A partnership between the Defence Academy and two City of London Guilds has been further cemented during a recent award ceremony and signing at the Defence Academy.
Masters and members of the Worshipful Companies of Educators and Entrepreneurs, together with the Lady Mayoress of the City of London attended the event on 7 May.
Hosted by personnel from the Learning Capability and Development Group, the award ceremony took place in the Cormorant Building with Major General Rowell and Master Entrepreneur Mr James Talbot presenting the winners of the ‘Best Entrepreneur’ prize to Team Boomers from the Advanced Command and Staff Course 27.
Two of the team were present to collect their award (Wing Commander Courtney Belham, RAF and Commander Dal Nwokora, RN) and two of the team joined the ceremony remotely from Singapore (Major Ray Chew and Commander Patrick Vickers, RN). The fifth team member, Lieutenant Colonel Dobbin was unable to attend.
Master Entrepreneur Mr James Talbot, warmly commended Team Boomers on their success:
“Team Boomers demonstrated clarity of purpose with innovation, and entrepreneurial drive. Not only did this lead to demonstratable success in a defence setting, but the team also showed appreciable business skills in presenting a highly workable and cost-effective solution.”
The award for the ‘Best Educator’ was presented to Mr Paul Gardner (Defence Centre for Training Support) by Master Educator Catherine McGuiness CBE. In presenting the ‘Highly Commended’ award to Squadron Leader Chris Wooler (RAF Division), she said:
“It was a privilege to present awards to Paul Gardner as the year’s Best Educator, and Squadron Leader Chris Wooler as Highly Commended Educator. Two outstanding educators who are clearly respected by their students and colleagues.”
Following on from the award ceremony, the Masters undertook the re-signing of Memorandums of Understanding with the Chief Executive and Commandant of the Defence Academy, Major General Peter Rowell MBE. This will further consolidate the partnerships ahead of discussions to explore future collaborative work strands.
After lunch, the visitors were taken to the Defence College for Military Capability Integration, where Mr Andy Lambert gave a demonstration of ‘FIDO’ the Future Innovations for Defence Operations, an artificial intelligence dog, and insight into current and past military technology. Of particular interest was discussion around unmanned aerial vehicles, which tied in with the unmanned aircraft system work of Team Boomers.
The Worshipful Company of Educators is the 109th Livery Company of the City of London. The Company was founded in 2001 as a Guild to represent both the education and training profession, and for charitable purposes. It was given livery status in 2013. It has been a partner of the Defence Academy since 2018.
The Worshipful Company of Entrepreneurs has been a Defence Academy partner since 2017. It is a membership and charitable organisation formed by individuals connected with the City of London who have invested their own time and financial resources in establishing and running successful businesses and enterprises.