Sir David Omand was the first holder in 2002 of the post of UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator, exercising overall direction on behalf of the Prime Minister of the national counter-terrorism strategy and building national resilience (“homeland security”). He was the Government’s chief crisis manager for civil contingencies. Over the same period he led for the Prime Minister an interdepartmental initiative to improve standards of risk management.

He spent much of his career in the Ministry of Defence, including as Deputy Secretary for Policy, as Under Secretary in charge of the defence programme, and as Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State. He was particularly concerned in MOD with the reshaping of the long term equipment programme, for the British military contribution in restoring peace in the former Yugoslavia and for the recasting of British nuclear deterrence policy at the end of the Cold War. He served for seven years on the UK’s Joint Intelligence Committee.

He is experienced in business change, including introducing MOD’s new management strategy in the early 1990s, as Director GCHQ (1996-1997) reshaping the organisation post Cold War and leveraging the opportunities of new technology, and as Permanent Secretary of the Home Office (1997-2000).

He retired in April 2005. He is a regular speaker on security and intelligence and on the ethical dimension of leadership. He is a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute and Deputy Chairman of the Windsor Leadership Trust. He is currently completing a degree in Mathematics with the Open University. He is married with two grown up children.