Major General (Retd) Rob Thomson

Chief Strategy Officer The Halo Trust

Educated at Cambridge University (History) and Kings College London (Defence Studies), Rob was commissioned into the Royal Green Jackets in 1988, which became The Rifles in 2007. A frontline soldier for much of his 34 years of service, he has served on operations at home in Northern Ireland and abroad in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.  He was awarded his Distinguished Service Order for service in Afghanistan in 2009 and was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2014, also for service in Afghanistan. Most recently, Rob has been more of a soldier diplomat, first as the UK’s Defence Attaché in Paris and then as the Administrator of the UK Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus and Commander British Forces Cyprus. Since leaving the Army, Rob has been CEO of AGL Communication, a London based communications coaching and consultancy business and most recently has been an expeditionary adviser, on leadership, strategy and communications, in the UK and beyond, including Somaliland, France, Malawi and Togo. Rob has a love of history and all aspects of leadership, inspired in part by his time as an instructor at the British Army’s Royal Military Academy Sandhurst but also by the privilege of command. He has led teams of very different shapes and sizes. He is learning to be a coach. Rob is now the Chief Strategy Officer at the Halo Trust.