Who we are

MAJ GEN LAMONT KIRKLAND CBE – CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Founder and CEO of Team Forces. Retired from the Army after a 37 year career which culminated in commanding the Army’s 4th Division. Serving with the Green Howards regiment, Lamont saw active service in Northern Ireland and the Balkans. An active sportsman, Lamont represented the Army & Hampshire in rugby and athletics and latterly was Chairman of Army Rugby, Army Winter Sports and the President of Army Boxing. Today he enjoys skiing, hill walking, mountain biking, game shooting and rides a Harley.

LT COL TIM WAKEFIELD – CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER

Also a founding member, Tim is the primary interface between Team Forces, the Sports and Sponsors; ranging from business development and managing sponsor and sport portfolios through to charity matters, event support and contributing to promotions and media. A bit of everything! Tim has participated and supported all levels of sport during his army career in Germany and the UK. With a former focus on winter sports, corps and army tennis and hockey it has involved responsibilities ranging from organising competitions, events and fundraising to competing, officiating and publicity so a good grounding to help the current team. Tim left the Army in 2012 after 34 years in the Royal Engineers.

Contact Tim

DANNY FLACK – DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL IMPACT

Danny has been a supporter of Team Forces and wider Forces Sports Charities for many years. Having assisted with Team Forces first Social Impact Report in 2021 he has joined the team to help plan, scale and promote our increasing Social Impact and to develop our reporting of the objective benefits and return on investment that we all experience as a result. With a background in UK public sector acquisition and tendering he has worked with HMG and industries of all sizes. Team Forces will foster an even more collaborative approach to the development of the Team Forces Social Value proposition to the benefit of those we support in their endeavours and of course – our sponsors.

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GRAHAM GODLEY-MCAVOY – CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Graham Godley-McAvoy’s management career has spanned 27 years, mainly working in the automotive industry with brands such as Ford, BMW, Audi and Volkswagen. Having previously held senior general management roles, in 2015 Graham decided to develop his career to specialise in commercial and financial management, joining a network of Social Entrepreneurs to solve some of society’s complex social and environmental issues through innovation. In 2017, Graham achieved Chartered Manager status and was admitted as a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute. Graham has now brought his expertise to Team Forces, providing commercial guidance, corporate governance and financial management.

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KERRY GODLEY – EVENTS MANAGER

Joined Team Forces in February 2016 communicating with sponsors and sporting associations, managing their accounts and administering the “back office” functions. Kerry has a first class honours degree in Event Management with a background in office management, working in both private industries (legal, travel and tourism) and public sectors (NHS, academic institutions).

Contact Kerry

CATHARINE MOSS – COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING MANAGER

Joined Team Forces in October 2014 to help with publications and to promote the organisation through its social media channels. Her technical skills are used to keep the organisations social media, website, publications and marketing materials up to date. Catharine has been an Army wife for over 30 years and is a freelance graphic designer/editor. She sits on the Army Winter Sports Association executive committee.

Contact Catharine

The Foundation is governed by a dedicated board of trustees. The board is a mix of serving and recently retired senior officers, along with representatives from industry. The Chair of the Trustees is Major General Rob Anderton-Brown and he is supported by the Chief Executive, Major General Lamont Kirkland CBE.

Chair:  Major General Rob Anderton-Brown

On commissioning into the Royal Signals in 1994, Major General Robin Anderton-Brown was posted to HQ 4 Armoured Brigade and deployed on UN and NATO led operations in Bosnia. In the rank of Captain he served as Operations Officer in 216 (Parachute) Signal Squadron in support of 5 Airborne Brigade; Adjutant at 2 SignalRegiment and as the G3 Plans Staff Officer with 12 Mechanized Brigade.

