10. Major George McCrea, chief of staff, Headquarters Royal Engineers (Geographic), National Centre for Geospatial Intelligence

What has been your path to power?

I joined the Army in 2007 after working for Lloyds Bank for four years. After the year-long commissioning course at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, I commissioned into the Corps of Royal Engineers. The subsequent 15 years can be split into 2 clear phases. For my junior postings I worked in the close support and armoured engineering environment and was stationed in the UK and Germany. I also deployed on operations and exercises around the globe in junior leadership and advisory roles. There then came a seismic shift in career path as I studied for a Geospatial MSc. On completion of the course I have had specific roles relating to the military geospatial capability.

These roles have been as a specialist advisor in a NATO headquarters, where I both commanded a team of geospatial data analysts and was responsible for advising the senior leaders on spatially-related situations and solutions. Most recently I have been working in the National Centre for Geospatial Intelligence, firstly in a command and leadership role within 42 Engineer Regiment (Geographic) and now as the Chief of Staff for the Royal Engineers (Geographic) trade with a remit to ensure the capability keeps pace with needs of the end user and technological advances.