ROB BENNETT

Rob Bennett joined Lone Star in March 2022 as the Solutions Director for our UK team. Rob shared, “Lone Star Analysis is an amazing company, and I feel privileged to be part of it. I’d known Robin Adlam, the MD of Lone Star Analysis UK, for a long time and loved the Lone Star stochastic modelling approach and Robin’s ambition to ‘change the way UK defence makes decisions.'” So, he jumped when they had discussions about needing help to grow the UK business. He said, “I cover strategy and sales to project delivery and data analysis. Rob Harrill described my role as ‘chief cook and bottle washer’ – and he’s been right about that and everything else ever since!”

In the last six months, he found Lone Star filled with “the most inspiringly conscientious, ambitious, creative, and hard-working people” he’s ever met. Rob told us, “Most importantly (to me at least), everyone is also so friendly and welcoming – from Micole, who made me feel at home and helped me find my way around, to the whole board, who took the time to chat. I’ve never seen such a concentration of smarts in one organization. It’s a little dizzying sometimes. Robin often says, “If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.” Well, by that measure, I don’t think I’ll ever be in the wrong room at Lone Star!”

Rob’s passionate about learning from amazing people and helping others grow and improve. But his biggest passion is making a difference for his customers. Rob shared, “My favorite quote is from Martin Luther King Jr., “Everybody can be great because everybody can serve.” The big project (with the big question) that I’m working on right now is for the RAF [Royal Air Force]. We’re helping them understand what they can do to provide more Typhoon flying hours to meet increased training demand from the Qatari Air Force. It will have a huge impact on keeping the UK and the world safer.”

He’s spent much of his career in data science, technology, strategy, systems thinking, and architecture. Rob said, “I also love working in digital transformation, sales (yes – ‘sales’ isn’t a dirty word), agile software development, and systems integration, too, so I describe myself as a ‘professional generalist.’ I’m less ‘T Shaped,’ more ‘broken-comb shaped’!” As Head of Presales, Research, and Innovation, he spent the last few years at his previous company (a defense technology and services business). He shared, “We did a lot of market, customer, and technology research projects, where I brought in designers and researchers who used a lot of ‘people-centric’ approaches like design thinking and user-centered design.”

Rob is English born and bred, but he took a rather untraditional route through life and education compared to most. He told us, “It’s not as if wolves raised me, but I am almost entirely (in everything) self-taught. So, I’m kind of proud that I joined Lone Star, a company filled with BAs, MScs, PhDs, and MBAs when I left school at 12! I read a book every couple of weeks and always try my hand at new models, methods, or tools. From philosophy to psychology, from politics to programming – I just got used to running to keep up!”