FOUNDER

Mark is Australia’s leading adviser to Defence Industry. He is the Founder and Managing Director of Arican, Australia’s and AUKUS’ leading Defence and National Security Industry advisers and commentators, with staff in the US and UK as well as Australia-wide. He leads complex transaction projects, advisory engagements, and capital raisings mostly in the Defence and National Security market segments. Mark also has a growing portfolio of Board positions. He is the Chairman of ASX listed Defence company XTEK, is a Non-Executive Director at Eptec and an Executive Director at Asseti. He is well known to Defence senior leadership and has a range of relationships with staff across the ADF, Department of Defence and Australian Intelligence Community.

Mark is a 1984 graduate of the RMC Duntroon and served in the Australian Army for ten years as an infantry officer. Since 1995 Mark has worked primarily as a management consultant and adviser including appointments at Coopers & Lybrand, Aptech and KPMG. He was the Defence lead for global technology company IBM in Australia and subsequently the Asia Pacific region.

Mark holds a B.Arts, B.Business and MBA, attended Oxford University’s Strategic Leadership Program and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. has also lectured in Strategic Management on the Masters of Management Program at the UNSW (ADFA Campus).

He has led over 250 deals into Defence and in 2018 was instrumental in originating the first acquisition by Private Equity of an Australian Defence Industry company, Marand Precision Engineering, by CHAMP. Mark also advised on most of the investments by private equity in Australian Defence companies since 2018 including the acquisition of Eptec by Next Capital.

Arican’s advisory model is founded on a bespoke approach as each client is different.

Arican’s engagements are characterised by absolute honesty and transparency, high levels of trust, close working relationships with senior executives and managers and long-term engagements driving success in Defence and adjacent market segments.

Mark also leads Arican’s Capital business sitting between investors and Australian Defence Industry companies advising on capital placements. Arican currently maintains a database of over 3200 Australian companies operating in part or whole in the Australian Defence and National Security market.

Mark is also a major shareholder and Executive Director of Asseti, Australia’s largest commercial drone operator.

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SENIOR ADVISER

Jan retired from the British Army as an Infantry Colonel, after a career which included both significant operational experience and extensive procurement and equipment development expertise. Jan was competitively selected for the full, year-long Division 2 weapons technology course at the Royal Military Academy of Science, followed by postings as a senior technical officer in operational theatres and the Ministry of Defence, where he analysed and led on complex procurement issues for Ministers and the Army Board, with responsibility for introduction of new equipment across the British army. After 2 years as strategic and policy director at the UK’s tri-service Defence Academy, Jan’s final military role was as an adviser to the MOD, leading policy development in what was then the UK’s only cross-departmental strategic think-tank - the Advanced Research and Assessment group. Following his military career, Jan lectured at Cranfield University at postgraduate level.

Having relocated with his family to Australia, he has spent the subsequent decade working with Arican in an advisory role on a range of high-value Federal and State government contracts, both as part of bid teams, and in a leadership role. These have spanned Defence, Home Affairs, Construction and Service Delivery engagements.

Jan has an MSc in Design of Information Systems from Cranfield University, and holds the award of Member of the City and Guilds Institute in the UK (MCGI) – the institute’s highest professional award for strategic leadership and organisational innovation. He brings extensive practical experience and deep theoretical knowledge to his areas of responsibility and is Arican’s subject matter expert for Australian Industry Content (AIC) and risk management advice.

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SENIOR ADVISER

Peter’s first career was as an Infantry officer in the British Army. He is a graduate of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and the Army Staff College at Camberley, including the technical staff course. His 27- year service concluded with Strategy and Policy roles in the Ministry of Defence. He emigrated to Australia in 2008.  His initial commercial role was as the Operations Manager for a Defence and Security Technology services and materiel provider, for which the primary customer was the Department of Defence. 

Peter has worked with Arican for over a decade, providing advice at the strategic and operational levels, mainly to Defence Industry clients, as well as new entrants into the sector, delivering or bidding into Defence.

Broadening experience, latterly, he has managed the Asia Pacific market in terms of strategy, business development and operations for a global engineering services provider, focussing on the floating energy production sector. 

He is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors International Directors’ Course.

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SENIOR ADVISER

Pete leads the Arican North America business. He is focused on supporting U.S. Government contractors seeking market entry and business growth in the defence and national security sector in Australia. Additionally, he works with the Australia and UK based Arican teams to provide support to Australian and UK businesses seeking market entry assistance in the U.S. defense and national security market.

He has nearly 20 years of strategy, business development, and capture management experience within the U.S. Federal Government contracting environment (CONUS and OCONUS). During this period, he has worked for defense and government services companies including PAE, Serco, Parsons, and Agility. He has also been afforded the opportunity to provide consulting services to a range of U.S. based defense contractors, mostly for OCONUS pursuits.

Pete is a former ministerial adviser within the Australian Government Defence portfolio, served in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), and is a graduate of the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA). He is based in Dallas, TX.

