Richard Roderick Davis

Major General Richard Roderick 'Dickie' Davis (born 2 August 1962) is a retired British Army officer and author who has worked extensively in sub-Saharan Africa. He is currently the Managing Director of Nant Enterprises Ltd and a Special Advisor to the Johannesburg-based Brenthurst Foundation.

Educated at Bloxham School, Davis studied for a degree in civil engineering at the Royal Military College of Science before attending the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst and being commissioned into the Corps of Royal Engineers in 1984. Following service as a junior officer he attended the Army Staff Course Division 1 gaining an MSc in Defence Technology. He served as commanding officer of 22 Engineer Regiment in which role he was deployed to Kosovo and subsequently to West Yorkshire to provide firefighting cover as part of Operation Fresco. In June 2003 he set up and led the first UK Provincial Reconstruction Team in Mazar-e-Sharif, Northern Afghanistan. The team established a ceasefire between the rival warlords Mohammed Atta and General Abdul Rashid Dostum and started a disarmament process. Davis subsequently returned to Afghanistan as the ISAF Chief Engineer in 2006-7, and again as Chief of Staff, Regional Command South (Kandahar) in 2009-10. Davis commanded the Army Recruiting and Training Division from 2011-13. His final military appointment was Director General Personnel from which he retired in 2015.

Davis retains a number of Honorary appointments. He is a Colonel Commandant of the Royal Engineers, Honorary Colonel of the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers (Militia) and Chairman of the Royal Engineers Museum.

Post-retirement
Davis was engaged by the Johannesburg-based Brenthurst Foundation as a special advisor in 2015. The Foundation’s work aims to achieve higher rates of economic growth and job creation across the African continent. In this role Davis has travelled widely across the continent and provided strategic advice to a number of African governments. In 2017 Davis co-authored Making Africa Work (Hurst and Tafelberg) with Olusegun Obasanjo, Greg Mills and Jeffrey Herbst; the book sets out a range of policy ideas and choices for delivering the growth required to meet the continent’s rapidly expanding population.

Davis is also a co-author, with Greg Mills, David Kilcullen and David Spencer, of ''A Great Perhaps? Colombia: Conflict and Convergence (Hurst 2016) and a contributor to Effective, Legitimate, Secure: Insights for Defense Institution Building'' (Center for Complex Operations, NDU 2017). He is also a regular contributor to the Daily Maverick.

In 2015 Davis and his family set up Nant Enterprises Ltd to pursue a number of entrepreneurial goals.

Personal life
In 1985 Davis married Martina nee Stewart, and they have two sons. A former Vice-President of the Army Winter Sports Association, his interests include mountaineering, skiing and cycling.