Honorary Royal Navy Captain Penny Mordaunt

Penny Mordaunt was a Parliamentarian for 14 years, holding nine ministerial roles, four in Cabinet. She was the first and only woman to be Secretary of State for Defence, having also been the first and only woman to be Minister for the Armed Forces. As Paymaster General she became the UK government’s first cross-government defensive cyber lead and headed the rebuild of the UK’s civil contingencies and resilience strategy. 

She was Secretary of State for International Development, working with UN agencies, international organisations and was the UK’s representative at the World Bank. As Trade Minister, she brokered new trade deals, oversaw the UK’s accession to CPTPP and established economic agreements with US states, in lieu of a federal deal. In doing so she undertook the longest tour of the US of any Minister since Churchill during WWII. She was also on the Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee overseeing the UK’s exit from the EU. She has held other roles in local government, work, health, pensions and disability.  Prior to Parliament she worked across all sectors and also in US politics as Head of Foreign Press for the RNC during the Bush 2000 campaign.

She was a Royal Navy Reservist for 10 years and is now an Honorary Captain affiliated to MCM2 Squadron, the UK’s mine hunters and bomb disposal divers. 

She came to the public’s attention in the role of Leader of the Commons and Lord President of the Council, presiding over the Accession Council following the death of Queen Elizabeth II and at the coronation of King Charles III. She was among Gracia and Vogue’s most influential women of the year. 

Image: Copyright 2022 Penny Mordaunt

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston CBE RD

Sir Robin is a bona fide legend on the water.

He was the first person to sail single handed and non-stop around the world between 14 June 1968 and 22 April 1969, but his connection with the sea started when he joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve whilst at school as a Boy Seaman.

You can find out about Sir Robin’s history with ocean sailing, along with his days in the Merchant and Royal Navy at his personal website: www.robinknox-johnston.co.uk/

Image: Copyright 2020 Robin Knox-Johnston

Honorary Captain Pete Reed OBE

With three gold medals in rowing at three consecutive Olympic Games, Pete secured his first of five World Championship titles less than four years after starting the sport. In his 17-year rowing career, he also secured two Oxford Blues and is one of only 14 Team GB Olympians to stay at the top of his sport for so long. A serving Royal Navy officer since 1999, Pete retired from rowing in 2018 to resume public service at sea. In 2019 he suffered a spinal stroke causing paralysis below his chest. Pete has since used his military training and Olympic experience to get the best from his changed life circumstances and help others to do the same.

He speaks openly about his unique insight into overcoming adversity and trauma having learned that resilience is not a given trait, but is trainable for everyone. Pete’s greatest personal passions are his wife Jeannie, photography, travel and anything active! His work promoting spinal cord injury awareness, the challenges of ugly accessibility and poor interpretation of accessibility for differently abled people will change the spaces we live and work in.

His philosophy on resilience and his inspirational approach to life and living well will change lives.

Ms Madelaine McTernan CB, Chief of Defence Nuclear

Maddy is Chief of Defence Nuclear/2PUS at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Additional Accounting Officer for the Defence Nuclear Organisation.
Between December 2020 and September 2022, she was Director General of the Vaccine Taskforce (VTF), a joint unit of BEIS and DHSC, responsible for securing COVID-19 vaccines for the UK, our international donation programme an working with industry to onshore vaccine production. She has made Companion of the Order of Bath for her work on the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before her appointment as Director General in December 2020, Maddy was the lead negotiator for the VTF. Maddy was also the Director for the HRT Task Force for DHSC in 2022. Prior to this Maddy was a Director at UK Government Investments (UKGI) and a non-executive director of UK Export Finance.
Before joining the public sector, Maddy was a Managing Director and Head of UK Mergers and Acquisitions at the investment bank Credit Suisse. She is also a qualified lawyer, having studied law at Trinity College Cambridge and qualifying at Freshfields, working in London, Bangkok and New York.
Maddy was an Honorary Senior Visiting Fellow at the Faculty of Finance at Cass Business School between 2013 and 2016 and holds an honorary doctorate from Nottingham Trent University.

Commodore Jim Perks CBE Royal Navy (RetIRED)

Having left school at 16, Jim joined the Royal Navy in 1984 as a Writer (Clerk) and was advanced to Leading Writer in 1987.  During this time he served in HMS HERMIONE and HMS JUPITER, serving in the Arabian Gulf during the Iran - Iraq War.

Promoted to the Officer Corps he joined Britannia Royal Naval College as a Warfare Officer in 1988 and after initial sea training, chose to volunteer for service in Submarines.  He completed his Submarine training in HMS TIRELESS and navigated HMS SPARTAN.

Jim completed Submarine Advanced Warfare Course in 1995 and rejoined HMS SPARTAN as the Operations Officer.  In 1996 he became the Submarine Advanced Warfare Course Instructor prior to taking Command of the Yorkshire Universities Royal Naval Unit and its training ship HMS EXPLORER in 1998.

Successfully completing the Submarine Command Course ‘Perisher’ in 1999, Jim joined HMS TALENT as the Second in Command.  On completion, in 2002, he joined Fleet Operations in Northwood as the Submarine Special Operations Officer.  On promotion to Commander, Jim took Command of the nuclear powered submarine HMS SCEPTRE in July 2005.  During his 3 years in Command he took SCEPTRE on a 10 month deployment which included visits to Singapore, Australia and South Africa.  He was awarded the OBE in 2008, in recognition of his time in Command of SCEPTRE.

Jim became ‘Teacher’ and took Command of ‘Perisher’ in May 2008.  He joined the Naval Staff in the Ministry of Defence 3 years later before taking Command of the Royal Navy Presentation Team in 2013.  Jim became DACOS(OPS), on promotion to Captain, in 2014, responsible for the day-to-day running of the Fleet.

Unexpectedly promoted to Commodore in 2016, Jim spent the last 6 years of his Naval career in Command of the Submarine Flotilla, retiring in 2022.  He became Head of the Submarine Service in Jan 2020 and was promoted CBE in the same year.

Jim retired from the Royal Navy and joined BAE Systems Submarines as Head of Future Workforce Strategy in November 2022.

Jim is President of the Submariners Association, Patron of HMS OARDACIOUS, Patron of Military Vs Cancer, Trustee of the Cumbria Community Foundation and member of the Barrow Poverty Truth Commission.  His interests include motorcycling, carpentry and armchair sports.

He has proudly been an HMS Oardacious patron since 2020 and is also President of the Submariners Association, patron of Military vs Cancer and a Trustee of the Cumbria Community Foundation.