Corporate Speaker | Radicalisation Awareness Expert | Situational Risk Specialist
Tony Willis is a UK based corporate security consultant and sought after public speaker specialising in situational awareness, radicalisation, risk, counter terrorism awareness and practical personal security for organisations.
In an era where employers carry increasing duty of care responsibilities, Tony works with corporate audiences to address one critical question: do you truly understand your organisation’s exposure to personal risk and liability?
With a Masters Degree in Counter Terrorism and an MBA, Tony combines academic insight with real world corporate experience. Having held senior leadership roles and travelled extensively on international business, he understands the pressures facing executives, HR leaders and operational teams. His sessions translate complex security concepts into clear, practical strategies that professionals can apply immediately.
Tony brings more than forty years of martial arts and self protection experience into his work, adding a behavioural and psychological dimension to risk awareness and decision making under pressure. His approach is calm, authoritative and commercially relevant, focusing on prevention, preparedness and organisational resilience.
He speaks across the United Kingdom at corporate conferences, leadership events and internal company programmes on topics including:
• Duty of care and organisational liability
• Radicalisation awareness and early behavioural indicators
• Situational awareness for executives and travelling professionals
• Personal security in an evolving threat environment
• Building a risk aware culture without creating fear
Audiences value Tony’s ability to engage senior decision makers while remaining practical and accessible. His presentations challenge assumptions, clarify exposure and leave organisations better equipped to protect their people and reputation.
Tony's Back Story
I spent my early years in Cologne before my family moved back to the UK during secondary school. At 16, I had no clear career plan, just curiosity and a willingness to say yes to opportunity. That mindset led me to an apprenticeship at BT Group, working in one of the international exchanges in the City of London at a time when telecoms was being deregulated and transformed.
I moved to a small independent telecoms company that was later acquired by Siemens. What followed was a whirlwind of change and opportunity. I stepped into project management, leading major programmes including work on the UK Police National Computer, fingerprint digitisation for the Metropolitan Police, and military projects supporting NATO and USAFE. Somewhere along the way, I completed a part time MBA, unusual at the time, and proof to myself that I could stretch further than I thought.
I later joined Cable & Wireless and then Colt Technology Services during the chaos of Y2K and the dot com boom and crash. It was a rollercoaster, at one point I was a paper millionaire, and not long after I wasn’t. But I wouldn’t change it. Working closely with exceptional leaders during such volatile times shaped how I think about risk, resilience, and opportunity.
At T-Systems, I built and led their Project Management and Transition and Transformation function, five years of growth, challenge, and genuine pride. I was later invited to replicate that transformation elsewhere, successfully reshaping another PM department in just a year.
Alongside all of this, since my early teens I had been immersed in martial arts, wrestling, Muay Thai, boxing, Jiu Jitsu, Kung Fu. In 1999, I started teaching a small evening club. Over time, that club grew. With the support, and courage, of my wife, I made the leap from corporate executive to full time academy owner.
That leap of faith has been one of the most rewarding decisions of my life.
We expanded into a full time training centre, built a strong coaching team, and navigated the inevitable highs and lows of business ownership. COVID tested us deeply, moving online overnight, adapting constantly, but it also created opportunity. When a neighbouring unit became available, we seized it. Today, we operate from two full time academies.
Running my own business allowed me to reconnect my corporate and martial worlds. I began delivering consultancy, corporate training, and keynote talks, combining boardroom experience with real world self protection insight. Speaking at the European Commission in Luxembourg made me realise I wanted deeper academic grounding in counter terrorism and radicalisation. That led me back to university, earning a Master’s in Counter Terrorism from Lancaster University.
Today, my work brings everything together, leadership, risk, resilience, self protection, and an understanding of how people operate under pressure, whether in the boardroom or on the street.