On promotion, he completed an MA in Defence Technology followed by the Advance Command and Staff Course (ACSC) at Shrivenham. His initial SO2 Staff tour was within the MoD Head Office Capability Directorate with responsibility for a number of the Defence’s core telecommunication systems including FALCON. He deployed to Afghanistan in 2006 with 16 Air Assault Brigade in command of 216 (Parachute) Signal Squadron and returned for a second tour in 2008. On promotion to Lieutenant Colonel, he was part of a small UK contingent based in Washington embedded within a US cross-government assessment team working for US Central Command. He subsequently returned to the MoD Head Office as the Military Assistant to the Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (Capability). After Regimental Command, and in the rank of Colonel, he attended theHigher Command and Staff Course and took post as the Deputy Head for Joint Forces Command C4ISR Joint
User with responsibilities for Defence C4ISR Policy and Force Development. On promotion to 1 Star rank, he commanded 11 Signal and West Midlands Brigade; comprised of 11 Regular and Reservist Regiments, the Brigade provided Communication Information Systems (CIS) for the Army’s deployable formations – from Division to Brigade, UK National Communications and he was the Joint Military Commander for the West Midlands. He then took post as the Head of Capability for Special Projects within Joint Forces Command in August 2017. Promoted to Major General in September 2020, he become the Director for the Multi-Domain Integration Change Programme within UK Strategic Command prior to taking post as the Director of Capability for UK Strategic Command from March 2021.

A champion of sport within the military, Major General Anderton-Brown is the Chair of the Royal Signals Games Club. He is a keen fencer, having competed at Combined Services level, though involvement now is in his capacity as President of the Army Fencing Union.

Major General Anderton-Brown is married to Samantha and they have two daughters (Sophie and Lucy) both studying at University. Away from work he enjoys time with his family, road cycling, running and slowly renovating a house in France.

Major General (Retd) Jon Cole CB OBE

Jonathan (Jon) Cole is the BT Defence Director, operating as a part of BT Government. He leads the Profit and Loss account, which includes business development, sales, major bids, service operations and contract management. His business unit currently provides services to Ministry of Defence through Defence Fixed Telecommunications System (DFTS) and Integrated User Services (IUS) and a range of other contracts that are crucial to Defence’s role. Jon is excited to be leading his team at a time of great change for Defence. He is committed to working with his customers and partners to help deliver a modern, secure digital backbone that users can exploit. BT is a trusted partner with world-leading technology products and services that can assist Defence in many ways in pursuit of the national interest.

Prior to joining BT he completed a 35 year career in the British Army, culminating at Major General as the Army’s Director for Information, which included being Chief Information Officer at Army Board and ExCo. He had a wide range of operational, policy and acquisition roles, predominantly in Digital & Information Technology, Intelligence and Security. He holds the honours of CB and OBE for his service. A Chartered Engineer with the Institute of Engineering and Technology, he has a BEng(Hons) in Electronics, an MSc in Defence Technology, and an MA in International Security and Strategy.

He is an active participant in a range of activities including road cycling, hillwalking, running, surfing, paddleboarding and skiing – all of which he shares with his wife and his 4 (now adult) children. He is a member of his local church, and he is also active in support of charity work, predominantly running crazy distances for the Gurkha Welfare Trust and also as a Trustee of Team Forces Foundation.

Brigadier Richard Dennis OBE

Commissioned into the Royal Hampshire Regiment in 1978, he spent the first 6 years of his service in a variety of posts at Regimental Duty serving in Germany, Northern Ireland, South Georgia and the Falkland Islands. Having been an Academy 1st XI hockey player at Sandhurst he continued to play at a variety of levels throughout this period while also keeping his hand in at rugby and making a brief – but illustrious – appearance on the BAOR alpine ski circuit as OIC of the battalion Snow Queen hut for two seasons and captain of the battalion’s downhill team. On posting to Hong Kong in the mid-80s he found the hockey (and the skiing) non-existent but the 7’s rugby scene was flourishing and he played for the British Forces Hong Kong Flying Kukris for two seasons. Subsequent postings to BAOR as a company commander with 1 STAFFORDS and as COS 20 Armoured Brigade allowed him to qualify as a ski instructor and share his passion for winter sports with his soldiers and their families. In more recent years as CO 2 PWRR, Commander 15 (NE) Brigade in York and as Director of Infantry he has taken every opportunity to get involved in the management, policy development and general betterment of Army sport. Whilst serving he has held a number of appointments including Chairman of Infantry Hockey, Commodore Infantry Sailing, Chairman of the Army Rifle Association and Vice Chairman of the Army Winter Sports Association.

