Tell us about yourself
I am a motorsport enthusiast, a keen runner, a lifelong sailor and massive fan of Crimson Tide movie (1995). My years of service in the Royal Navy Submarine Service – 22 years to be exact, including 12 years as Weapons Officer, was a time that helped shaped me as an individual and certainly prepared me for my current career path.
Tell us about your journey at MASS
I joined MASS straight after leaving the Navy in 2023. I initially joined our Strategic Systems team before finally joining our Digital Services team as Head of Delivery. I have to say it’s been a great experience from my point of view; I’ve had the opportunity to learn and grow into my role especially considering I didn’t have an IT background. Working with people like Jack (Stark) and Elliot (Carter) has been a great pleasure. They made me understand that despite not being from an IT background, there’s a lot within my experiences that can add real value to what MASS does.
What is the biggest challenge facing the IT services in the defence?
The demand for cloud computing within the defence industry is growing by the day, especially because of how transformative it can be from an operational point of view. As much as that is great, when you’re dealing with classified systems, there are other requirements to consider, such as assured security and trust that these systems aren’t susceptible to being easily breached by malicious attackers. This is where I believe the defence industry faces its biggest challenge – Can we work smarter and quicker, yet maintain high security of data and processes?
Considering the recent UK SDR and geopolitical tensions, what role can MASS’ secure IT managed services play?
The Strategic Defence Review (SDR) 2025 represents opportunity for MASS in my opinion. Of course, we’d prefer that these tensions don’t exist, but the fact of the matter is they do. From our perspective, it’s about being innovative in how we bring together new technology and our people’s expertise to deliver highly secure digital solutions. Whether that’s enabling digital transformation or providing secure classified IT managed services including secure collaboration environments, we’ll always aim to deliver first in class services that enables our customers focus on doing what they do best.
MASS has been a key player in defence for over 40 years providing secure digital services to defence, how does it stay relevant in this modern age?
I think it’s a combination of doing what we do well while not being afraid to embrace new and emerging technologies. For us, it’s about staying one step ahead of the curve through research, being able to anticipate future challenges the industry is likely to face and build that into our solutions. I also think having a secure by design approach to all our offerings and our ability to be flexible and agile make us a trusted partner for our customers.
Find out more about our digital services.
