HENRY FINNIS

Henry Finnis was born in North Devon, growing up on the family dairy farm in Dorset and attending school in the South West of England before joining the Royal Navy in 1968 where he served as a pilot then nuclear submariner.

Henry arrived in Australia in 1980 for a two-year exchange posting with the RAN as a Royal Navy warfare officer serving onboard the destroyer HMAS HOBART and including operational deployments to the Middle East and South-East Asia. During his naval career Henry specialised in a number of areas including aviation, submarines and surface warfare.

During three years in command of Navy Headquarters, Tasmania at Anglesea Barracks in Hobart as the Senior Naval Officer for Tasmania and Honorary Aide-de-Camp to His Excellency the Governor-General between December 1997 and December 2000, Henry and his family developed strong ties with Tasmania and decided to settle in the Hobart area once he retired from the Navy.

Over the past several years Henry has developed an in depth understanding of the developing Australian workforce and of the way in which the shape and character of the workforce is likely to affect business; he has extensive practical knowledge of recruiting and of community engagement as well as strategy development and implementation. He has gained extensive knowledge of a range of issues affecting national defence through a number of senior positions in Australia and overseas. He is also a Commander in the Active Naval Reserve.

In addition, through active involvement in the special education and development needs of his only daughter Sarah, he has a particular interest in issues affecting young people with special needs.

Henry Finnis is an active and experienced inshore and offshore yachtsman as well as maintaining an ongoing interest in rugby union, international cricket and nineteenth Century naval history. He and his wife Robyn are widely read and have always operated very much as a team. Whilst their daughter Sarah and their younger son Edward still live at home, their elder son Alexander lives in Canberra working at Parliament House while studying for a Bachelor of Arts degree at the Australian National University .

Henry contested the 2004 General Election as the Federal Liberal Party candidate for the seat of Franklin in Southern Tasmania . He established his own consultancy business in Hobart in 2004 and joined Optimise International in 2006.

Henry Finnis is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He is also State President of the Tasmanian Branch of the Regular Defence Force Welfare Association, an honorary position principally concerned with the welfare of serving and retired members of the Defence Force.

Contact him at henry.finnis@rattle-the-cage.com