VADM Martin Connell was appointed Second Sea Lord in January 2022. He is responsible for delivery of the RN’s future capabilities, strategy and long-term programme and is the RN’s Principal Personnel Officer. His early career included various seagoing assignments, initially as a Lynx helicopter observer and then as a principal warfare officer. He has had the privilege of commanding at sea on a number of occasions, including the former aircraft carrier and flagship HMS ILLUSTRIOUS and joint operational command at 1* level while serving as Commander of the UK’s Amphibious Task Group. Ashore he has completed numerous tours in the central staff of the Ministry of Defence, served as the British Naval Attache in Washington D.C. and most recently was the Royal Navy’s Force Generation Director, Rear Admiral Fleet Air Arm and Senior Responsible Owner of the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier programme. Vice Admiral Connell is a graduate of the United States Naval War College where he took the Naval Command College Course and will be a panelist alongside Professors Alesso Patalano from King’s College London and Fernando Wilson from the Naval War Academy.