Simon Donnan
Biography
Simon joined Dstl as Chief Operating Officer in November 2024.
Before he joined Dstl, Simon worked in various roles within defence and wider government, including:
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service and programme delivery experience in the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) - this included a period leading DIO’s Regional Delivery organisation providing infrastructure services and programme delivery across approximately two thirds of the defence estate at home and overseas, and overseeing an annual infrastructure and services delivery budget of circa £1bn
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serving as Chief of Staff in the Defence Nuclear Organisation’s Warhead Directorate, working closely with the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) and the Submarine Delivery Agency (SDA)
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working in defence policy and analysis roles within the MOD’s head office and former Joint Forces Command (JFC) - this included capability planning work on the JFC’s proposition for the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review
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secondment to the national security staff within the Cabinet Office
Simon holds a degree in Modern History from the University of Oxford.
Chief Operating Officer
The Chief Operating Officer is responsible for leading a range of Dstl’s core business enabling operations which include health, safety and environmental protection, facilities and infrastructure (including the National Biosecurity Centre Programme), technical services, data and digital services, security and resilience.