Not one, but two finalists for Advent IM in the British Ex Forces in Business Awards

Ex-Veterans at Advent IM announced as finalists at the stunning British Ex-Forces in Business Awards 2021

After a testing year, Advent IM are thrilled to announce that not one, but two team members have made the shortlist for the ‘British Ex-Forces in Business Awards, 2021’, the world’s largest celebration of veterans in a second career.

The British Ex-Forces in Business Awards is the world’s flagship platform for providing that visibility by celebrating the achievements of veterans in the wider workforce and promoting the strong synergies between military values and business excellence. The awards highlight the military-gained skills and qualities that have helped enable their business achievements and recognises the organisations that have supported them.

Advent IM are very proud to announce that following a record number of nominations for the flagship recognition programme, Mike Gillespie, Managing Director & Co Founder of Advent IM has successfully been shortlisted as a finalist for the prestigious Business Leader of the Year (SME) award, alongside his colleague and Managing Consultant at Advent IM, Dave Wharton, who has made the shortlist for Role Model of the Year Category.

Mike joined the RAMC in 1989, leaving in 1998, to pursue a career in ICT / Information Management and today, is the Managing Director of Advent IM. Since 2002, Advent has gone from 2 people with a laptop to a £3.5m turnover company in under 20 years, with 19 employees.

Dave joined Advent IM from the RAF in 2009 as a Security Consultant. In 2018, Dave was promoted to Managing Consultant with direct responsibility for the consultancy team. Under Dave's leadership, the team has doubled in size and he is also responsible for other outsourced consultants brought in during busy periods.
Since launching in 2018, the prestigious awards initiative, of which BFBS is a media partner, has played a prominent role in eradicating the negative misconceptions that disadvantage veterans in the workplace. In a study by SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity, a third of UK hirers said they’d feel reluctant hiring someone who served in the military, and just 48% of workers said they would feel comfortable working with a service leaver.
As the biggest platform for showcasing the exceptional talent pool formed by the thousands of people who leave the Armed Forces each year, the Ex-Forces in Business Awards cultivate a far more positive veterans’ narrative to the business community. By showing how military skills and values help enable business success, they demonstrate the strong value employers gain by supporting the transition of servicemen and women.
The Awards programme is also a powerful vehicle for increasing the visibility of both role models and career opportunities for service leavers. This year’s UK shortlist exhibits the second-career achievements of over 180 veterans and reservists, whittled down from a record-breaking 600 nominations. The sheer breadth of opportunities available to veterans are displayed through the large variety of sectors represented on the shortlist.
These exciting, high-profile awards ceremonies not only gather business leaders and veterans to honour the winners, but also bring together top companies, key military personnel, politicians, journalists, and other stakeholders to advance dialogue and share best practice around the benefits of ex-forces employment

initiatives, and ultimately promote the significant value that military-gained skills can provide to the UK economy if better utilised across the workforce.
Lt. Gen. Sir Andrew Gregory, CEO at SSAFA, Official Charity Partner of the Awards, said: “Many congratulations to everybody who has been shortlisted for the 2021 British Ex-Forces in Business Awards. SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity, is very proud to be associated with this important programme, which celebrates veteran employment and increases visibility of business role models for servicemen and women.
“As a former Chief of Defence People, and now Chief Executive at an Armed Forces charity which operates a mentoring scheme amongst other vital services, I am very aware of the challenges that can be faced by service leavers during their transition, and role models are crucial. It is heartening to see such a large volume and breadth of employers acknowledging the skills and values of those who have served their country.”
The winner of each category will be announced and celebrated at a glittering ceremony on 2 December, taking place in the InterContinental London - The O2. In attendance will be over 1,000 business and military leaders, expected to represent over 400 UK employers. Jacqui Oatley MBE will host the ceremony, as well as introduce a programme of live entertainment and special guest speakers, including the double Olympic rowing champion Major Heather Stanning OBE. The results will be shared across the Advent IM social media accounts.

To find out more about this years' awards programme, and see a full list of finalists, please visit https://exforcesinbusiness.co.uk/

For more information on Advent IM:

Ellie Hurst, Head of Marcomms & Media, Advent IM Ltd, Tel: 0121 559 6699. Email: Ellie.Hurst@Advent-im.co.uk.

Issued: 1.11.21 Ends Ref:

Cradley Enterprise Centre Ltd, Maypole Fields, Cradley, Halesowen, B63 2QB.

Advent IM is an independent specialist consultancy, focusing on holistic security management solutions for information, people and physical assets, across both the public and private sectors. Established in 2002, Advent IM is a centre of excellence for security services, promoting the benefits of best practice guidelines and standards and the need to address risk management to protect against potential threats.
From its offices in the Midlands and London, its Consultants work nationwide and are members of the Chartered Institute of Information Security (CIISec), The Security Institute (SyI) and British Computer Society.
Consultants are also Lead Auditors for the International standard for information security management (ISO 27001)), CESG Certified Professionals (CCP), Practitioners of PRINCE2, a recognised project management methodology widely used within the public sector, CISSP qualified and Home Office trained physical security assessors.

This release was published on openPR.