Dr David Finnigan MBE

Dr David Finnigan MBE is Global Head of Physical Security Frameworks and Cultural Resilience at Darkskope.

Dr David is a senior ex-military officer who specialises in the human aspects of security, security management, project management and training. His early career focussed on helicopter flying and flying training, but he soon migrated to Special Forces operations, where he spent just over 15 years, culminating in being the 2^nd in command of the UK Special Forces helicopter unit and the head of helicopter training. This time exposed him to vast, considerably varied, demanding, and high-risk security experiences covering threats to physical infrastructures, crisis management and planning, Business Continuity and threats to IT systems at the strategic and tactical levels. This experience ranged from providing expertise to the 2012 London Olympic games, developing defence structures within main and remote bases, to the rescue of British hostages held in Western Africa, for which he was awarded his MBE.

Uniquely, Dr David has not only looked at ways to defend against the myriad of attack methods theoretically but has conducted them live across an expansive operational sphere of operations. This gives an unprecedented perspective on the challenges facing security operations and provides a wealth of experience upon which to draw.

From these experiences, Dr David recognises that it is not machines, computers and systems that pose a threat, but the people operating them, and this spawned his interest in the humanistic approach. By exploring people's motivations, desires, and drives, he believes that a greater understanding of the source of threats, errors or accidents can be better understood. Using this knowledge, better solutions can be designed and employed, and more effective response methods can be initiated to provide greater resilience to the business.

A move to the United Arab Emirates in 2012 broadened the humanistic approach spectrum to incorporate multicultural aspects. This dimension was the focus of his doctorate research and has provided significant depth in answering many of the resilience and security issues raised by globalisation.

Dr David has successfully utilised his experience and knowledge through training and consultation across a breadth of business activities and sectors ranging from the UAE military and police, food and beverage (including BRF, Al Shaya Group) through oil and gas (ADNOC) and technology (Siemens, Audi/VW) up to and including logistic chain management (Maersk, GAC). 

Dr David blends his extensive operational experience with academic underpinnings with his doctorate in International Knowledge Transfer, an MBA in International Leadership, Project Management through PMP and Prince 2, and a postgraduate award in Corporate Risk and Crises Management from the Institute of Risk Management. This blend ensures that Dr David's consultation and training are always academically appropriate, operationally verified through personal experience, and culturally compliant.