Simon Bedford Email & Phone Number

Andover, Hampshire, United Kingdom

Provides career and talent development advice to the senior executive members of the Army's Headquarters.

Izmir, Turkey

Achievements:• Coordinated with senior military representatives of 24 contributing nations ensure delivery of their respective national personnel commitment to the headquarters and identify any associated operating caveats. My bilateral discussions and chairmanship of regular pan-nation manning meetings ensured that the operational structure of the headquarters was sustained well in excess of the NATO mandated 92% manning target.• Re-designed and implemented the organisational structures and personnel capability requirements of the headquarters to better match both existing and emerging peacetime roles and responsibilities. Despite a non-negotiable ceiling of 250 nationally attributed staff positions, the transformation project delivered more seamless inter-departmental collaboration and increased staff capacity. • Identified the detailed personnel change requirements of the headquarters to deliver the NATO response to any emerging crisis, subsequently approved by all the national Defence representatives and formally ratified by NATO head office in the form of a Crisis Establishment.• Developed and delivered a process by which to collate and communicate to the Commander and his management board comprehensive updates on the operational readiness of the headquarters staff by means of regular face-to-face presentations. This led to enhanced clarity on operating risks and opportunities and informed the Commander’s subsequent discussions about crisis response options with the various NATO army and defence heads and with NATO head office.• Formally commended by the headquarters’ Commander and then by the deputy military head of NATO for outstanding performance and leadership.

Westbury, Wilts

Achievements:• Successfully provided the leadership for over 100 leadership selection boards, ensuring that assessment procedures and metrics were applied consistently by the selection board members and that the overall integrity of the assessment methods was maintained at all times. This sustained confidence in the boards’ results and recommendations for the training delivery staff and management and contributed to a training success rate of over 80% amongst candidates subsequently attending the Military Academy. • Assessed and reported on over 900 candidates through personally observed practical tests and rigorous one-to-one interviews, balanced by the collated observations and recommendations from the selection board members. As a consequence, alongside the written summary of assessment provided to the training deliverers, I also provided every candidate and their respective career advisors and sponsors with honest, clear and evidence-based written advice. • Collaborated successfully with executives from a commercial company as they prepared to deliver their Recruiting Partnering Project (RPP) with the Ministry of Defence (MOD). This supported their understanding of the AOSB procedures, policies and associated partner operating requirements, thereby enabling them to establish optimum value for investment.

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic Of Congo

Achievements:• Provided daily military operational advice to the Indian Army UN Commander based on decision-support information on key operational challenges and activities collated from the various operating commanders and specialist staff from his UN military force of 18,000 personnel from a total of 28 contributing nations deployed throughout the DRC. My input enabled the Commander to give timely, clear and effective operational direction to his subordinate commanders in the face of a high volume of exceptionally volatile, politically sensitive and militarily complex challenges.• Planned and managed three UN Force Commander Conferences attended by strategic level military and civilian representatives from the UN Headquarters in New York, The UN Secretary General’s Special Representative to DRC and all UN Force Commanders within Central West Africa. This led to enhanced strategic appreciation of the highly complex operating environment across the region and identified areas of common and best practice.

Wiltshire, Uk

Achievements: • Designed and implemented policies for the newly formed Army Inspector’s remit from the Chief of General Staff (professional head of the Army) to provide coherent governance for all Army activity across Defence. This led to Army-wide understanding of the Army Inspector’s role and operating methods and enabled the critical early collaboration with the government’s independent Complaints Commissioner, the better to sustain the Army’s reputation.• Authored the quarterly Army Inspector Reports to CGS, identifying areas of legislative and regulatory non-compliance across all Army activity within Defence. Report content obtained by close coordination with functional subject matter experts to deliver greater visibility of risk and associated mitigation proposals.

Upavon, Wilts

Achievements:• Coordinated all policy inputs and requirements from 11 Personnel higher level budget areas within the Army Chief Personnel Officer’s top level budget area of responsibility in order to provide AG regular overviews of personnel issues across the Army.• Provided the coordinating focus for the Adjutant General’s contribution to develop and articulate the ‘Military Covenant’ in 2009 which has now been formally enshrined in Government policy the better to recognise and support the Armed Forces’ position in modern British society.• Provided the central coordination for all ministerial and military/civilian VIP visits to the Adjutant General (on average 7-8 per month), ensuring that contributing briefs and presentations were relevant, coherent and delivered to the satisfaction of the Adjutant General.

Advanced Management Achievement Course

Studying for CMI Level 8 Strategic Direction & Leadership.

English And Modern Languages