About Us
Two of the UK's most experienced programme leaders
Annelies Look and Chris White-Horne have shaped and delivered some of the government's most complex, high-profile and consequential programmes across defence, health, rail and space.
They have worked together as a jobshare partnership since 2021, when they were ranked the top two candidates nationally in the UK Government's search for leaders to deliver its most challenging transformation programmes.
Why Hazel?
In Watership Down, Hazel leads a group of rabbits to a better future not through strength or fear, but through listening, building trust and harnessing the knowledge and capabilities of those around him, combining pragmatism, planning with an ability to spot the opportunities others miss.
We named our partnership after him for a reason.
Annelies Look
One of the first 40 female Chartered Project Professionals in the world and a Fellow of the Association for Project Management, with a career defined by delivering under pressure, at pace, in environments where failure was not an option.
In 2021. Annelies designed and launched the UK's COVID hotel quarantine system just six days after the Prime Minister's decision to introduce it, scaling rapidly to 82 hotels supporting 22,000 residents. The programme won the APM Social Project of the Year award.
Earlier in her career she deployed to Bosnia and Iraq as a policy adviser to British Forces. In the Ministry of Defence she negotiated international procurement programmes with France, designed a £2bn portfolio management capability, and led the mobilisation of a £2.5bn digital transformation programme.
Her final MOD role saw her lead a workforce reform programme affecting 250,000 people while modernising corporate services to improve performance and reduce cost.
She also led the rapid expansion of lateral flow testing during COVID, delivering around 20,000 testing sites nationwide.
Annelies began her career as a graduate engineer before being selected for the Civil Service Fast Stream. She is a Chartered Engineer.
Annelies teamed up as a jobshare partnership with Chris in 2021, more about that below.
Chris White-Horne
An aerospace engineer turned major programme leader with a career spanning international programme delivery, diplomacy and leading some of the UK government's most complex programmes.
Chris was Programme Director in the international programme office for Typhoon, a £4.5bn annual programme supporting more than 100,000 jobs across Europe. He went on to design the delivery strategy at the initiation of the Global Combat Air Programme, a 50-year international partnership with Japan and Italy shaping the future of combat aviation.
Chris specialises in enterprise commercial partnership, bringing client, integrator and supply chain together to deliver. He designed and negotiated a new partnership between Government and industry for Typhoon support, reducing costs by 38% while driving up operational availability.
Earlier in his career he spent four years as an Attaché at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C. During operations in Afghanistan, he led the rapid delivery of upgraded Chinook helicopters to the front line.
Chris began his career in the Civil Service Science & Engineering Fast Stream. He is a Chartered Engineer.
Chris teamed up as a jobshare partnership with Annelies in 2021.
Annelies and Chris' first role together was as Programme Director then Senior Responsible Owner for Rail Reform, called at the time the government's most complex transformation programme, spanning a sector employing 240,000 people and spending £20bn annually. They turned contested political intent into a clear, benefits-driven vision and a programme that could actually be delivered.
Then as Deputy CEO & Chief Delivery Officer of the UK Space Agency they led an £800m annual delivery portfolio before moving into central government to create a new cross-government approach to space, bringing strategic alignment and delivery discipline to more than £2bn of annual government investment across civil, defence, and national security space programmes.
Intrigued about jobshare?
What others say
"The Prime Minister thanked me personally for the collaborative and open way in which you worked, holding your team up as a case study for how departments should work."
Former Secretary of State for Transport
"The introduction of extremely experienced and capable Programme Directors has transformed the health of the programme. The drive and commitment from their leadership is exemplary.”
Government Gateway Review Team Leader
"Annelies and Chris have driven policy and professionalised delivery with their trademark energy and enthusiasm. They are a strong team with a combined leadership style that always puts people first."
Chair of the Board, UK Space Agency
"Your people skills are exceptional in helping everyone get aligned and behind the initiatives. I have no doubt that wherever you land next will be fortunate to have attracted your talents."
Chair of Audit and Risk Committee, UK Space Agency