Live ChatAlex Walmsley is SSAFA’s National Vice Chair and Trustee. She has over 30 years’ experience in the defence and nuclear sectors in both the United Kingdom and United States of America. Alex is the CEO of Ashbourne Strategic Consulting Ltd, the defence consultancy which she established in 2004.
Since 2014 Alex has also been UK Managing Director of GEL Laboratories, the USA’s largest independent radiochemistry laboratory. Alex is a Senior Adviser to Newton, the operational improvement consultancy, to the specialist defence PR agency CMS Strategic and to FIPRA, the global public affairs consultancy, headquartered in Brussels. She is one of the UK’s leading experts on Eastern Europe, with a particular focus on Lithuania and Ukraine.
Her honorary appointments include as an Associate Fellow of the defence think-tank RUSI and a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.
Alex has written numerous articles, policy papers and a book on Lithuanian history. She is a frequent media commentator on defence, aerospace and security issues.
At St Andrews University, while completing her PhD on post-Soviet Lithuania, Alex lectured on history and politics. She also worked as a researcher on defence issues for Lord Campbell of Pittenweem throughout her undergraduate and postgraduate studies.
In her spare hours, Alex plays the cello, fly fishes, enjoys live music and supports Scottish Rugby and West Ham United Football Club. In 2007 she survived a SSAFA Skydive!