Billy Meldrum CMgr FCMI

Experience

• 

  Various

  May 1996 - May 2000

  Various roles from age 14 onwards

  I held a number of jobs simultaneously from the age of 14, continuously, after school/college and at weekends. These have included: labouring on building sites, working in a green grocers, a bowling alley, and Tesco. I never left a job through anything other than aligning it with education and moving towards my goal of joining the Royal Marines. Positive references were always given.

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  Worthing Borough Council

  May 2000 - Oct 2000

  Power Boat Safety Operator - Seasonal Role

  I successfully secured a job with the council for the beach office, which was a designated Coast Guard station in support of emergencies. I was a Power Boat Driver, required to patrol the shores and respond to emergencies at sea. In addition to the boat, regular shore patrols were required across a 4 mile stretch of shoreline, using a quadbike. Routine maintenance and competency training was also required throughout, to ensure readiness for emergency.

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  Worthing Borough Council

  May 2001 - Jul 2001

  Power Boat Safety Operator - Seasonal Work

  I was asked to return for the season, conducting the same role as the year before, but with the addition of being asked to mentor a new member to the team. This season was going to always be shorter for me, as I had been successful in applying to join the Royal Marines.

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  Royal Marines

  Jul 2001 - Mar 2024

  This is one of the most rewarding and satisfying professional roles I have ever held in my whole career. This role is a senior RSM position and is competed for, of which I was successfully selected.The Commando Training Centre Royal Marines is considered the home of the Royal Marines and is the place that instills the values and spirit that make a Royal Marine the person they are. We are responsible for all training of civilians to Marine and Officer, all Command and Leadership training, and all Specialist training. It’s range and complexity is staggering. I am the direct advisor to the Commandant, and we are directly responsible for ensuring every output of the Centre is completed safely and professionally.My role is hugely diverse. I am an advisor / consultant not only to many senior officers responsible for implementing higher strategy for the Centre, but I also sit as a member of the Board Level that directly informs and advises the Head of the Royal Marines, a 4* General. I play an integral part in understanding what the strategic intent is, translating that to the tactical/operational delivery level, and then inform and advise at both levels in how we will best reach and achieve the required goals.I am a product owner for certain project lines in the Centre, mainly directed around our people and communication. My role is to instil, monitor, maintain and reset if necessary our behaviours, attitudes, approach and culture within our Centre.I chair executive meetings for ensuring the care for our people is given the utmost priority, which requires delicate and careful management. I run regular focus groups and workshops to ensure routine understanding of the operational aspects of the business areas in the Centre.Due to the vast numbers of people I engage with, I gain wider understand of common themes. This has facilitated me then being able to highlight key risks to the highest level quickly, and has even seen policy changes where required. Show less Selected for this role at the Royal Marines Information Exploitation Group. Directly responsible for all areas of the business outputs for the Unit, made up of circa 500 personnel. This organisation has specialists in Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, Electronic Warfare and other C5ISR.I saw coordination and deployment of personnel and equipment to carry out exercises and operations, in various locations globally. I was directly involved in the creation of a new capability called Maritime Liaison and Assessment Teams (MLATs), which would be a crucial part of facilitating and supporting planned activities for the Royal Marines Defence Approved Transformation Programme - the Future Commando Force. As well as the routine roles of managing and leading people, my previous specialist communications expertise was exploited by consulting with senior organisation decision makers and advising on the tactical and strategic C5ISR needs for troops deployed, and the infrastructure requirements to fulfil multiple global operations.We routinely engaged agencies from across Defence and other Government departments and built strong relations with other coalition partners. I was also an owner of project lines of effort for our people, most notably for Human Performance, Physical and Mental Wellbeing and their Continuous Professional Development of the Commando skills that need to remain honed. All of these things were delivered, with positive effect for our people and our delivered capabilities.There were two additional initiatives that I drove forward and saw completion of also: an ethical study, that was supported by an academic, allowing us to ensure we train and prepare for future operations in complex situations. The other was an Officer and Senior Development package that was subsequently requested to be delivered across wider areas of the organisation and was highlighted as best practice at a Leadership Seminar Level for the whole Navy. Show less I was selected to become a Regimental Sergeants Major (RSM), a position that is reached by very few. There is one RSM per Unit in the Royal Marines. The role in general terms is as a member of the Senior Leadership Team of that Unit (smallest Unit consists of approx 500 personnel, and the largest consists of over 2000 personnel), comparable to an Operations Director. My first RSM appointment was as the Royal Marines Reserves RSM. I was based out of Navy Headquarters, responsible for the management and oversight of four Unit Headquarters across the UK. This was for circa 900 personnel (650 Reservists, 50 Regular Service persons and 200 trainees). I was directly responsible for advising to the head of the Maritime Reserves, a Navy 1* Officer, and sat as a strategic committee member for the organisation.The role was complex, dealing with military and civilian organisations, within the bounds of political directives and policies. I was directly responsible for delivery of two operations. One for the mobilisations to the Lead Commando group, as was known then. This required close liaison with all of the Force and their employers, whilst navigating the legalities and training needs that were required prior to their mobilisation. This was extremely successful and many ranks went on to transfer into the Regular Force, full time. The second operation was the implementation of Op Rescript’s (Covid 19) military support. I was