Mr Andrew McMorran

Andrew has built his career on successful customer engagement. He has served on the Boards of several of the world’s leading integrated creative communication agencies (Edelman, Ogilvy & Mather, OgilvyOne), managing large account teams of diverse skills across multiple international markets. He is well-connected, entrepreneurial and commercially astute, making him a long-standing trusted counsel to senior agency and brand-owner marketers. As a communications and campaign planning professional with an award-winning track record in traditional and digital integrated brand communications, he has delivered consistent growth for the agencies he has led and the blue chip clients he advises. He has a flair for client relationships and new business development strategy. Independently he is a communications adviser to the former Head of the Army and Chief of the General Staff, and is a partner at Ethos VO, a collaborative consulting business founded to solve social problems for the benefit of business and society. An integrated communications thinker, he is a respected expert in the field of Sponsorship Strategy and Partnership Marketing programmes. He has founded two successful new agency businesses and is a regular speaker on the effective leverage of commercial partnerships in sports (Olympics, FIFA, WTA, UEFA, IMOCA), entertainment and broadcast properties (TV, radio and film), culture (The Arts) and cause (UNESCO).

Maj Gen Neil Sexton CB

Maj Gen Neil Sexton was commissioned into the Army Air Corps in 1990. After a cavalry attachment including The Gulf War, he completed the Army Pilots Course and was awarded his ‘Wings’ in December 1991. He has commanded Army or tri-Service aviation at every rank up to brigadier. He has flown operationally in Northern Ireland (1992), commanding 659 Squadron in Iraq (2003), and in Afghanistan, where he was Commanding Officer of the Joint Helicopter Force and later Commander of the UK Joint Aviation Group (2007 and 2012). He was Deputy Commander of the Joint Helicopter Command and the professional head of Army Aviation from 2013-15.

On the Staff, Maj Gen Sexton has been an instructor at both The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and the Joint Services Command and Staff College. He is now in his fourth communications role, having been appointed Director Army Engagement & Communications in November 2018.

A keen glider pilot and sailor, Maj Gen Sexton is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Assistant Colonel Commandant AAC, Patron of the Glider Pilot Regiment Society, President of Army Gliding and Commodore of Army Sailing.

Warrant Officer Sara Catterall MBE

Warrant Officer Sara Catterall, Royal Air Force (RAF) has recently been appointed as Command Senior Enlisted Leader for UK Strategic Command, an organization responsible for commanding and generating joint capabilities across all three Single Services and setting the framework for joint enablers, including Intelligence and Cyber, the Directorate Special Forces, the Defence Academy and the Development Concepts and Doctrine Centre.

She joined the Royal Air Force in 1995 as an Intelligence Analyst and over her career has served in a variety of Joint Defence roles and operational intelligence specialisations. Previous appointments include CSEL for NATO’s Allied Air Command, from Sept 2019 and through both the Afghan refugee crisis and NATO response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, where she was also NATO Gender Advisor to the Command Group.

Promoted to WO in July 2014 she was initially posted to an OF-3 post at the NATO Combined Air Operations Centre in Uedem, Germany, where she was the Baltic Air Policing Liaison Officer and more recently as Station Warrant Officer (RSM) at RAF College Cranwell, the spiritual home of the Royal Air Force.

She has deployed extensively from the Falkland Islands to Oman, including a number of tours in Afghanistan providing direct support to Special Forces and Air operations. She has been fortunate to receive a number of Commendations; the highlights include a Chief of Air Staff 4* Commendation for support to the Yemen mission, a 3* Commanders Joint Operation Commendation in recognition for intelligence support to tactical operations in Afghanistan, whilst deployed with 617Sqn and a 2* Air Officer Commanding for support to the Syria mission. She is committed to enlisted development and the continued wellbeing of our Force and has recently been awarded Member of the British Empire for her efforts to create inclusion for operational effect and a Meritorious Service Medal.

Lt Col Scott Wallace RM

Over a decade’s experience of disability sport within the military setting (Wounded Warrior, Adapted Snow Warrior, Invictus Games, H4H Sports Recovery) and international elite sports (GB Paralympics, South Africa Wheelchair Basketball, Basketball Scotland). Advanced Level 3 International Wheelchair Basketball coach with considerable experience of single and multi-sport global tournaments and events, including delivering youth development programmes. The RN’s Inclusive, Adaptive and Disability Sports Officer, as well as an active member of the RN and Interservices’ Paddlesports community. Enjoys and passionate about the outdoors including its role in social prescribing. Experienced in organising and participating in both summer and winter AT including qualified Ski-Touring Leader and Instructor.

Mr Graham Beal

Maj Sally Orange

We first met Sally when she founded and led ‘Mind over Matter’ the first ever female, wounded, injured and sick (WIS) cycling team on a Race Across America (over 3,000 miles) which Team Forces proudly supported. Sally is an amazing individual who has a passion for helping others and we are super proud that she will be supporting Team Forces in her uniquely fruity style.

