Speakers

Sam joined the MOD after her PhD in Pathology through the Science and Engineering Fast Stream which equipped her with a wide range of knowledge of roles across Defence, particularly enabling operations. In 2014, she deployed to Afghanistan as the last Operation HERRICK Civil Secretary, supporting the closure and remediation of Camp Bastion and UK presence in Kandahar. In 2015 she acted as the Private secretary to the Minister for Reserves and subsequently Minister for the Armed forces, working on a number of tricky issues 
including Army numbers (Regular & Reserve) and MOD’s Lawfare agenda.
In 2017 Sam was appointed the first Chief of Staff for the new Defence Nuclear Organisation, setting up the fledgling organisation in terms of governance, personnel and scrutiny. Thereafter, she joined Defence Resources as Deputy Head Spending leading on negotiations with HMT, ensuring that Defence did not breach its departmental delegations. Alongside these roles she completed her accountancy qualification and MBA.
In 2020 Sam was appointed the first Hd ResPol in operational front line command. As a member of the senior leadership team, she led the establishment of pragmatic corporate governance processes including a new safety cell, risk reporting, and embedding of compliance and control across the HLB. Responsible for annual expenditure across core activities and Military Operations, Sam embedded a new contract management cell to support commercial officers and the business in delivering innovative solutions to battlefield problems. 
Sam lives in Winchester and is married to Chris, they enjoy travelling and gardening in addition to walking their rehomed Cocker Spaniel, Storm.