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SENIOR ADVISER

Senior AdvisEr, United Kingdom

James leads the Arican UK business. In a similar vein to Arican’s Pete Shaw in the North American sector, he supports UK contractors looking to market entry and business opportunities in the defence and national security sectors in Australia. Additionally, with Arican colleagues, he provides support to Australian and US businesses seeking market entry assistance in the UK.

In 2022, he retired from the British Army as a Major General. His last post was Director Land Warfare with responsibility for leading, organising and managing the Army’s delivery of training across the UK and determining the Army’s future training transformation. Previously he was Commander British Forces Cyprus and Administrator of the Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus. His diplomatic experience also involved being the UK's Military Attaché in Washington DC. He has a deep aviation background having been an officer in the Army Air Corps.

He is a graduate of the UK Defence's Higher Command and Staff Course, and is now based just outside Salisbury, Wiltshire.

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SENIOR ADVISER

With 31 years of experience and as a senior officer in the Australian Defence Force, Ian Langford has had the challenge and opportunity of leading large and small teams in complex and ambiguous environments. Ian has held a range of appointments in the Army and Special Forces throughout his career. Ian commanded the 2nd Commando Regiment, as well as multiple Special Operations Task Groups in Afghanistan, Iraq, and on domestic counter-terrorism duties. Ian has also led the at the strategic level, responsible for the Army’s future strategic investments, future concepts and capabilities, major capital acquisitions and critical sustainment systems as the Head of Land Capability on two separate occasions in both 2019/20 and again in 2022.

Ian Langford’s operational service includes deployments to Timor Leste, Afghanistan, Bougainville, Solomon Islands, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and the South-West Pacific. For his service, Ian has been awarded several Australian commendations, and the Distinguished Service Cross on three occasions. In 2019, he was appointed as an Honourary Aide de Camp to the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia. He was also until recently the patron of the Defence Entrepreneur’s Forum, an internationally recognised innovation pathway for young leaders as part a global defence innovation network.

Ian Langford is a Distinguished Graduate of the United States Marine Corps Command and Staff College and the School of Advanced Warfighting. He is a Distinguished Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors Company Directors Course. He has also completed the Senior Executive Leadership program at the Australian National University as well as the Senior Leadership in National Security and the Senior Leadership in Government program from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Ian holds a Bachelor’s degree in Management, a Master of Arts, a Master of Defence Studies, a Master of Strategic Studies and a Doctor of Philosophy from Deakin University. He has been published dozens of times as an independent author, essayist and editor. In 2022, Ian retired from the Army as a Brigadier and has since formed his own advisory company, Burran Consultancy. He was also recently appointed an Associate Professor at the University of New South Wales, where he teaches at the post-graduate level as well as undertakes his own research.

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SENIOR ADVISER & CHIEF OF STAFF

With over 30 years of experience in national security, management consulting, strategic planning and geopolitical risk advisory, Mark has successfully led complex program and project delivery across the globe, including in Australia, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. With experience managing more than $41.5M in transformation and change programs for State Government and directing over EUR 9 million in international security sector reform programs, Mark provides Arican’s clients the highest calibre of support in any Defence and Government setting.

A graduate of the Australian Defence Force Academy, and former officer in the Royal Australian Navy, Mark offers more than 5 years of maritime service insights, and 25 years in executive leadership and management roles. Notably, he has held Director level positions in International Policy with the Department of Defence and has served as Chief of Staff to the Assistant Minister for Defence.

Mark is a trusted adviser to Chief Executives operating in the Defence and Government space. He has built significant professional services and consulting experience with advisery groups such as CMAX Advisery, Noetic Group, and Bondi Partners. To compliment his extensive experience, he holds a Bachelor of Arts (Politics) and a Master of Arts (International Relations).

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SENIOR ADVISER

Aaron’s advisory work with Arican is focused on supporting clients in preparing for the exciting opportunities for Defence Industry in Australia's north. A graduate of the Royal Military College Duntroon and former officer in the Ro

yal Australian Engineers, Aaron offers more than eight years of direct military service insights, and still currently serves as a reservist. Since leaving full-time service, Aaron has spent the last decade cultivating strong operational management and consultancy skills across various sectors, including Defence and Government, Not-For-Profit, Public Health, Digital Marketing and Disruptive Technologies.

Complementary to his recent work in the Northern Territory with the Office of Defence Industry Support, Aaron works with Peter Shaw and James Illingworth to identify opportunities for Arican's Australian, US and UK clients, north of the Tropic of Capricorn. Aaron offers clients direct and nuanced insights in navigating the Defence Supply Chain, taking a holistic outlook on the entire business, and priming their Defence pipelines to thrive.

Leveraging his Defence and commercial skill sets together, Aaron supports clients in translating their value and navigating the Defence and National Security landscape. Aaron holds an MBA, Master of Commercial Law, Bachelor of Laws and Legal Practice, and a Bachelor of Economics.

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