responsible for the coordination of the RMR support to hospitals and other Governmental Agencies when the outbreak occurred, which saw incredibly quick response and got RMR ranks into areas able to help within days. Other successes in my tenure were the overhaul of the promotions process, and creation of a Specialist Reserve, which enhances operational output for Defence. I was also part of the Project Team created to instigate transformation of the RMR within the Maritime Transformation Programme. Show less In August 2018 I was able to adopt the correct duel roles of Specialisation HR Manger and Squadron Training Officer. As the HR Manager, my second year of that role, really allowed me the freedom and autonomy to make changes that would be required to provision capability delivery to all areas of the business for the future. I managed to increase recruitment significantly, seeing almost double the number of Royal Marines starting the two course available in that year. This was accomplished by a planned recruiting drive, included digital, travelling briefs and range of methods to enhance reach. I was also able to secure additional funding and eligibility for my specialisations people to become members of an engineering institute, which was hugely positive for retention and recruitment. The secondary role of Training Officer is naturally and intentionally aligned. I was responsible directly for creating, maintaining and assuring the training policies for the Squadron and thus providing the Duty Holder of risk with the confidence that the activities, were not only relevant and necessary, but also safe. Key success in this role was the achievement of rolling out a civilian accredited L4 Certificate across a wider audience, which took significant work, engagements and inspections from second and third party audits to secure. I was also responsible for integrating a specialist command course to become a joint service specialist command course, which enabled important integration and capability training that would be used across an entire specialist organisation, delivering real time effect to live operations. In addition to this, it was highlighted that a training deficit was present and no readily available solution available. I managed to analyse the need, present the business case, secure the funding, and then design and deliver the course required. The benefits of this were wide ranging across key stakeholders, demonstrating agility to resolve capability gaps. Show less I was promoted and took on the role of being the Specialisation Advisor (HR Manager) for the entire Specialisation (117 personnel) in addition to my existing role of the Squadron Sergeants Major (Senior Operations Manager). This was an extremely challenging workload, but with diligent and ruthless prioritisation, both roles were not only maintained, but continued to see positive outcomes for both the jobs. As the Specialisation advisor, I was responsible for all 117 persons complete career management and employment for career. This included recruiting and allocating people into different areas of the business based on skills, preferences and the needs of the business outputs. In the role of Spec Advisor I also had to forecast inflow and outflow rates, analyse data, submit reports and regularly advise the strategic board of the organisation. This first year of holding both roles managed to not only maintain a reduced outflow of people in retention space, but also managed to stabilise the recruiting inflow to see overall growth. Show less Selected to be the Squadron Sergeants' Major, for a workforce of circa 170+ personnel. Responsible for ensuring all welfare, administration, discipline, appraisals and general day to day outputs are being delivered across all areas of the Squadron. Immediate positive impact was made through a range of methods, which brought efficiencies to existing process and improvements being seen to retention rates. Regular briefings to the strategic leaders of the organisation were carried out, as well as data collection and analysis of various matters to aid and inform operational decision making points. An early recommendation was made for attendance to the Warrant Officer Class One board. Show less Selected to be the Chief Instructor for a Specialist Training Course. Responsible for all planning, delivery and assurance of all content for the six month course, as well as responsible for the management and leading of the delivery team and additional staff. I had to plan and conduct all training, in line with Defence Systems Approach to Training, aligned to the ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems. Parts of the training delivered were high risk to life activities, which required the utmost attention to detail in their planning and conduct. One of the key success factors I implemented in my time was to review the syllabi's and scheduling, due to concerns over past changes and success rates. I successfully made changes to the programming to facilitate more hybrid training (with no increase in resource), which led to improved success rates, at the same standards, whilst reducing resource burdens and waste. I was selected for promotion to Warrant Officer and to be a Sergeants Major upon completion of this job. Show less Selected for the 'Senior Colour Sergeant Job' of Operations Senior. Responsible for the overall management of deploying our people and equipment onto operations. This included identifying and loading all operational training requirements, allocating limited resources in line with business priorities and budgets, seeing sensitive material moved according to government policy and liaising with multiple government and industry partners on multiple requirements. Management of key data bases for real time reporting and actions required in an emergency. I was also required to deploy out to various locations to conduct assurance visits and to plan and identify communication and security requirements for any new sites. Also responsible for close liaison with capability development and deploying trial systems. Show less Squadron Quarter Masters Stores (SQMS) - Responsible for the management of £1.3 Million of equipment. This included all issues, receipts, inspections, assurance checks and personal protective equipment processes. I was also responsible for workplace risk assessments and management of buildings. A demanding role, with three key success moments in my tenure - 1. Secured funding for a large Infrastructure investment (circa £1 Million Build) for a new building, key to improving and enhancing operational outputs for the business as a whole. 2. Identified and secured procurement process improvements, which secured critical equipment needed for our people to be issued at far earlier point in time, which was urgently needed. 3. Streamlined certain assets, which were not value for money, allowing reduction of costs and saving money, then available to move to other areas of the business. Show less

