Consulting

I'm an experienced crisis management and travel security consultant, having worked in the field for 22 years.

12 years ago, I founded Spartan9. As the founder and principal consultant, I've been privileged to support some of the world's leading companies and non-government organisations.

My focus is building resilient organisations that are able to operate effectively in uncertain times. I do this in two impactful ways:

1. I help improve the competence of crisis management teams by designing and delivering realistic crisis simulations exercises. I've developed a unique crisis team performance management framework to help me objectively rate crisis team performance and provide meaningful feedback for improvement.
2. I enable organisations to operate in uncertain risk environments by helping them to develop robust contingency plans. I've developed comprehensive plans for several of the major hotspots in the region and continue to support organisations with planning, consulting and training services.

In addition, I run training workshops for security managers and crisis team members.

Writing

I share my knowledge and experience in the fields of crisis management and travel security through books and articles.

You can find the full range of my books on the Spartan9 website.

I've also written a lot about travel security at Dangerous Travels and about security consulting at The Business of Security.

From time to time I also write on Medium.

Bag Design

In 2023, I started a new project to design and manufacture bags under the brand Station XV. Our first range of bags went on sale in April 2024.

Station XV bags have been purposefully designed for individuals looking for discreet and hard wearing gear for urban environments and travel.

You can follow our progress on Instagram and Threads.

Applications

I build useful applications relating to my professional expertise and interests. In recent years, I've built the following applications:

Tenacio. A project management tool designed for obsessive individuals.

Whistler. A simple and secure whistleblowing application for organisations.

Incident Manager. The first application for incident management teams focused on team performance.

Exercise Manager. Currently under development...

Photography

I take photos during my travels.

I post some of these photos to my Instagram account. Embracing constraints, all the photos in this account are unedited mono photos taken with my iPhone.

In 2022, my photos from Syria (not taken on an iPhone) were exhibited in the Leica gallery in Singapore. I also deliver 'Photography in Challenging Environments' workshops for Leica.

Misc

I travel a lot for work and occasionally for short breaks. At last tally, I've travelled to 57 countries. Some countries I've travelled to dozens of times, particularly those in the Asia region.

I run the 'One of Things' website, where I propose one beautiful and useful thing for each category of things.

When at home, I listen to vinyl records, read paper books, and play the guitar and piano.

I used to climb mountains, and have climbed in New Zealand, Peru and Russia. These days, I prefer trekking in places like Japan and Switzerland.

If you'd like to connect, please reach out.

Thanks for stopping by.