Air Commodore Alan Opie retired from the RAF in 2024 after a full career as a Regular and Reserve.  In his last three appointments, Alan was responsible for the provision of housing for military families, RAF Personnel Policy and RAF People & Families Support.  He was a Trustee for the Royal Air Forces Association for 11 years, serving as the Lead Trustee for Safeguarding and a member of its Welfare Committee.  He was also a Trustee for the RAF Benevolent Fund, RAF Sports Federation and RAF Central Fund.  Alan led the RAF’s input to Living in Our Shoes and the development of the Armed Forces Families Strategy. Alan chairs the Living in Our Shoes – Revisited Advisory Group.

Rev’d Professor Alison Baverstock MBE is Professor of Publishing at Kingston University. She is the author of several key books including ‘How to Market Books’ (Routledge, 7th edition in preparation) and ‘Is there a book in you?’ (Bloomsbury). Her research has largely focussed on the benefits of involvement in reading and sharing books to promote confidence and effective communication. She is the founder of two award-winning schemes www.readingforce.org.uk and The Kingston University Big Read. Reading Force has now given out 250,000+ shared-reading scrapbooks and is used within the British military community worldwide. During her husband’s 30-year military career their family had 18 moves.

David Adams has a background in programme and project management and policy delivery. He has worked in Defence for 12 years.  Early roles included working on an asset sales team and as the departmental liaison point with the National Audit Office and Public Accounts Committee.  Since 2017 he has worked in the Defence People Team in various policy roles including the Armed Forces Covenant, Families Policy, and Remuneration (Allowances).  He was responsible for supporting the Living in our Shoes Review and coordinated the 2021 government response.  Subsequent to this his team developed and published the extant 2022 UK Armed Forces Families Strategy.  Between September 2023 and January 2025, David led a people transformation portfolio office, helping to coordinate delivery against the HRAFI recommendations as well as wider people strategy priorities.  In his current role David leads a team responsible for developing Spectrum of Service policy to inform the Armed Forces Bill 2026.

Professor Mike Almond QVRM AE MRAeS DM FRCP DL VR has a clinical research background, with over 100 peer reviewed publications. He is an ex-RAF Reservist with involvement in the veteran community and a specific interest in the health and wellbeing of the Armed Forces, Veterans and their Families. Mike was appointed Professor of Veterans & Families Studies at Anglia Ruskin University in 2018, initially supporting the Veterans & Families Research Centre Hub which was designed to translate the findings of recent research into plain language and give insights that could be applied practically and understood by organisations that support veterans and their families. He subsequently became the Armed Forces Engagement Lead for the University. Mike sits on Essex County Council Civilian Military Partnership Board, and chairs the Essex Reserve Forces and Cadets County Forum. Mike was a Reservist from 1977 – 2021, and in 2018 was deployed to South Sudan, supporting the United Nations’ Mission. His last position in the RAF was as SO1 Med Reserves, which was designed to support the policy, manning and deployment of the RAF Reserves medical component.

Brigadier Jez Lamb MC is currently the military lead for Euro-Atlantic Security within the Ministry of Defence. He has served in the Army for over 27 years and during that time he has acquired significant experience in command, responsible for the welfare and wellbeing of numerous soldiers. He has broad operational experience serving in Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. He is married to a fellow Army Officer; he has exploited this experience as the Service Couples’ Champion, advocating for dual serving families across all three Services. In 2019 he facilitated the original ‘Living in Our Shoes’ study, supporting visits to military bases and meetings with key Army personnel.

Maria Lyle has been Associate Director Engagement and Communications at the RAF Benevolent Fund since January 2025. Before this she was Director of the RAF Families Federation, representing serving members of the RAF and families – resolving issues and tackling the root causes.  As a former RAF officer with a serving partner, she has experienced both sides of military life. She has also been a Director of the Forces Pension Society, a Trustee of the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust, and on the MOD Pension Board.  Maria previously led a large IT Services team at Board level. Her strategic relationship management experience was developed in the Department of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy, working with Cabinet Ministers brokering co-investment between government and industry.  She also led strategic change as a senior consultant, with clients in pharmacy and online retail.

Tom McBarnet, FiMT Director of Programmes since 2018 and Interim CE April 2022-October 2023, has wide knowledge of in-service transition challenges through the research evidence base which FiMT supports. Prior to 2018, he worked for NHS Digital in its transformation agenda aiming to drive forward digital implementation in the wider NHS. Prior to that he was a career Royal Navy officer. Married and with a growing family during his service career, he had appointments and deployments in submarines and ships of all types as well as UK MoD tri service and international defence and security policy roles.

Rt Revd Hugh Nelson, Bishop of St Germans & Bishop to the Armed Forces. As Bishop to the Armed Forces, Hugh leads and cares for the 200 Anglican Regular and Reserve chaplains in the Navy, Army and RAF. Chaplaincy is all about caring for the whole person, including their families and the communities they belong to, so he is delighted to be part of the Living in Our Shoes – Revisited Advisory group.  Hugh is committed to supporting the wider church to be communities of hospitality, service and welcome to service personnel and their families, and is currently chairing a working group focussed on that work.