Andre De Barr is the Director of VUCAP Strategy and Risk, a Perth-based consulting firm focusing on mid-sized organisations in their growth phase. He has a particular interest in consulting to the not-for-profit sector in relation to risk, governance and compliance.
Born in West Africa, Andre migrated to the UK as a child, growing up in England and Gibraltar. At 18 he joined the Royal Marines and upon completion of his commando training was deployed to various locations around the world. His operational service included Maritime Interdiction Operations in the Arabian Gulf, interdicting piracy and terrorism activity between the horn of Africa and Oman.
As a member of Fleet Standby Rifle Troop, Andre received specialist training in maritime operations, urban operations, reconnaissance, as well as board and search operations.
On leaving the corps in 2004, Andre migrated to Perth, Western Australia. He soon became the Operations Manager for Chubb Security, managing a workforce of over 700 employees across the State. A similar role followed for the Security Division ISS Facility Services, where he was responsible for over 500 security officers in both regional and metropolitan WA.
Andre’s other roles in the field include Security Project Manager on the Wheatstone Project, where he led a fly-in fly-out team of over 100 employees during the project’s construction phase.
These high-level experiences, combined with his military expertise, have allowed Andre to identify opportunities for WA based organisations to reduce their levels of risk. By applying a range of techniques such as internal audit, process improvement and systems design, Andre works with clients to identify enterprise risk and develop controls. Identifying risk is often a process of conducting external micro-environment analysis or conducting internal systems audit. From these analyses he is able to provide advice to clients that maximise opportunities for security and growth.
Whilst his background is in managing personnel projects and developing strategic options for mid-sized WA-based organisations, his time spent in the British Royal Marines has shaped and helped to refine his work ethic and managerial thinking.
Andre continues to work for, support and develop not-for-profit organisations and initiatives which align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Andre sees his role of Veterans Advocate for WA DEFENCE REVIEW as an opportunity to champion the interests of ex-service women and men in their desire to fruitfully contribute in their transition to civilian life.