James Gatley is the Chief Operating Officer at Droneshield (ASX: DRO). He had a highly successful career with the Australian Army. This experience saw James complete 17 years service, with 12 years of this time spent serving within Special Operations (126 Sig Sqn/2 CDO and 1 CDO). He completed 11 operational deployments and took part in active service globally. At the conclusion of his career in the ADF, James managed a sales portfolio for a company that included Defence, Law Enforcement and Government clients within Australia. He has conducted high level Security and Risk training for various Government clients. James holds Diplomas in Business, Project Management and Security and Risk Management. He also holds a GradCert in Terrorism and Security Studies.

His life journey hasn't been easy nor his transition out of Defence despite him now landing on his feet at Droneshield. We will dig into what makes him tick, how he prepared for his transition, delve into the challenges he faced, discuss advice he could give others who are transitioning or have transitioned, his experiences in educating and reskilling himself and what he does today to keep on keeping on. Top Bloke. Enjoy!

Special thanks to The Externals for the tunes and also our sponsors and partners Omni Executive, Safran Group, Stripe International, AGSM @ UNSW and University of Queensland.