Fidelma Hewitt URS Director
Contact: fidelma.hewitt@universal-recruitment.co.uk
Specialising in mentorship, Fidelma is a successful Business Mentor/ NLP Practitioner for small to medium size companies and private individuals. She guides the candidates throughout the recruitment process and acts as the liaison between them and their potential employers.
Fidelma brings a wealth of experience operating in a number of areas from cyber, to people, to business mentoring and strategy, and beyond. She is a senior member of the Accredited Counsellors, Coaches, Psychotherapists and Hypnotherapists (ACCPH). She is also an Associate Member of the Institute of Legal Executives and was on the Co-Founder and Board Member of an AIM Listed Company.
Fidelma’s passion is helping clients to grow their businesses not only through the sourcing excellent candidates to fill vacancies but also in providing strategy and business development support where necessary.
Chrissie Ross URS Talent Acquisition Manager
Contact: chrissie.ross@universal-recruitment.co.uk
Specialising in recruitment, Chrissie is serving as Talent Acquisition Manager for URS and Business Development Executive for UDSS. She helps to build the UDSS Group’s extensive talent pool and sources the candidates offered to employers through URS.
Her background in business and organisational development makes her an asset to our growing team, as does her experience working directly with the British Armed Forces. Formerly in a business management role, Chrissie helped to transform the Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) Foundation into a trusted source of professional development opportunities for those serving. She is now proud to facilitate that level of career excellence through URS.
Chrissie brings her skills, expertise, and impressive professional connections with military and commercial contacts to our talent acquisition team- offering clients their best choices from our growing candidate network.
Our Non-Executive Directors
Peter L R Hewitt JP FCSI FRSA UDSS Co-Chairman
Contact: peter.hewitt@universal-defence.com
Peter has been Chairman or Director of 13 UK Public Companies over the last 25 years and was a founding director of 8 of these, including UDSS. In 2018 he stepped down after a 6 year term as an Alderman in the City of London where he sat on numerous committees including City’s Finance, Investment and Property Committees (£6bn under management) and was the inaugural Chairman of the £20m Social Investment Fund.
He is a past member of the government's Taskforce on Retail Social Investment and the Associate Parliamentary Group on Wholesale Financial Markets, and a UKTI Catalyst member/advisor to the Financial Services Organisation of the UKTI, writing a number of papers on overseas investment opportunities. Peter is currently Chairman of Vordere Ltd; Blackfinch Spring VCT PLC and Scampton Holdings Ltd; and a non-executive Director of Terra Mater Renewables Investments AB.
He has been very involved in charitable and pro bono work having been on the Finance Committee of ABF the Soldiers Charity; an Appeal Patron of the Sea Change Sailing Trust; and the founder of Raleigh 400. He is a past Master of the Worshipful Company of Woolmen and a founding freeman and Past Master of the Company of Entrepreneurs. Peter is also an Honorary Group Captain in 601 (County of London) Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force.
General Sir Richard Barrons KCB CBE UDSS Co-Chairman
Contact: richard.barrons@universal-defence.com
Richard served as Commander Joint Forces Command until April 2016, one of the six ‘Chiefs of Staff’ leading the UK Armed Forces. There he was responsible for 23,000 people worldwide and a budget of £4.3Bn, delivering intelligence, Special Forces, operational command and control, surveillance, reconnaissance and information systems/ communications, operational logistics, medical support, and advanced education and training across the Armed Forces.
His military career included the last decade of the Cold War and leadership from Captain to General on military operations in Bosnia, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan – often as part of US-led coalitions and in NATO. He was responsible for Military Strategy and Operations in the MoD as a Lieutenant General 2011-13 and President and Colonel Commandant of the Honourable Artillery Company 2013-2019.
Richard is a Distinguished Fellow at RUSI, and a Visiting Senior Fellow at LSE IDEAS. He read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at The Queen’s College, Oxford en route to becoming an artillery officer. Currently he advises and lectures regularly on defence transformation, security policy, digital risk, and senior leadership to academic, parliamentary, military and commercial audiences.