Richard Westley OBE MC

Richard Westley served with the Sultan of Oman’s Armed Forces and having commissioned from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers. He served in Northern Ireland, the Falkland Islands and Berlin before undertaking a surveillance role in Northern Ireland. He was chosen to be a company commander and Chief Instructor at RMA Sandhurst until 9/11 when he was posted to Afghanistan on operations with US Forces and then with 3 Commando Brigade. He was also deployed to South America, Cote d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone and Beijing. He was an instructor at the Joint Services Staff College, before being chosen to command the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment. He then led his Battle Group in Helmand Province before promotion to Colonel and becoming the commander of all operational training for the Armed Forces. In 1996 Richard was decorated with a Military Cross for gallantry and operational leadership in Bosnia. In 2007 he was awarded an operational OBE for unswerving leadership and vision during a tour of Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Richard now runs a wide range of public and private sector programmes and sits on two international boards. He lectures globally on leadership and in 2016 co-authored “Operation Insanity”, which charts the defence of Gorazde in Bosnia. His latest book “Business Leadership Under Fire”, co-written with Pepyn Dinandt, was published in February 2022.