Programme rescue
Re-establish scope, priorities, dependencies, resources, authority and the cadence through which drift becomes visible.
Programme & transformation leadership
Take control of delivery without pretending to own the whole enterprise.
When delivery must be recovered, integrated or assured.
Turn institutional complexity into controlled delivery.
What others observed Fred Church records that Steven was pivotal in drawing up the outline and then the detail of the initial programme
and had the pragmatism to turn strategy into detailed plans
.Public LinkedIn recommendation · DTR colleague · 2011
Steven brings specialists behind a shared mission, connects what each can see and converts institutional complexity into work they can collectively execute.
- Assure the whole systemConnect workstreams, resources, budgets and decisions.
- Expose dependenciesMake blockage, sequencing and slippage visible.
- Stabilise executionConvert fragmented plans into one governed route.
Demonstrated: £18.6bn scale across 81 organisations, approximately 23,000 people and 54 sites, integrating around 1,200 plans into one operating picture.
Mandate scopeControl Integration Realisation
Delivery control is its own executive discipline.
One operating picture
Connect workstreams, budgets, people, suppliers, estates, risks and decisions into an executable whole.
Benefits beyond closure
Distinguish formal completion from the operating integration required for successor organisations to perform.
Proven scale
The £18.6bn transformation was an operating system, not a headline procurement.
The territory included 81 organisations, approximately 23,000 staff and contractors and 54 sites; mechanical and electrical engineering, logistics, medical, police and intelligence training; unions and TUPE; estate, supplier and Treasury interfaces; closure, relocation, merger and the formation of six successor structures.
An initial three-month fixed-term appointment as OF5 Head of Plans, Risk & Integration was repeatedly extended for five years. Chief Operating Officer was the accepted working title for the integrated responsibility; the formal-title reconciliation is set out on the Record. Within six months, the functional breadth encompassed plans, risk, finance, suppliers, people, estates and delivery across the programme. The work converted approximately 1,200 separate plans into one integrated operating picture and made dependencies, sequencing and slippage visible.
Defence commercial application · 2013–2019Evidence Model Decision
Thirty years of actual fleet evidence replaced an inherited cost proxy.
Build the real baseline
At MOD Abbey Wood, Steven assembled approximately thirty years of Royal Navy repair and maintenance costs and developed performance metrics for future support of Type 45 destroyers and both Queen Elizabeth-class carriers.
Test the cost driver
Rather than assume tonnage determined support cost, he tested actual expenditure against ship’s complement. The resulting unit cost was unexpectedly consistent across classes and provided a stronger whole-life forecasting basis.
Carry evidence into negotiation
The model challenged an internal provision approaching £1bn, survived independent cost challenge at two-star level and supplied the lower-cost basis used in bidder negotiations.
Public records show Babcock’s MSSP preferred-bidder position at approximately £360m over seven years and the final four MSSP contracts at £320m. Steven records an approximately £410m fully burdened MSSP and MEC position. Evidence and boundaries →
Suitable appointments
- Programme Director
- Chief Transformation Officer
- Integration Director
- Programme Rescue Lead
- Benefits Realisation Lead
- Complex Stakeholder Assurance
The mandate must provide real authority over programme governance, dependencies, escalation and decision-quality information. Responsibility without the means to control delivery is not an executable appointment.