Chris founded Needhams 1834 Ltd in 1996 and today is regarded as one of the leading Business Continuity consultants in the market. A highly effective communicator, he has led many major national and international projects, often in the glare of media scrutiny.

 

Chris specialises in:

• Business Continuity strategy
• Crisis Management training
• Design and delivery of exercises

Over the past 12 years he has advised, trained and exercised numerous executive teams from leading public companies and various government departments.

Prior to founding Needhams, Chris served for 10 years in the British Army and worked in the UK and overseas in the private security industry.

Chris is a Member of the Business Continuity Institute, holds an MSc from the University of Leicester and is qualified by the British Psychological Society to conduct Psychometric testing.

Patrick has extensive experience of managing people and technology in a range of challenging environments. His approach to Business Continuity combines his practical experience of dealing with general management, technology and security issues with the latest thinking on Operational Risk, Crisis Management and Disaster Recovery.

 

Patrick specialises in:

• Crisis Management training
• Business Continuity training
• Statistical modelling

Since joining Needhams in 2005, he has advised a wide range of clients on their Business Continuity planning and successfully developed and delivered a number of Business Continuity and Crisis Management training courses.

Prior to Needhams, Patrick had a varied career including serving in the British Army; performing a number of roles in the engineering industry and , most recently, working in the private security industry.

Patrick is a Member of the Business Continuity Institute, holds an MA from Cambridge University, an MSc from St Andrews University and an MBA from IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland.

Giles has 10 years of risk and project management experience in a number of leadership and team roles and is currently in the closing stages of a Masters in Risk, Crisis and Disaster Management. 

 

Giles specialises in:

• Exercise planning and delivery
• Crisis Management training
• Business Continuity planning

Since joining Needhams Giles has been very active in delivering ‘Project Gold Standard’ exercises to Local Authorities and other ‘Cat 1 Responders.’ 

 

Prior to joining Needhams he gained experience in the finance sector with Goldman Sachs Asset Management and served as a Royal Marines Officer.  

 

He has a BSc (Hons) in Geography and Environmental Science from the University of Surrey and is a qualified PRINCE 2 Project Manager.

Tim joined Needhams in May 2007, bringing with him extensive experience of leading and managing teams in extremely challenging environments.

 

Tim specialises in:

• Crisis Management planning
• Emergency planning
• Training and mentoring Crisis Management teams

Prior to joining Needhams Tim spent 8 years in the British Army as an infantry officer, the majority of which was spent on operations in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Cyprus, Afghanistan and Iraq.

More recently he spent a year working for an executive search firm in the Private Banking field, gaining a broad understanding of the financial markets.

Tim holds a BSc (Hons) in Politics from the University of Plymouth and is currently studying for an MSc in Risk, Crisis and Disaster Management at Leicester University.

Katherine has extensive strategic and operational HR experience gained at a senior level within several industries and the public sector.

 

She specialises in:

• Selection of Crisis Management personnel
• Analysis of Crisis Management team dynamics
• Human factors in Business Continuity planning

Since joining Needhams in 2004, Katherine has helped a number of clients to deal with the issues concerning care of staff and stakeholders after an incident, including Post Traumatic Stress planning. She has also developed and delivered a range of Crisis Management courses.

Katherine is a practising business psychologist, a certificated NLP practitioner and counsellor, and is qualified in business performance coaching as well as in a wide range of psychometrics to British Psychological Society Level B standard.

Katherine holds a BA from Keele University, an MSc in Organisational Behaviour from Birkbeck College, London, and is currently undertaking Doctoral research into "Effective Strategic Leadership of Multi-Agency Critical Incident Response Teams" at Portsmouth University.

Ian is a highly experienced Business Continuity Consultant who has over 25 years experience in Crisis Management. He has worked with a wide range of organisations in the public and private sector; identifying and mitigating hazards and protecting key staff from unnecessary risk.

 

Ian specialises in:

• Physical security planning
• Executive security training
• Business Continuity planning

He previously worked for The National Crime Squad where his role was to advise companies who had suffered criminal attacks, product contaminations and kidnapping of senior executives.

He has also held a number of key posts throughout the Avon and Somerset Constabulary, including various roles in the Criminal Investigation Department and Critical Incident Manager in central Bristol.

Ian is a member of the Business Continuity Institute and holds a Diploma in Business Continuity Management from Coventry University.

IT Disaster Recovery is critical to an organisation in the face of an event. Matthew’s expertise in developing bespoke IT solutions, combined with an accountancy background, make him ideally qualified to advise on practical, mission critical Disaster Recovery solutions.

Running a small discreet team Matthew can advise on and/or design the shape of the Disaster Recovery strategy. His track record of implementing IT solutions makes him uniquely qualified to determine cost effective and pragmatic Disaster Recovery solutions.

Matthew’s skills can also be used to good effect in the negotiation of contracts with Disaster Recovery providers to ensure that the best workable deal for the organisation is achieved.

As a consequence of his work with trade and employer organisations, local and central government service and time spent in the Royal Naval Reserve, Paul brings extensive managerial and political skills to the field of Business Continuity Management.

Paul has spent much of his career as a policy analyst, lobbying and liaising within the political environment and looking at policy risk from a legal and legislative perspective. He is used to working with the widest range of stakeholder groups.

Much of Paul's experience has been gained with industries that are heavily regulated, including the environment, agriculture, chemical production and financial services, where his exercise planning, preparation and facilitating skills have been much used and appreciated. His legal education is a further valuable asset and this has been demonstrated in his recent work on mapping the ways in which the law impacts the various stages of an incident.

Phil is an exceptional asset to the Needhams team and has proved his value to clients on the occasions when he has participated in Crisis Management training.

Currently a Church of England Vicar in Manchester Phil is also on the Critical Incident Response Team at Manchester airport. His social and pastoral sensitivity, combined with previous operational military experience, offers Needhams’ clients manageable solutions in planning for the care of those affected in an incident.

His work on Crisis Management has been mainly for central Government departments and his commentaries on the normalisation of societies disrupted by a crisis have influenced the planning and policies of those departments.