Diane wasn’t the obvious pick for the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MOD). “I was a green warrior,” says the PMD. “When I joined, they even asked if I was a member of Greenpeace—because you have to sign the Official Secrets Act and membership was not accepted; fortunately, my student membership had lapsed.”
That adventurous streak has remained, though. Her career has taken her all over the globe and she has obtained degrees in, well, a host of things: honors in geology and physical geography, a master’s in environmental pollution control engineering (with a diploma in acoustic pollution), another master’s in contaminated land remediation assessment, and an MBA.
Early on in her career, Diane focused on environmental remediation for the MOD, cleaning up after the military: "Think unexploded ordnance, depleted uranium, even old-school mustard gas,” says Diane, adding “not me personally.”
The job took her to overseas bases where she ran environmental surveys to assess remediation needs, and even analyzed the multi-acoustic signature of rocket systems.
Back in the UK, her next gig was to manage a £2.3 billion public-private partnership to upgrade MOD waste and wastewater facilities. “I delivered that to time, cost, and quality,” Diane says, moving from technical manager to program manager along the way.
The Cabinet Office then sponsored an MBA, and Diane returned to civil service, overseeing MOD-owned businesses like the Defence Support Group, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), and the Met Office, which tracks meteorological data.
“The weather in the UK is a national obsession,” she jokes, “it’s more interesting than in the U.S.—our weather is less predictable, thanks to all the wind currents around this little island.”
Just before the global financial crisis, Diane took a secondment to Booz Allen Hamilton and ended up staying in the private sector. As part of that journey, she spent four years in the UAE, redesigning logistics for the armed forces and making Partner at the now Booz & Co. “It was daunting—going into a male-dominated military world in the Middle East as an ex-civil servant and telling generals there might be better ways to do things," she says, "but a well-connected attaché opened doors, and I loved the experience.”
Consulting turned out to be a sweet spot. Back in the UK, Diane joined AlixPartners’ Aerospace & Defense practice in 2023 after leading A&D at PWC and Strategy& for EMEA for nearly a decade. Within our firm, Diane has a reputation for handling large-scale transformation programs—everything from strategy and procurement to operating model design, cultural change, and program turnaround.
After moving to Devon, Diane got into ocean rowing. She had previously competed in kayaking for the country, becoming a world champion in 1996, but says ocean gigs are a different beast: “These boats haven’t changed much since the days of three-mast ships when pilots would race out in six-man rowing boats to guide ships into harbor.”
Today, pilot gigs are raced all over the world but are especially popular in the UK’s southwest.
The races? They’re short—20 minutes max—but intense. “You plough through the breakers and around three or four ocean buoys," she explains. The teams of six have lifejackets, naturally, but Diane says they usually stay on the floor of the boat since they’re “pretty robust” boats. “It’s exhausting, but I love it.”
Last year, Diane’s vets crew won the World Gig-Rowing Championships in the Isles of Scilly, off Cornwall, against crews from America, Bermuda, Holland, and elsewhere.
For the multi-hyphenate expert, gig rowing is pure flow state.
“When you’re out on big water, you have to focus—just get your oar in and pull. The timing is everything because the water’s never stable. You can’t think about anything else—not even work. It’s a total break.”