Two former Royal Marines who went on to enjoy high-flying careers in the business, charity and international development sectors have joined forces to launch their own venture.

After more than three years as CEO of RE:ACT, the emergency and crisis response charity, Richard Sharp has stepped down to form Challenger with Rob McPherson.

The consultancy aims to help businesses struggling to achieve their vision.

It plans to do this by taking the best of Richard and Rob’s experiences to break down strategy into clear, actionable plans for implementation.

Challenger says it will also “help businesses prepare for, and manage, the crises that today’s changeable world presents.”

Richard, who lives in Poole, said: “Leading RE:ACT has been the absolute privilege of my lifetime, but now is the right time to move on and to bring Challenger to life.

“Rob and I have a unique mix of experiences that can help businesses bring their visions to life and we are beyond excited to get going, especially at home in Dorset.”

Richard, 38, learnt his leadership skills in the field: first, as a rugby player in his native Cornwall, then as a Royal Marines Commando Officer.

After completing the gruelling selection process and commissioning in 2005, he served two tours in Afghanistan during a seven-year career.

Upon leaving the Armed Forces, he joined Deutsche Bank in 2012 and for two-and-a-half years worked as Chief of Staff to the Divisional Control Officer and Global Head of Risk, rising to become Vice President.

In 2015 Richard left the corporate world to enter the charity sector, joining Help for Heroes as Chief of Staff to the CEO, before becoming Director of Operations.

Two years later he was appointed by General Sir Nick Parker to become the new CEO of RE:ACT (formerly Team Rubicon UK).

In his first two years at the helm, he oversaw the transformation of the charity’s finances, trebling annual revenue to £1.2m, as well as establishing the charity as an effective and trusted international disaster responder.

Richard also played a pivotal role in the nationwide response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Initially providing mission analysis to the UK government, he went on to lead the rapid development of capabilities bringing together the military, charity sector and emergency services which served hundreds of thousands of people.

He then drove the massive scaling up of the organisation to provide response teams across the country, plugging critical gaps in the NHS and local resilience structures while simultaneously raising money to sustain the operation.

Richard also launched a business protection company midway through the pandemic which expanded to 100 staff and £20m annualised revenues within the first six months of trading.

Challenger Co-Founder Rob, also 38, pictured right, was born in Zimbabwe where he became an elite cyclist competing at world championship level.

He left Africa to enlist in the Royal Marines and was quickly selected to be an officer, undertaking another 15 months of commando training to earn a commission.

After leaving the military, Rob spent ten years working in the international development sector where he created and led multi-agency programmes to help stimulate and stabilise economies in Somalia, Somaliland, Nigeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Niger, Mozambique, Syria, Turkey and Jordan.

He has also supported the scaling and digital transformations of businesses in the technology, property, sport and intelligence sectors.

Rob said: “It’s really exciting to be working with Richard again and to fuse our experience of delivering business and government outcomes around the world.

“By taking the methodology honed in the most testing environments, and tailoring it to businesses here in the UK, we know we can make a massive difference to our clients.”

• challenger-ops.com