 1990 and qualified from the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, University of London in 1992. He undertook General Practice Vocational Training at Princess Mary’s RAF Hospital, Halton and Peterborough Hospitals National Health Service Trust. His UK postings have included Senior Medical Officer appointments on fast jet, multi-engine and rotary flying stations, and the RAF’s recruit Phase 1 training unit. He has undertaken Command & Staff appointments at HQ Personnel and Training Command, HQ AIR Command, HQ Surgeon General and the Ministry of Defence. His overseas experience includes Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cyprus, Denmark, the Falkland Islands, Ghana, Iraq, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kosovo, Kuwait, Norway, Romania and the United Arab Emirates.

He was appointed as Advisor in General Practice (RAF) in 2005, then undertook the Advanced Command & Staff Course in 2007-8, winning both the Brooke-Popham Prize for the Best Defence Research Paper and the Sir Michael Howard Prize for the Best MA student. After a tour as SO1 Med Pol in the Ministry of Defence, Rich returned to HQ AIR Command as Deputy Director Health Services (RAF) in 2010. He was selected as the first RAF Defence Professor of General Practice & Primary Care in 2013. In 2017, he became the first primary care clinician to be appointed as the Defence Medical Services’ Medical Director.

Rich has remained clinically current throughout, revalidating with a licence to practise in 2013. He is on the National Performers List. An accredited GP Trainer and Appraiser Trainer since 2002, and an RCGP Examiner since 2005, Rich became a Fellow of the RCGP in 2006. He is a member of RCGP Council, the RCGP’s International Medical Director, and Deputy Clinical Lead for the MRCGP Clinical Skills Assessment. He is the Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s GP Advisor, a GP Specialty Advisor to the UK Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, and Convener of the World Organisation of National Colleges, Academies and Academic Association of General Practitioners/Family Physicians (WONCA) Special Interest Group on Conflict and Catastrophe Medicine. Rich is a Chartered Manager and has undertaken the RAF’s Strategic Leadership and Development Programme.

He lives in the Cotswolds with his wife and two children. He remains a keen motorcyclist and fly-fisherman but, despite being very proud to have captained the RAF Medical Services rugby team, Rich has now hung-up his rugby boots in favour of season tickets at Gloucester Rugby (where watching is sometimes more painful than playing!)

Ruth Todd

Submarine Delivery Agency Commercial Director

Ruth Todd has 30 years’ experience in supply chain management, logistics and consultancy in a variety of private sector businesses.
Most recently she worked for Babcock International where she managed the Land Equipment Support Supply Chain. Prior to that she helped Jaguar Land Rover develop its inbound logistics strategy and led the programme to deliver that change.
Ruth spent 14 years in consultancy and had the opportunity to support aerospace, defence, automotive and industrial sectors, both in front line manufacturing and support services, always in complex environments. Much of her career has been in transformational management; leading teams through change to deliver practical operational improvements.
Her early career was in the automotive sector working in production, supply chain, procurement and strategy roles. She has a degree in Manufacturing Engineering and is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Logistics and Transportation.

Rob Solly

Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) Division Head, Defence and Security Analysis

As Dstl’s Division Head for Defence and Security Analysis since April 2015, Rob is responsible for delivering approximately £100M of research and analysis per year. This work is delivered by a broad range of industrial and academic partners as well as Rob’s Division of 600 analysts, human scientists and systems engineers.

Rob has over 25 years of experience of research for the UK Ministry of Defence and has been a Fellow of the Operational Research Society for 12 years. After an engineering degree in Aeronautics & Astronautics, he worked in Dstl’s predecessor organisations to assess and improve the effectiveness of aircraft, ships, communications and surveillance systems, informing the UK Government’s decisions to invest in the Joint Strike Fighter and Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier, unmanned combat air vehicles, and defensive aids for aircraft.

Rob then spent six years leading the analysis of alternative strategies, planning assumptions and force structures for the MOD, including for the 2010 and 2015 UK Strategic Defence and Security Reviews, the 2011 Defence Reform Review; and on secondment for the US DOD’s 2009 Quadrennial Defense Review.

