Inverroy Crisis Management is celebrating its 8th anniversary! From his military experience to the launch of his own company, and of course CAKE, learn more about the backstory of Inverroy from our founder himself.
When Matthew Wardner, Inverroy Crisis Management’s MD, was in Ghana recently providing Incident Management and Business Continuity training to an international oil company client, the thought of ‘cake’ suddenly popped into his head: not because he was peckish but because ‘CAKE’ is the British Army’s pneumonic for ‘Battle Procedure’: Concurrent Activity, Anticipation, Knowledge and Efficient drills. CAKE was drilled into Matthew at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst while he trained as an officer in 1984 and 1985, and it’s a discipline that is applicable to a wide range of situations he advises his clients on in time-critical crisis management situations.
Matthew served as an Army officer for 27 years and after leaving the service gained an MBA (Master of Business Administration) before working in the oil and gas industry. In 2015 he decided to set up his own crisis management company and this year, Inverroy Crisis Management celebrates eight years of continual growth and expansion.
Inverroy Crisis Management was founded on Matthew’s belief that every business should have a continuity plan for when emergency or disruption strikes, and he has frequently drawn on his military training and experience to design bespoke crisis management solutions using consultancy, training and technology to ensure that organisations are prepared for the unexpected.
Matthew said: “I set out to build a company based on delivering professional excellence with integrity and commitment to our clients, and my initial focus was the oil and gas sector, as this was the area that I had worked in for the last three years. However, the downturn in this market meant I had to diversify and work hard to get a toe hold in new sectors. From an Army background where there is no apparent need for marketing or sales, I had to learn fast!
“Our first diversification came from a contact at Kings College Cambridge, who was interested in business continuity planning, and from this initial contract other colleges and universities have since employed Inverroy’s specialist skills. Today, eight years on, and with a team of 19, we’ve diversified into a wide variety of sectors, bringing our cross-industry expertise to boardrooms and beyond for clients as diverse as The Scottish Parliament and Angus Housing, Argent and Edinburgh Dog and Cats Home. It’s a great source of pride to me that we still have our original oil and gas clients, such as Genel Energy and Tullow Oil, which have kept with us from the beginning. With our 100% client retention rate, it shows that our business model is working and delivering growth.
“It’s been an exciting eight years and I see Inverroy Crisis Management expanding further through strategic partnerships as we continue to help some of the world’s largest organisations understand their risks, develop plans for those situations and train their people to respond effectively under pressure.”
Eight years and eight reasons to work with Inverroy Crisis Management:
Eight areas of excellence:
- ID – Online Resilience Platform
- Emergency Response and Crisis Management Development
- ERCM Training and Exercises
- Business Continuity Planning
- BC Training and Exercises
- Security Risk Management Assessments
- Security Management Plans, Reporting and Threat Analysis
- Journey Management Planning and In Country Support
Eight great attributes that a military background brings to crisis management:
- Confidence
- Professionalism
- Dedication
- A ‘can do’ attitude to overcome adversity
- Time management
- A focus on what can be influenced first
- A focus on the bigger picture
- Ability to train teams and build confidence to lead and delegate.
Eight areas of the world where Inverroy Crisis Management operates:
- UK
- Austria
- Ghana
- Iraq
- Turkey
- Morocco
- Senegal
- Egypt
Learn more about our team here.
