Mark Ridgway

Air Vice-Marshal Mark Ridgway grew up in North London and joined the Royal Air Force in 1999 as an intelligence officer. He has worked in a range of roles across the RAF, Defence, and international organisations, completing multiple deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East. Most recently, as an air commodore, he commanded the National Centre for Geospatial Intelligence, before promotion and appointment as Director Defence Futures in October 2024. In July 2025, this role evolved to become Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff for Futures and Force Design, where he is responsible for providing strategic foresight and military concepts, learning lessons from conflicts around the world, and designing the future Armed Forces. Mark holds a degree in Politics from the University of Nottingham and three Master's degrees in terrorism studies, defence studies, and leadership and management. He has also completed a doctorate focused on empowerment in the Information Age military. He ha