Steven Windmill

Appointed in 2001 as a Lieutenant Colonel to command, lead, train and prepare men and women to go to war.The Territorial Army (TA) is part of Britain's reserve forces; providing fighting support to the Regular Army. Led by 105 Lieutenant Colonels, the TA has 38,000 people employed full and part time.

• A long-term second and parallel career (started1981) conducted mostly at weekends and evenings as a means of keeping fit, developing leadership skills and having an active social/business network; now working with 300+ senior business/TA officers and 800+ defence/MOD staff. Attend winter/summer royal balls, Queens garden parties, embassy/consulate events and much else in evenings and weekends.

Developments and Military Strategies

• Successfully commanded 450 military staff in the Netherlands, winning international war-games. Managed 4,500 staff within 16 Air Assault Brigade as J3 Operations Officer;

• Held J4 Logistics appointment for two years, successful coordinating fuel, food, water and medical supplies supporting 38 helicopters, 400+ vehicles, a mobile hospital and 8,300 men and women;
• One of few Reservists to hold sought after NATO appointment as the Liaison Officer [Ambassador] representing 3* Corps Commander to US 2* Armoured Division;
• Successfully led TA element of pan-Army “Review of Soldier Career Training & Education” (ROSCTE), reducing war-related casualty/injuries with renewed focus upon skills needed for Iraq and Afghanistan;
• Spearheading development of a national IT skills-tracking system (Forge), linked to ARTD, Schools, A&SDs, DETS(A), Land and all TA units to Company/Squadron level; recording the delivery of individual and collective training/skills;
• Led Army international desk (Whitehall) for Central & Eastern Europe (CEE / CIS nations); managing all Defence Advisors attached to 59 embassies and consulates; successfully introduced new secure communications system. Reviewed global travel budget and reduced costs by £1m pa;
• Successfully arranged military diplomatic missions to/from the UK, organised training of CEE ‘foreign’ military personnel, hosted high-ranking USA, GE, Chinese and Nepalese officials during official trips to the UK, and arranged bilateral military staff exchanges;
• Agreed ‘Defence Offset’ funding formula with DESO and various Military Attachés and consulates to support Army ‘International Defence Training’ (IDT(A)) costs with 23 CEE nations.

Head-hunted to Executive Board position vacant for 18 months due unusual complexity of role. A £37 million pa management consultancy and training business, specializing in business turnarounds andre-engineering (increase sales/ decrease costs), commercial sales dealing with planning, valuation, restructuring, regulation, M&A and corporate disposals, vocational training and economic development/forecasting; part of a £1.8 Billion pa vocational training and consultancy group employing 12,000 staff. The local company employed 120 staff and 130 outsourced trainers and advisors.

• Employed to plan, predict and evaluate a complex web of re-engineering, M&A and government programmes commercially delivered under contract.
• My various job titles included ‘Head of Internal Consultancy’ and both ‘Chief Knowledge Officer’ and ‘Chief Economist’ for consultancy services.

Business Leadership & Operations Management

• Led 60-strong team of professional business consultants, research analysts and economic advisors; achieved national reputation amongst government and regional business leaders for analytical and prognosticative services. Wrote economic development ‘Master Plan’ for eight counties/cities in SE England;
• Created £750m 25yr PPP/PFI plan for NHS Trust (Stoke Mandeville Hospital); member of project board;
• Created £25m IT ‘trainee tracking’ system; saved £6.2m pa on £256m sales with payback in 4yrs;

New Business Development & Marketing

• Won £256m pa sales contract for 6yrs; researched requirements, wrote regional sales plan 4yrs;
• Increased local sales 32% from £28m to £37m sales pa, when directing £2m marketing budget for 2yrs;

Key Engagements & Relationships

• Achieved sought after membership of “Six Wise Men” as a full member of the UK governments’ ‘National Resource Targeting Committee’ under both Tory and Labour governments (1996-2000);
• Advised regional CEOs of TEC network; identified development targets for the CEOs of 23 local authorities, 17 universities and 43 FE Colleges annually for six years;
• Enviably appointed to national Business Link ‘Advisory Board’ and DfES ‘Marketing Board’.

International Consultancy Service: Brought in to provide strategic and operational rigour to genius Chairman / rainmaker overwhelmed with opportunity arising from global network of national political and business leaders. Business acumen, leverage extensive contacts in ‘waste into energy’, photovoltaic, IT (computing), health / probiotic foods and defence: channelling knowledge and value.

• Primary driving force behind growth of this boutique dealmaker/rainmaker firm specializing in conceptualising opportunity and introducing and arranging deals between national leaders and commercial enterprises; targeted towards Defence, Homeland Security, manufacturing, energy and hospitality industries; hold full P&L accountability;
• Managed all aspects of internal and external operations - new business development, sales and marketing, IT, financial planning / reporting, operating / capital budgeting, customer relations; providing managerial oversight to large, complex engagements;

• Currently seconded to UK Ministry of Defence to energise the evolution of a cross-government, MOD led, cultural advisor programme supporting operations in war zones, sponsored by the Prime Minister.

