Christopher Parry CBE

After reading Modern History at Jesus College Oxford, Chris Parry spent thirty-six enjoyable, rewarding years in the Royal Navy as an aviator and warfare officer. He commanded the destroyer HMS Gloucester, the Amphibious Assault Ship HMS Fearless, the UK's Amphibious Task Group and the Maritime Warfare Centre. He also had five joint appointments with responsibility for operational and developmental issues relating to all three services.

As well as sailing every sea, he experienced regular operational tours and combat operations in Northern Ireland, the Gulf and the Falklands, where he was mentioned in despatches for his part in rescuing 16 SAS from a glacier in South Georgia and the detection and disabling of the submarine Santa Fe. As a rear admiral, he was responsible for determining the future strategic context for operations and leading the conceptual development of all three armed forces out to 2030.

Nowadays he runs his own strategic forecasting company, advising governments, leading commercial companies and banks about strategic issues, high-level leadership and systemic risk. With blue chip companies, he helps generate competitive advantage through the forecasting of future geopolitical developments, emerging trends and investment opportunities. 

The founding chair of the UK's Marine Management Organisation, he is an internationally recognised authority on existing and emerging aspects of the marine and maritime warfare environment. He is also president of a Rugby League Club.

A regular broadcaster and commentator in UK national newspapers and magazines, he is an active author, most recently the best-selling Down South - a Falklands War Diary, published in February 2012 and Sea Power in the 21st Century, published in May 2014.