Sally joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1998 whilst studying at University to become a physiotherapist. She was deployed on Operation Herrick in 2011 and has played a role in the recovery and ongoing rehabilitation of countless personnel over her 21 year career.

When diagnosed with her own illness, she drew inspiration from those she had treated and made the decision not to let this define her. Taking part in the 2016 Invictus Games played a large part in her road to recovery and she said of the experience ‘ it was incredible to see so many ex-patients I’d treated over the years overcome huge barriers to be taking part but also fantastic to be around a community of people who had an understanding of the difficulties I personally was facing.’

Sally is hugely committed to charity fundraising and inspired by her surname she completed her first marathon dressed as an orange in a bid to show that sport and exercise doesn’t have to be about being the fastest or the fittest, but about having fun and making others smile. Since then she has completed over 50 marathons (including one on every continent) dressed as different pieces of fruit and holds Guinness World Records for the fastest marathon dressed as a piece of fruit as well as another for running as a nut!

Sally’s zest for life is not confined to running as she has been known to stay fresh by climbing Kilimanjaro … dressed as a bunch of grapes; completed Iron-man triathlons … dressed as an apple and lemon; running/cycling 100 miles across a frozen lake in Mongolia in -50 degree temperatures … dressed as a chili pepper. Add to that running as a banana in Afghanistan and a pear in Antarctica and we can see her love of sport (and fruit) drives her ever onwards and upwards.

Sally has now taken to applying her talents to mentoring, educating and organising, bringing inspiration to a variety of audiences including a series of events aimed at children. These interactive workshops promote health and well-being through physical activity and healthy eating, dispelling myths on mental health and engender confidence, by telling her own story with honesty, humility and humour.

Captain Preet Chandi MBE

Team Forces has supported Polar Preet on both of her Antarctic expeditions and we are very proud that she has agreed to become one of our Ambassadors.

In November 2022, Chandi set off on her second solo expedition from Hercules Inlet, with the aim of becoming the first woman to cross Antarctica solo and unsupported, hoping to reach Reedy Glacier within 75 days. On 20 January 2023, it was announced that Chandi had broken the world record for the longest solo and unsupported polar expedition, having travelled 868 miles (1,397 km) up to that point. On her previous expedition in January 2022, British Army Medical Officer Preet Chandi, or ‘Polar Preet,’ became the first woman of colour to ski solo to the South Pole taking 40 days to complete the 700-mile trek.

Army Captain Preet Chandi is based at a Medical Regiment in the North West of England where her primary role is as a physiotherapist, she’s also the medical lead for the Army Rugby 7s team and occasionally works with the Army Engagement team.

Although Preet has a day job, her first love is adventure, and pushing mental and physical boundaries. As well as playing tennis competitively for the Army she is training to become a Nordic ski instructor. She has hiked and climbed in Kenya, Morocco, Mexico, Nepal, Bolivia, Peru, Iceland and the Alps and last year she completed the gruelling Marathon des Sables – a six-day, 251km ultra-marathon in the Saharan desert.  Preet was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 Birthday Honours. Another huge honour was that on 26 October 2022 HRH Catherine, The Princess of Wales became Preet’s expedition Patron.

Team Army – ten years on

[Speech made by Maj Gen Lamont Kirkland CBE, Chief Executive Officer at our 10th Anniversary Celebration in February 2022 – event delayed by a year due to COVID-19]

Good evening ladies & gentlemen. We are here to celebrate 10 years of Team Army so allow me to fill in a bit of the history.

Like all good ideas, legend has it that Team Army was an idea conceived in a bar over a beer. It was around 2010, when conversations took place at the Army skiing championships about how to improve sport sponsorship which had become inefficient and unproductive.

At the time, each sport fought for its own share of the cake and defence suppliers were being approached multiple times by different sports. As a result, nearly all sponsorship was flowing to the high profile sports, and virtually nothing was going to minor sports who also had legitimate funding requirements. It was also difficult to build enduring relationships with sponsors due to the high turnover in sport officials.

Furthermore, it was clear that under the new UK Bribery Act, the practice of senior serving officers in acquisition appointments asking defence suppliers for funds was increasingly inappropriate and was a risk to reputation for both parties. Sponsors said they would prefer to have a portfolio covering several sports and an account manager to be their direct interface – who would not rotate every 18 months. In return, they would be prepared to commit larger sums once a year through a single approved supplier. They were also keen to see some of their funds go towards minor sports and good causes.

