Paul Thorogood joined the Football Foundation in April 2006 following 30 years with the Royal Air Force, which he joined at the age of 17. During his service, Paul rose to the rank of Group Captain and saw active service in support of operations in the Falkland Islands, Afghanistan and both of the recent Gulf Wars. Although his background is in logistics management, during the latter part of his career he specialised in change management, organisational process redesign and performance management and strategic leadership. His recent, final appointment was with the Ministry of Defence, where he was responsible for all Joint Service aspects of the Defence Logistics Transformation Programme, the largest logistic change programme in Europe, which was required to deliver efficiency savings in excess of £1.2bn.
Paul is a keen follower of all sports, with the emphasis more on enthusiasm than skill these days! He is an enthusiastic but erratic golfer, a keen but unhurried jogger and would now class himself as an experienced midfield ‘stroller’ on the 5 a-side court. His saving grace is that he is a qualified alpine ski instructor and has spent a generous portion of past winters teaching servicemen and women to ski – something he sorely misses now that he has left the RAF. Paul's overriding passion, though, has always been football. He played at a decent level early in his RAF career and has been involved in football administration for the past 20 years. During this time, he has held key appointments on the RAF County Football Association Executive Committee, rising to become Chairman of the Association in 2002.
Paul has a Master of Arts Degree from Kings College London and a post-graduate diploma in Engineering Business Management from the University of Warwick.
