Ed joined Capco in 2016 after 23 years’ service in the Army, latterly as the Commanding Officer, 1st Battalion Irish Guards in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. His military career encompassed a mix of command roles and staff positions within Army Headquarters, the Ministry of Defence and the tri-service Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre.
“The majority of my staff experience was in roles which involved a high degree of policy and planning work,” says Ed. “That experience meant I was very familiar with navigating large organizations and dealing with senior stakeholders and their competing agendas.
“There was a great deal of walking the corridors, building consensus with senior internal and external stakeholders such as the civil service, and frontline commands – and then translating that into plans and policy.”
“I did a lot to prepare myself to transition into a job in financial services, including passing the Investment Management Certificate and Level 1 of the CFA Programme and undertaking an internship with an asset management firm,” he says. “Being older I felt I had more to prove – you need to demonstrate that you are prepared to put in the work.”
Ed joined Capco in a fairly unique role that he felt offered good experience and a strong platform for future promotion. That initial role itself was predicated on resolving what were for Ed familiar challenges.
“My job was to simplify things, give clear direction, impose some authority, and demonstrate good judgement,” he says.
“I felt that the biggest thing in making the transition was to get over yourself and not try to bring your military seniority with you. While I found there was a lot of goodwill towards ex-service personnel, you also need to be the answer to someone’s problem; so it was important to be humble and then try to demonstrate real value. I also feel it is essential to be interested in the company and the industry, and to show that.”
You can read more about the AF2C programme here.