So we came up with the concept of making sport sponsorship a collective endeavour which could serve all Army sports, both major and minor. And it was preferable to do this under a single brand on behalf of Army sport. Hence ‘Team Army’ was born. We could also see that there were untapped opportunities in showcasing forces sport for fundraising purposes. So we ran a live demonstration in the form of a charity boxing night at Chelsea’s stadium, called the “The Battle of Stamford Bridge”. The event raised £100k on the night which proved that we could use the power of sport to raise funds for sport.

Quickly it became clear that in order to protect the MoD from the commercial risks of trading in sport sponsorship with defence suppliers, it would be better for a third party to operate the programme at arms length from the department. This concept was supported by the head of the Army, CGS, Gen Sir Peter Wall. However, he ensured that it would be thoroughly scrutinised by the MoD to ensure that it met the appropriate standards of corporate governance. Eventually, it was signed off and endorsed by the MoD and it was subsequently recognised that this was a much better way to handle sport sponsorship.

A board of trustees was set up under Maj Gen Paul Jaques and off we went. Critically, we had the early buy-in from the key Army sports, such as football, winter sports; boxing and rugby. Within a year or two, it had become extremely successful as new sponsors joined and we soon expanded into helping Combined Services level sport. As a result, we had to develop a defence wide brand, so ‘Team Ethos’ was born to represent all three services.

Later on, there was however a slight setback when ASCB decided to appoint an agency to manage its sport sponsorship. As with all setbacks, you do your best to turn it into an opportunity. There’s nothing like a bit of adversity to bring out the best in people, to dig in and reinvent yourself. So far from being a disaster, it was the best thing that could have happened and we pivoted in a new direction.

Having been released from the requirement to supply Army sport with half of our funds each year, we were able to broaden our range of beneficiaries even further. We expanded into supporting Navy and RAF sport and increased our reach by supporting more challenge and adventurous pursuits. This grew into an ever larger portfolio within the military community as we embraced veterans and were appointed by the MoD as official fundraising partner for Invictus UK.

This opened a new chapter for the charity and its interest in funding “extraordinary endeavour”. It led to a new interest in supporting polar exploration, starting with the Ice Maidens, Louis Rudd’s solo expedition in Antarctica and more recently, Polar Preet’s record breaking solo trek to the South Pole. We also supported military entries from all 3 services to take part in the Talisker Rowing challenge.

From the start, the trustees have always cared most passionately about helping those military personnel who were wounded or injured in service and who needed a pathway to recovery through the medium of sport, challenge or adventure. As many of them subsequently left the service and became veterans, we found ourselves as the go-to organisation to provide financial support, particularly as Help for Heroes was reducing its capacity to help. Today, significant levels of funding now goes into WIS veteran activity in areas such as winter sports; motorsports; diving; golf, polo and many others.

Everything was going really well when Covid struck, and we flat-lined for 18 months. But we planned our own bounce-back and with the support of our group of sponsors who kept the faith and helped to fund our recovery.

In the same year, the Government played an Ace card in bringing in the Social value act in relation to procurement in the public sector. Companies are now required to be good corporate citizens and be seen to adding positive social value. This led to our first ever Charity Impact Report, which fed information back to our sponsors about the good causes (social value) that you had supported. We subsequently produced a social value analysis report, which allows us for the first time, to provide you sponsors, with an ROI on sponsorship.

This could be a turning point in how companies regard sponsorship. Perhaps moving it from being an overhead in your budget line, and therefore resisted by your CFO, to something which adds value, is net positive and helps to set up your next procurement bid – anywhere in the public sector.

As a result of all these factors, we are now stronger than ever and the charity has significant reserves to ride the next storm. We find ourselves in the best position in our 10 year history, with a loyal group of sponsors and supporters who are prepared to help the trustees to fund a variety of great causes on your behalf.

Finally, I can announce tonight the launch of our new defence brand to sit alongside Team Army. After 10 years, this is a new beginning. As a result of changes to our corporate structure, we have the freedom to retire our existing defence brand “Team Ethos” and replace it with “Team Forces”.

This co-branded programme, endorsed by the MoD, will continue to help fund sport, challenge and adventure in the armed forces community. Hence the brands are interchangeable and applicable where appropriate.

We look forward to an exciting future as Team Forces and here’s to the next 10 years.

Thank you.