Business Leadership & Operations Management

• Authored and executed business plan, built organizational structure; contributing vision and leadership;
• Contracted as CEO to create EU’s first commercial ‘supercomputer’, achieving 120 teraflops power, used Apple hardware and software with cloud configuration minimising infrastructure and running costs; accessible in 61 cities across 19 nations;
• Assembled team of consultants with direct experience in marketing, branding, risk and product management with industry expertise in construction, Defence, Homeland Security, banking and hospitality;

New Business Development & Marketing

• Contracted to launch extremely low cost concentrated photovoltaic product as ‘Chief Operations Officer’ and prepared £20m offering prospectus for UK and EU investment markets;
• Led successful $300m negotiations with Albanian officials for creation of hotel, casino and racecourse with integrated marina;
• Contracted with Chinese/Beijing firm to export bean-concentrate health food into US and UK; promoted waste-into-energy into China (26 cities) and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia;
• Negotiating Israeli laser mine detector for sale to UK and US forces. Currently arranging tests for mine clearance in Balkans;

Key Engagements & Relationships

• Personally targeted and secured 30% of firm’s clients. Clients include Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, President of Albania, NATO, HP, Microsoft, WFEL Ltd, MOD, Home Office, DTI, NATO, US State Dept, Pentagon, others;
• Determined market opportunity, go-to-market strategy and development priorities; realigned focus of marketing and development plans to maximize perceived value / willingness-to-pay;
• Seconded to NATO (Iraq) to develop 16-nation support plan to buttress local forces as US withdraws.

Contracted to save £18 Billion MOD turnaround programme: this programme was failing due to lack of senior cooperation and poor focus on risk; planned and delivered 51 M&A projects dealing with all planning, valuation, restructuring, regulation and integration leading to combined privatisation and outsourcing PPP / PFI programme; wrote ITN, undertook convergence and took offering prospectus to global markets; obtained BAFO of £14 Billion offer from preferred bidder, achieving £4 Billion savings.

Business Leadership & Operations Management

• Successfully integrated complex mosaic of antagonistic stakeholders reluctant to lose authority and resources arising from integration of cherished traditions; achieved by mix of diplomatic negotiation, promotion of benefits and enforced behaviour.
• Developed multidimensional financial, operational and reputational risk assessment tool for high value programmes/finance; triangulating risk, probability and impact, underpinned by Monte Carlo analysis
• Rationalised 51 replicated training sites and functions into six. Managed and coordinated 700 programme staff (mix of civil servant, senior military & consultants) with Whitehall based PMO of 23;
• n Chaired influential £2 Billion ‘Risk and Change Management’ Board; successfully created change plans, influenced/ shaped progress; identified and managed pre-close risk portfolio of estate, FM and plant;

New Business Development & Marketing

• Led successful £1.8 Bn negotiations to fund international/3rd party ‘Income Generation’ needs with BAE Systems, Raytheon, QinetiQ, Carillion, Lufthansa, Thales, VT, Serco, Pakistan, China, Saudi governments;

Key Engagements & Relationships

• Negotiated with DCDS(Pers), to obtain Treasury & Downing Street permissions to commit MOD to £14 Billion spend;
• Achieved £1 Billion design, build and FM services agreement with bidders, reducing FM costs by 18%.

Employed to generate and sell turnaround solutions to ailing business and then appoint and lead project teams. LPC (£12m pa sales) was acquired by Sun Alliance (a £70 Billion pa financial services firm) to help protect own revenue by supporting ailing clients or investments during the recession in early 1990s. I was employed to meet clients, quickly assess their problem, develop a turnaround solution with a high probability of success, convince the firm of the solution, contract and then assign, brief and monitor field consultants.

• The senior ‘Trouble-shooter’ and ‘Rainmaker’ within international turnaround consultancy; directed (70 staff) turnaround/strategic help for SME & FTSE firms, invested businesses and clients: maintained £12m pa sales during recession; saved £64m for Sun Alliance from turnaround of clients/ investments;
• CEO for subsidiary of BP Nutrient; turnaround £30m t/o, £2m losses reversed to £2m profit <90>
• Led privatisation of 2 DfES offices, creating TECs with £55m sales led on strategy & market research;
• Raised £122m (VC and soft loan) for 2 companies for pan-European freight handling centre in Brussels;

 New Business Development and Strategies

• Managed a well-crafted turnaround strategy for clients to quickly achieve breakeven; typically involved removing costs, restructuring finances and redefining strategic objectives – often calling for building a stronger management team, making acquisitions or devising an exit strategy;
• Used data-intensive strategic and financial review of underperforming business streams; usually re-organized to preserve shareholder value by hiring new management team / shrink to profitability;
• Did not typically/instantly recommend across-the-board cost cuts or the elimination of all discretionary spending. Instead, investigated where and how a company could invest strategically or redefine its relationships to decrease spending and/or increase sales.

The MBA at Henley was not like going back to school. But equally it is probably unlike any kind of education I have experienced in my business or military life. I wanted change, and wanted it quickly, via an intensive MBA programme.

This MBA was ideal for me, as I needed a change of direction  in order to accelerate my ambitions. I worked in three nations on company-based projects in high-performance learning groups. It particularly suits consultancy interests as it was a course to 'fast track' ambitious and internationally-focused executives.

This was an intensive MBA programme, that  constantly emulated the work of a senior manager working within a team – my fellow Full-Time MBA participants – of mature and experienced managers. The leading faculty staff headed up high performance learning groups, working on typically realistic issues facing today's organisations.

The MBA learning was experientially based, real world applicable and discussed, debated and tested in class. I came away with experience that I could immediately and practically apply back in the business world.

My MBA major  was in Finance, Economics, Management and Leadership

Birkbeck School of Philosophy is one of the most distinguished centres of philosophy research in the United Kingdom. The School was highly rated in the last Research Assessment Exercise. The Leiter Report, which ranks the research standing of all philosophy schools worldwide, placed the Birkbeck School fourth equal in the whole of the UK, an outstanding result for a relatively small school.The School aims to give its undergraduates a philosophical education of the very highest academic quality. By participating for yourself in the great philosophical debates, I developed skills of rigorous reasoning; by study, analysis and criticism of the great works of philosophy, ancient and modern, we students developed our capacity to make reasoned judgements for ourselves. Philosophy is an ancient, noble and beautiful discipline.