John Tesh

John Tesh retired as a senior UK civil servant in 2012, after a 36-year career mainly in the Ministry of Defence, which ranged widely over the fields of international policy, national strategy, operational policy, finance and organization.   His last appointment, from 2006-2012, was on secondment to the Cabinet Office as head of the capabilities team in the Civil Contingencies Secretariat.   The Cabinet Office is the central Government Department that advises the British Prime Minister and Cabinet on strategic issues concerning the whole of government.  The CCS is the unit within the National Security Secretariat that advises the government on national crisis management and resilience issues.   

As part of his role in the Cabinet Office, John coordinated the UK’s National Resilience Capabilities Programme, a portfolio of government-wide projects to improve preparedness for major emergencies and to improve the resilient characteristics of national infrastructure. He developed the UK’s National Risk Assessment to the point where, in 2009, this was acknowledged as best in class internationally by the OECD. He also pioneered work on public risk communication in the National Risk Register, the first edition of which appeared in 2008, contributed material on national resilience to the first three national security strategies (in 2008, 2009 and 2010) and assisted in the design and subsequent review of the 2010 National Security Risk Assessment.

As well as the considerable contribution above John also contributed to the design of the first UK Climate Change Risk Assessment, published in 2012 and initiated the Strategic Risk Assessment for the 2012 London Olympic Games 

He was awarded a CBE in the 2013 New Year’s Honours list for his work on civil resilience and the development of the National Risk Assessment.     

Addicted to work and convinced of the overwhelming importance to nations of improving their resilience in a rapidly changing, and dangerous, risk environment, John has spent the years following his retirement in 2012 consulting to the OECD (as the leading international authority on resilience issues) and to Governments in Europe, the Middle East and Africa on risk and resilience issues.  This has included projects to establish country- and provincial-level multi-hazard risk assessment processes for the short- and medium-term;   and cyber risk assessment processes.  

Work and publications following retirement included:  consultancy to the OECD’s inter-governmental High Level Risk Forum for whom he has co-authored a comparative study of National Risk Assessment among a number of OECD Member States1;  Trends and Directions in Disaster Risk Management in ‘Europe and Others Group’ – a paper prepared for the World Humanitarian Summit Regional Consultation in Budapest, 3-4 February 2015;  a report for RUSI and the Swedish National Defence University on Supply Chain Resilience (focusing in particular on the resilience of supplies of energy, food and water, and pharmaceuticals);  and an earlier (2013) RUSI report on the National Risk Register (NRR)’s value to communities and businesses.  

John is married with three sons.  His hobbies outside work include sport (modern pentathlon - he captained the Oxford University team in 1975 – and rugby) and music. 

Qualifications 

  • BA Literae Humaniores - Jesus College, Oxford