Commencing his professional life enlisting into the British Army in 1988, Darren went on to enjoy a full and successful career spanning 22 years. His varied military service included 18+ years of service outside of the United Kingdom taking in multiple world-wide deployments to both benign and operational theatres. Particular highlights included being selected for Military Diplomatic Service for the British Embassy to the Republic of Albania and the design and delivery of training to the Armed Forces of Sierra Leone. Darren concluded his military career at NATO’s highest operational command, the Supreme Headquarters in Mons, Belgium.
During the latter years of service, Darren qualified as a BSi Internal Auditor for ISO 9001:2008. Upon leaving the service, his admiration for Africa saw him return to Sierra Leone, with an international mining operation. Upon conclusion of his time in West Africa he joined the Vallis team in the United Kingdom in August 2013 initially as the lead internal auditor. Whilst based in the UK, his role included extensive travel to all operational areas (30+ countries!) leading audits of the effective application of internationally recognised best practices by Vallis’ staff whilst also being responsible for the establishment of operations in new regions.
In 2019 Darren voluntarily moved to the Vallis Country Manager’s role for Mozambique, leading a team of up to 80 staff located in diverse locations ranging from Maputo to Chimoio, to Beira, Montepuez and Pemba. After being at the forefront of the Company’s response to Cyclone Idai, during which the Vallis provided critical support to clientele along the heavily impacted Beira corridor, his remit was widened to the Southern Africa region, including South Africa, Namibia, Angola and Eswatini. He has successfully delivered the first operational deployment of Vallis to Angola as well providing his valuable experience and leadership to those on-going across the region. Within Mozambique, Darren and his team have delivered their services for a wide variety of clients and products ranging from Oil and Gas to fertiliser, food products, cotton and cashews. This has included the comprehensive monitoring of over 5 million tonnes of goods imported into Mozambique utilising Vallis’ Live reporting platform, multiple long-term warehouse operations spread across the country and delivering the extensive range of the company’s innovative quality and assurance services.
A devoted Liverpool FC supporter and poor excuse of a padel player (where his lack of skills are compensated by enthusiasm and will to succeed!), Darren aims to continue learning more of the fascinating countries across the region whilst leading the dedicated Vallis teams to greater achievements.
Contact: info@vallis-group.com
Please wait...
