SPARTAN - Key Persons
A proven leader and manager with 30 years experience, Michael Armstrong's reinterpretation of military planing and execution doctrine for business was the inspiration behind Spartan Inc. Selected for service with Australia's elite Special Air Service Regiment in his youth, Michael was exposed to cutting edge operational and contingency planning techniques and implementation tools, and saw first hand the positive effect they had on leadership sills and outcomes under extreme pressure of time, detail and potentially fatal consequences. Michael has provided resilience and leadership advice and support to finance, resource, industrial and public sector organisations and NGOs such as Moore Stephens, JP Morgan Chase, Prudential, State Street, Shell Malaysia, BOC, OilSearch, Sydney Airports Corporation, Hanson, the Australian National Blood Authority, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the US Army Corps of Engineers, and Adam Smith International.
Prior to his commercial career, Michael served 20 years in the Australian Army in senior operational, training and command appointments. He served 15 years as a counter terrorism (CT) operations officer in Special Operations Command, including as CT liaison officer to state and federal police, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and in 1998 to a joint famine relief mission in Irian Jaya. He has led contingency planning for Australia's overseas embassies, including in the torrid months after 9/11. Based in an undisclosed location in the Middle East in 2011 and 2012, Michael worked with coalition Special Operations Forces as the lead Australian planner for hostage rescue across the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia.
Michael is a graduate of the Royal Military College, Duntroon and the Macquarie Graduate School of Management. He also holds qualifications in counter terrorism from the University of St Andrews and in security, risk and training through the Australian Quality Framework. His interests include human cognitive theory and the effect of and potential responses to fat tail risk events.