Working with regulated firms and other organisations that have an interest in numbers and data being communicated in a way that is clear, fair and never misleading. 20 million adults in the UK have the numeracy that we expect of a primary school child (6m literacy) but there is no equivalent to the Plain English Campaign or their 'Crystal Mark'. In most situations, not understanding the numbers can cause at least as much harm as not understanding the words. I am leading a rapidly growing team working with Partner firms to address this ‘Plain Numbers’ gap.

It was a privilege to have had the opportunity to spend a year building upon the fantastic work that the Forces in Mind Trust team delivered since the launch of Forces in Mind Trust in 2012. I handed over to my Deputy, Tom McBarnet in June 2022 to enable me to focus on growing the social impact of Plain Numbers - across the whole population in the UK and in time internationally. However, I remain committed to do all I can in the coming years to enable all veterans and their families – both the 2-3% of veterans who really struggle and all those whose latent potential is not currently realised - to make a successful and sustainable transition. I am exploring options to do this and thereby combine leading Plain Numbers as the day job with utilising my recently gathered knowledge of the veterans support landscape to support there; please feel free to get in touch about either or both.

Chaired the steering group from which National Numeracy arose during my earnout period at Oxford University Press. Secured seed funding from Nationwide Building Society and built a Trustee board including Lord Claus Moser, John Griffith Jones and more recently Andy Haldane, Chief Economist at the Bank of England. Identified a gap in government-funded provision and built the team to create a free online tool to assess and address poor numeracy. Launched the National Numeracy Challenge in 2014, over 285,000 adults have engaged to date. Established relationships across government departments and with other senior stakeholders such as Chris Woolard at the FCA, Sir Charlie Mayfield (ex-Chairman of John Lewis) at BeTheBusiness, Doug Gurr CEO of Amazon UK, Shriti Vadera at Santander and Frances O’Grady at the TUC. Built relationships with over two hundred partner organisations now including 40 NHS Trusts. Secured support from partners such as Martin Lewis and MoneySavingExpert.com for the launch of inaugural National Numeracy Day, leading to over 25,000 adults to start their journey to improved numeracy. Frequently interviewed on radio and television.Developed and launched commercial products and services, which are gaining traction with NHS Trusts in particular. Income generated through commercial revenue, project funding, National Numeracy Day supporters and multi-year strategic partnerships including TP ICAP and most recently Santander. As founding Chief Executive, I have been directly responsible for securing over £9m in funding.

Developed the strategy and the business plan to deliver a combined service and product offer selling to professional sports teams across all the major leagues in the US and to amateur endurance athletes in the UK and Europe, with turnover now approaching £1.5m.Secured investment and launched the business in Lewes. Led on finance, operations, legal and procurement including collaboratively developing the product range with Swiss-based research lab and negotiating substantial discount on initial batches. Secured global rights to using US-manufactured medical equipment in a human-performance setting and built a network of test centres in the UK, Canada, the US and Australia. As National Numeracy grew rapidly, I exited Precision Hydration via an MBO of original investors.

As Chief Executive of Numicon, based in Newhaven, I analysed the strategic and tactical factors that generated value and then refocused the organisation accordingly. This resulted in significant growth in turnover whilst increasing net profit from £49k to over £500k in two years. Financial performance achieved through building personal relationships with key external stakeholders, particularly within the government funded Every Child Counts programme. By providing professional development for Local Authority teams, created a team of 250 advocates to enable rapid sales growth whilst cutting marketing spend by 40%. Attracted over 3,000 new school customers in two years. Numicon was the BESA Educational Supplier of the year in 2009.The raised profile and rapid growth led to an unsolicited approach by OUP. Generated competition through discussions with another interested party and, in partnership with the Chairman, eventually negotiated a sale to OUP, delivering a return for shareholders of 23x their original investment.

Rapid understanding of how to generate value exemplified by a 167% increase in revenues across a portfolio of blue-chip clients in my first year. Co-developed an innovative management information process, presented this to UK Corporate Banking team heads and it was subsequently adopted across all teams in the UK.Gained FSA qualification and promoted to Global Relationship Manager in January 2008. The least experienced of my peers had been in banking for 8 years.

Developed the plan and then commanded my platoon in the successful Special Forces hostage rescue operation in Sierra Leone. Wounded in the battle yet my team adapted in accordance with my robust plan and our objective was rapidly achieved. Subsequently led a team of 24 specialist weapons-trained Paratroopers in the invasion of Iraq before managing the complex and demanding transition from war fighting to peace enforcement.Led a team of 45 Specialist Weapons instructors at the Commando Training Centre, Royal Marines. My paper summarising an innovative approach for the use of integrated support weapons based upon operational experience in Iraq was published by the Army and the approach was adopted throughout the British infantry and Royal Marines.