MEET OUR TRAINERS

Gordon Pendleton

Gordon is the Managing Director of Cordillera UK and also heads up the company’s training, urbanization, resilience and public safety practice. Gordon is a retired Royal Air Force Officer, with a background in Instruction & Training, Air Traffic Control, Battlespace Management, UAV operations, Red Teaming, Intelligence and Concept Development and Experimentation. He spent the last 7 years working at NATO HQ SACT, Norfolk, Virginia and with Cordillera Applications Group leading or participating in major NATO and worldwide strategic futures projects, training and wargaming. These projects have involved close cooperation with Worldwide Government Agencies, the UN, World Bank, NATO, academia and industry. Gordon is a qualified Project Manager, Instructor and has a BA(Hons) in Business, Leadership & Management.

Katja Samuel

Katja is the CEO of Global Security and Disaster Management Limited (GSDM), an independent training and consultancy company offering innovative, impactful resilience solutions in response to conventional and emerging man-made and technological threats, risks and vulnerabilities. In particular, GSDM specialises in counter-drone resilience and the protection of Critical Infrastructure. Formerly a naval officer and legal adviser, and with extensive practitioner, military, operational and academic experience gained over 3 decades, Katja specialises in security, disaster risk and resilience.  She has operated at the national and multinational levels, including under the auspices of NATO and the UN.

Kevin Shaw

Kevin is an Executive Business Advisor with Global Security and Disaster Management Ltd. He has a proven track record in leadership, innovative thinking and delivering complex change programmes both in government and within industry, including those requiring the very highest levels of resilience. He has a wealth of experience in maritime, data and information systems together with intelligence analysis and deep specialism in space and communication systems. He therefore brings a systematic and comprehensive approach to evaluating and assessing multi-faceted and hybrid threats and the associated means of managing risk and resilience from both engineering and business perspectives. Having travelled widely, he has developed an international reputation for engaging different cultures in collaboration to achieve common goals.

Nils Sondrol

Nils is a former Norwegian Air Force Officer with over 39 years of experience in the Armed Forces at both unit and headquarters levels, including over 18 years of NATO service. He has extensive experience in the NATO planning process and due to his competence and leadership skills, Nils has been selected several times to lead comprehensive planning processes, both national and in a NATO context. Over the last four years, Nils has been assigned to NATO’s Joint Warfare Centre as an instructor, where he used his operations and planning expertise to instruct, guide, and mentor, NATO and National Operational Headquarters Staff and Command Groups in the interrelated fields of NATO Operations Planning and Commanders Decision Cycle with a focus on NATO’s Security Policy and Strategy.

He has received several letters of recognition from NATO Commanders for his excellent supervision, and in 2020, Nils Sondrol was awarded the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation Certificate of Commendation for his outstanding leadership, professionalism and vigilance.

 Shaun Rules, MBE

Shaun is a highly experienced organisational resilience and risk management Director, operating at the strategic level in the Public and Private sectors. A senior military officer with the Royal Air Force with significant operational experience and security clearance, he is also the owner and director of Initio Resilience consultancy through which he has undertaken strategic hotel resilience planning work. A specialist in counter-drone incursion contingency planning, he has played a significant role in responding to national and international incidents. His core professional expertise and experience is augmented by extensive cross-cultural liaison experience in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, and he is a fluent Spanish speaker. He is the holder of three masters’ degrees:  MPhil International Relations (Cambridge), MBA, MA in Strategic Management.

Andy Atkinson

Andy brings extensive experience in the fields of resilience and human security from over 30 years in the Defence and Security sector from his work with NATO, in the Middle East and the UK, developing strategic and operational concepts to address the challenges by the future operating environment.

He is a subject matter expert in the application of experimentation and operational analysis techniques and holds UK and NATO commendations in this field. In addition to this, he has extensive experience in the design and delivery of tailored training and education programmes within multinational environments.

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