Shield Group Advisory Board Member
Chet is a US Naval Academy and Georgetown Law graduate. Chet was a naval aviator in Task Group Alpha, the Navy’s premier anti-submarine warfare unit.
Following military service he moved to the Pentagon’s International Security Affairs (ISA) office where he managed a multi-billion dollar offset agreement with the UK, setting up offset/coproduction agreements with a European consortium for sales and production of the TOW missile. He was recruited to join Aeromaritime, Inc., a Washington DC international defense export manager, became CEO and moved to England, from where he managed 6 operating subsidiaries in 25 countries.
At the request of the CIA, Chet served for years as a Special Military Advisor to the Sultan of Oman. He was awarded the Order of Oman for his role in the Sultanate’s victory in a guerrilla war fomented by communist Yemen.
Following his service in Oman, he became a consultant for U.S. and international industrial and financial interests through his company, Intel Research Corporation (IRC) to a wide range of companies. Chet is also a Contributing Editor for European Security & Defense magazine.
Shield Group Advisory Board Member
Viscount Trenchard is a hereditary peer in the House of Lords. He worked for Kleinwort Benson from 1973 to 1996, as chief representative in Japan between 1980 and 1985, and as director between 1986 and 1996.
For Kleinwort Benson International, he was general manager of its Tokyo branch from 1985 to 1988, president from 1988 to 1995 and deputy chairman from 1995 to 1996. He was director of Dover Japan Inc from 1985 to 1987, of ACP Holdings Ltd from 1990 to 1994.
Trenchard was director of Robert Fleming & Co. from 1996 to 1998, and of Robert Fleming International from 1998 to 2000. He was Managing Director, Investment Banking, for Mizuho International plc from 2007 to 2012 and Senior Advisor to Mizuho Bank, Ltd from 2013 to 2014.
Trenchard was also chairman of The Dejima Fund Ltd from 2001 to 2009, from 2002 to 2008 senior advisor of Prudential Financial, and from January to December 2006 director general of the European Fund and Asset Management Association. He has been chairman of Stratton Street PCC Ltd since 2006, a director of Lotte Chemical UK Ltd since 2010 and a director of Adamas Finance Asia Ltd since 2017.
For the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund, Trenchard was member of council and trustee from 1991 to 2003 and again from 2006 to 2013. He was also chairman from 2006 to 2013 and is deputy chairman since 2014. He has been a long-time member of council of The Japan Society since 1992 to 1993 and served in several key executive roles in the Society. He is Co-Chairman of the British-Japanese Parliamentary Group.
Shield Group Advisory Board Member
Jacqueline is an Operating Partner at Playground Global, an early-stage, deep tech venture capital firm. Prior to Playground, Jacqueline was the inaugural Director of Government Affairs at PsiQuantum – a Playground Global portfolio company building the world’s first useful, fault tolerant, error-corrected quantum computer.
Before PsiQuantum, Jacqueline spent over fifteen years in the federal government, culminating her public service to date as the Deputy Director and Chief Performance Officer of the Department of Defense’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center. Jacqueline began her career at the Central Intelligence Agency. She then transitioned to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence where she led Intelligence Community policy planning.
She went on to hold multiple senior roles at the Defense Intelligence Agency including as a counterterrorism mission manager and policy advisor to the Deputy Director. Following a decade of executive branch service, Jacqueline joined the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence where she oversaw the defense intelligence portfolio.
Jacqueline holds a BA in French with a minor in classical vocal performance and a MPAff. from the University of Texas at Austin, as well as a MA in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College.
Shield Group Advisory Board Member
Ellen is an American businesswoman and government official who previously served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment in the first Trump administration. She was previously the CEO of Textron Systems, a global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technologies industrial conglomerate.
In her position, she was the chief weapons purchaser for the United States, responsible for overseeing hundreds of billions of dollars of weapons and services acquisitions programs in the United States Department of Defense. Lord served as vice chairwoman of the National Defense Industrial Association and as a member of the Center for a New American Security’s task force on strategy, technology, and the global defense industry.
She was also a board member of the Defense Technology Initiative, the Naval Institute Foundation, and the U.S.-India Business Council. Lord left the Pentagon in January 2021, after which she joined the consultancy firm the Chertoff Group as a senior advisor, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab as a senior fellow, military contractor AAR as a director, Voyager Space as a director, Clarifai, an artificial-intelligence corporation, as a senior advisor, military contractor SAIC as a strategic advisor, Australian munitions company NIOA as a member of the Advisory Board, and the electro-optical/infrared corporation GEOST as a director.
Shield Group Advisory Board Member
Lord Strathclyde is a long serving member of Parliament and was Leader of the House of Lords and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster until January 2013. Under his leadership, the House of Lords Act 1999 passed reforming its operation. Under the Act, Strathclyde was elected by other peers as one of the 92 hereditary peers to remain in the House of Lords.
He then became a Director on Supervisory Board of Trafigura Beheer BV, Trafigura Group PTE Ltd. and related hedge fund manager Galena Asset Management. He has served as a longtime member of Lloyd’s of London, and an Advisor to the AECOM Corporation. Lord Strathclyde plays an active role with SG|Capital and its captive insurance activities.
Shield Group Advisory Board Member
Rick is a Canadian army officer who served as the chief of the defense staff (CDS), the top-ranking officer in the Canadian military, from 2005 to 2008. Hillier joined the army through the Regular Officer Training Plan in 1973 and completed a Bachelor of Science degree at Memorial University of Newfoundland in 1975 and attended the U.S. Army Armor Officer Advanced Course at Fort Knox, Ky.
He was chief of operations with the United Nations peacekeeping force in the former Yugoslavia in 1995. As an exchange officer, he was appointed the first-ever Canadian deputy commander of the U.S. Army’s III Corps and Fort Hood. He was promoted to major general and in 2000 he commanded the NATO Stabilization Force’s Multinational Division in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As a lieutenant general, Hillier became commander of the Canadian army in May 2003, and in February 2004 he was given the assignment to lead NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. He was promoted to full general and assumed his duties as CDS in February 2005.
Credited with restoring the domestic reputation of Canada’s armed forces, he retired as CDS in July 2008. Hillier’s honors included Commander of the Order of Military Merit, the Meritorious Service Cross, the Canadian Forces’ Decoration, and the U.S. Legion of Merit.