People
Armadillo consultants are all highly experienced at living and working in hostile environments - being present in every major conflict since 1992. They all spend sometime in the field each year working with humanitarian agencies as security advisors - reducing risk without compromising the image or principles of their charges. As trainers, they are uniquely capable of passing on their skills and knowledge.
Michelle Mackintosh: Co-Founder and Director
Michelle has fifteen years experience in the humanitarian safety and security sector, much of it first hand and practical as a security officer and a global security advisor for a major INGO. She has developed organisational security plans, trained hundreds of staff, managed real crises, and helped many to avoid them. She is our lead on field operations, and is mostly still to be found in the field, side by side with humanitarian actors.
Steve McCann: Co-Founder and Director
Steve is an experienced and practical safety and security specialist in the humanitarian sector, with both UN and military experience, but like all Armadillo staff, familiar with and committed to the humanitarian imperative, knowing that humanitarian security is different - not even all about security in traditional terms. Steve focusses now on consultant support, working the centre to support programme delivery by our team, though ensuring that like all Armadillo staff, he works several weeks each year in the field with clients.
Steve Ritchie
Steve has been involved in security and safety all his working life, with detailed experience in enabling the continuation of programmes within difficult environments . His greatest strength though is his ability to work with our clients to help them achieve sustainable change, improved safety and security practices. Steve is our lead in South Asia, with a detailed and extensive knowledge of the contexts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Another person who lives in the field, Steve is also experienced in much of Africa, especially Sudan, and also in Gaza.
Patrick Fox
Patrick has extensive experience in Afghanistan, Pakistan and South Sudan and is a former ICRC delegate, active with Armadillo client partners in all those countries and more besides. Patrick is expert at reviewing and assessing our clients safety and security capacity, and working with them to make significant and sustainable improvements.
Nick Abrahams
Nick has many years of field experience with Save and Merlin as an overseas deployed staff member, plus interestingly some time with CRG in an analyst role. Nick has worked with us many times in Afghanistan, and has had great success as in interim security specialist with a major client there.
Kjell Bjork
Kjell brings great strength to the Armadillo line up with his impressive history of working in the field combined with an academic capacity that has taken him to the edge of gaining his PhD. Kjell has experience in Afghanistan and a host of other contexts and will lead Armadillo trainings in the field
Chris Allen
Currently working in the field with NRC as their regional security co-ordinator, based in Nairobi.
John Calogero
John, a wilderness first aid specialist and humanitarian safety and security specialist, is currently on secondment to a client partner based in Aceh, Indonesia.
Rachel Halton
Rachel is our UK based administrator. She would be delighted to hear from anyone who would like further information: contact her through our contact form.
John Jacobs
John Jacobs is Armadillo’s radio communications specialist. He is an experienced and qualified electronics engineer whose working experience has always been in ’severe environments’, ranging from oceanographic instrumentation to ruggedised radio communications systems. For more information see www.jacobsconsulting.co.uk
Eldred de Klerk
Eldred is a peace and reconciliation specialist based out of South Africa, with extensive practical experience in humanitarian safety and security.
Jaffar Nadeem
Jaffar Nadeem is based in Afghanistan, and is our context expert and lead on delivery of guard training in country.
Work with Armadillo?
We are field based practitioners who are proud of our commitment to the humanitarian sector and our ability to communicate learning to people of many cultures. If you have a strong security and NGO background, and can demonstrate a passion for training as well as the ability to review an organisations safety and security stance, and with the ability to communicate with staff of every level, contact us. In truth we are slow at replying, our clients come first, but we will.
Candidates must have good communication skills and be prepared to live in the field. Languages are especially welcome with French, Arabic & Spanish being amongst the most useful. Contact us for more information through our contact form.
