Oliver Westmacott
PRESIDENT, GARDAWORLD
Oliver Westmacott is President of GardaWorld with responsibility for managing the strategy and direction of the company's Global Risk Consulting Group.
Mr. Westmacott joined Garda as Managing Director of the company's operations in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, which he established in 2003. Forging strong and durable relationships with the Kurdish government and the international oil and gas industry, he quickly grew the operations to become the largest private security provider in Northern Iraq. In his role, Mr. Westmacott pioneered a global risk model and service platform that combines global expertise with local knowledge and cultural awareness.
Under his direction, GardaWorld became the region's market leader in low profile mobile and large-scale remote site security for GardaWorld's in the oil and gas and related services industries in Northern Iraq. Today GardaWorld provides comprehensive security services protecting client assets and personnel on over 3,000 square kilometers in the region.
Before joining GardaWorld, Mr. Westmacott spent three years working in Venture Capital in London, focused on early stage UK investments in a variety of sectors. In 1999, he co-founded an equities trading software company based in Austin, Texas and served as Chief Operating Officer, helping to develop a market leading quote server and web-based trading platform that was later acquired by a leading investment house.
The son of a British diplomat, Mr. Westmacott was born in Iran, has lived in Turkey, France, Belgium, East Africa, the United States and Iraq and travelled extensively in Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa and South America. He is a graduate of Warwick University with a degree in Politics and French and the founder of Emerging Collection, an investment fund building a collection of works by emerging British artists.