Former United Nations Commander in Bosnia. Outstanding Global speaker on themes including leadership, negotiation, risk management, effective communication, as well as risk and security.
An army officer for 26 years, Colonel Bob Stewart is best known for his command of the United Nations peacekeeping forces in Bosnia. He has worked in some of the toughest circumstances in the world, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for leadership and gallantry. He is now a broadcaster in news and current affairs and is seen regularly as a commentator on all the main television channels as well as contributing on radio. He has presented a series on Negotiation in Conflict Situations, “At War with Next Door” for Channel 5, which utilised his no-nonsense negotiating and diplomacy skills.
Bob also specialises as a freelance consultant in Leadership, Security, Intelligence, Motivation, Crisis Management, and Negotiation. His book ‘Broken Lives’, about command during the Balkan War, was a best seller. He has been Chairman of the Independent Defence Media Association, representing freelance British Defence and Security journalists.
The son of a Regular Officer Bob Stewart was commissioned from Sandhurst in 1969 and was in the British infantry for the next 26 years. At various times he became an intelligence officer and company commander in Northern Ireland, a Sandhurst instructor, a staff officer in Military Operations within the MOD and Military Assistant (Lieutenant Colonel) to the Chairman of NATO’s Military Committee in Brussels. In 1991 he assumed command of 1st Battalion the Cheshire Regiment. As Commanding Officer he was the first British Commander under United Nations command in Bosnia during 1992-93. On returning from Bosnia he was awarded the D.S.O. Promoted to Colonel he then took up the appointment of Chief of Policy at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers in Europe.
Leaving the British Army in 1995 Bob Stewart became Senior Consultant in the Public Affairs and Corporate Policy Division of Hill & Knowlton (UK) Ltd. His specialisations there were Government Relations as well as Security, Crisis Management and Negotiation. In 1998 he was appointed Managing Director of WorldSpace UK Ltd, a digital radio satellite broadcasting company that operates across the World, where he set-up and ran the transmission of 21 radio stations internationally from London including CNN and BBC World Service.
He holds a 1st Class Degree in International Politics from the University of Wales and is a fellow of Kingston University Business and Law School.
His main areas of expertise which are in much demand for corporate events include:
• Leadership
• Security & Intelligence
• Motivation
• Crisis Management
• Negotiation
Your speech was inspired and thought provoking and has energised our senior and middle managers to bring improvement firmly back on their agenda. The key role of excellent leadership during times of change came through loud and clear, Thank you for giving us your time, experience and learning. British Nuclear Group
I just thought I would drop you a quick email to say ‘thank you’ for sharing your Bosnian conflict experiences with attendees at our recent UK Business Services Management Team meeting. The presentation that you delivered really did serve to underline the leadership messages that we were looking to reinforce to our management team and, whilst I doubt that many of us will have to rise to the scale of challenges that you faced in Bosnia, I’m sure we’ll each be able to call on the messages we heard for future inspiration. Moreover, I have received some very favourable comments from attendees on how much they enjoyed your presentation and how it helped to demonstrate the importance of clear decision making and challenging the status quo when there is a demonstrable benefit. AstraZeneca UK Ltd