Jennifer Chard

Chief Executive Officer, Defence Business Services & SRO for Corporate Services Ministry of Defence

Jennifer Chard took up the role of CEO DBS & SRO Corporate Services Modernisation from September 2024, where she leads one of the largest shared services organisations in Europe and oversees a pivotal portfolio aimed at transforming and modernising the critical services that support the MoDs corporate functions.

Jennifer has extensive leadership experience through a range of public sector roles over two decades including procurement, finance, project management, policy, and front-line delivery.

In her previous role, she held the post of Commercial Director for the Ministry of Justice, overseeing a multi-billion-pound portfolio of spend and transformation projects across the Construction, Digital & Technology and Estates Services categories.

Prior to this, Jennifer held posts in HMRC Estates Directorate, firstly as the lead for HMRC’s PFI Expiry programme, and afterwards as the programme lead for the North East Region Locations Strategy. During her tenure, Jennifer led on a range of issues including the planning for a new Government Hub building in the North East, PFI exit provisions, and was a key contributor to wider government work related to PFI Expiry.

Jennifer returns to Defence, having spent the first 16 years of her civil service career working across the MOD. She held roles working on several complex capital projects including negotiating the T26 Global Combat Ship contract; as well as sourcing multiple cutting edge urgent operational requirements and undertaking an operational tour in Afghanistan.

Jennifer lives in the South West of England with her husband and two children and is an active member of the One South West Senior Engagement Group for the regional civil service community