From 2011 to 2014, Rob led an initiative for the Permanent Secretary to improve the use of analysis and evidence across the MOD, which led to an expansion of the use of analysis, wargaming and experimentation to inform the design of MOD’s policy decisions. Rob’s interest in this area has led to collaborations with Nesta, the Design Council and the Behavioural Insights Team.

In December 2016, Rob set up the Defence and Security Accelerator – part of the Defence Innovation Initiative aimed at rapidly engaging new suppliers and developing their ideas to solve Defence and Security’s most challenging problems.

Claire Kober OBE

Pinnacle Homes Managing Director

Claire joined Pinnacle Group in 2018 as Director of Housing to lead its delivery of high-quality and innovative housing management services. In February 2019 she was appointed Managing Director Homes overseeing the company’s housing, estates and property management contracts, as well as Pinnacle People and Connect, a 24-7 contact centre. Claire works in partnership with a range of clients in the local government, institutional investment and development sectors. She sits on the Pinnacle Group executive committee.
Prior to joining Pinnacle, Claire spent a decade in local government as Leader of the London Borough of Haringey where she prioritised improving education outcomes for all children, wide-scale regeneration and delivering better housing. Claire is a former Chair of London Councils – the regional body that brings together the capital’s 32 boroughs to lobby for fairer funding and a better quality of life for Londoners and also represented the region on the London Enterprise Panel. She served as finance portfolio holder for the Local Government Association. In 2015, Claire was awarded an OBE for services to local government.

Ker Anderson

Vodafone Business Head of Network (London & SE)

Ker Anderson has been in the mobile industry for 30 years, beginning as one of the first employees at One2one where he started his mobile career as a Radio Planner for the world’s first DCS1800 network. He has lead radio design and optimisation teams in both T-Mobile and O2 before moving to the Technology Strategy team at O2. This role allowed Ker to take the lead in developing the blueprint for the Cornerstone network sharing agreement and he went on to lead the development of the design principles for network consolidation between Vodafone & O2. After leaving O2 in 2012 Ker spent 3 years with CityFibre developing their business with the mobile industry before joining Vodafone in late 2015 as Head of Network for London where he has led considerable network developments placing Vodafone in a leading position in London and the South East.

Colonel Tim Collins OBE

Leadership and Motivational Speaker

Colonel Tim Collins OBE delivered the infamous speech to British troops of the 1st Royal Irish Battle Group on the eve of battle in March 2003. With a copy of the speech now hanging in the Oval Office of the White House, the notoriety and strength of this speech is shown by its prominence around the world. Collins’ words made him an overnight hero with world leaders and infantrymen globally. A terrific motivational speaker, Tim can utilise his vast array of anecdotal tales to intrigue and engage with guests.

Tim has served in the Gulf War, Colombia, Zaire, Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq. A naturally inspiring and motivational speaker, Tim combines his broad knowledge of both political and military history with tales of his active service. A pre-eminent authority on teamwork, leadership and motivation, Collins can provide clear parallels as a motivational speaker between everyday leadership in business and personal life with military problem solving tasks.

A fantastic event and conference host, Tim’s interesting approach to the delivery of his thoughts provide a great perspective to everyday problems, striking a chord with every audience member as a leadership speaker. Tim’s leadership advice is summarised in a handful of rules; Pick the right team, know what your plan and objectives are, make sure everyone has a role and it is communicated to them and understand responsibilities as a leader while trusting your team.

Les Mosco

CEO of Commercial Strategies Limited and former MOD Commercial Director

Les Mosco has led the commercial function at MOD and the Scottish Office, Network Rail, Amerada Hess Oil & Gas, NatWest Bank and held other senior positions in the public and private sector. Now an independent, he is a Non-Executive Director at Transport for Greater Manchester, a Trustee/Director at 2 charities, and an Advisor/Consultant to a variety of clients including the Bank of England, the National Audit Office, PA Consulting and BiP.