  • Royal Marine (Warrant Officer Class One) Regimental Sergeants Major for CTCRM

    Nov 2021 - Mar 2024

  • Royal Marine (Warrant Officer Class One) Regimental Sergeants Major - 30 Cdo IX Group RM

    Nov 2020 - Nov 2021

  • Royal Marine (Warrant Officer Class One) Regimental Sergeants Major of the Royal Marines Reserve

    Sept 2019 - Nov 2020

  • Royal Marine (Warrant Officer Class One) - HR Manager & Training Delivery and Assurance Officer

    Aug 2018 - Sept 2019

  • Royal Marine (Warrant Officer Class One) Senior Operations & HR Manager

    Aug 2017 - Aug 2018

  • Royal Marine (Warrant Officer Second Class) - Senior Operations Manager

    Feb 2017 - Aug 2017

  • Royal Marine (Colour Sergeant) - Chief Instructor / Trainer

    Dec 2015 - Feb 2017

  • Royal Marine (Colour Sergeant) - Operations Manager

    Feb 2014 - Dec 2015

  • Royal Marine (Colour Sergeant) - Mid-Level Manager - Logistics / Procurement Manager

    Jul 2012 - Feb 2014

  • Royal Marine (Sergeant) - Mid Level Operations Manager

    Mar 2010 - Jul 2012

  • Royal Marine (Corporal) - Trainer / Instructor

    Dec 2007 - Mar 2010

  • Royal Marine (Corporal) - Operations and Communication Systems Team Leader

    Mar 2006 - Dec 2007

  • Royal Marine (Mne)- Operations Team Member

    Jul 2001 - Mar 2006
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  UK Ministry of Defence

  Jul 2001 - Mar 2024

  Royal Marine
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  Frazer-Nash Consultancy

  Apr 2024 - now

  Business Manager