Justin Packshaw

Justin James Packshaw MBE DL FRGS (born 13 March 1965, London) is an English entrepreneur, philanthropist and adventurer.

Justin Packshaw MBE DL FRGS
BornMarch 13, 1965 (1965-03-13) (age 55)
London, UK
Alma materUniversity of Edinburgh
Occupationentrepreneur, philanthropist and adventurer
Spouse(s)Tamsin de Roemer
ChildrenLula
Blake
Websitejustinpackshaw.com

Career

Packshaw was raised in Malta until his teens.[1] After leaving school, he completed an MBA at the University of Edinburgh.[2]

Packshaw was an officer in the British Army (4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards) for eight years, and served in the first Gulf War.[1] He also worked as equerry to HRH The Duchess of Kent.

His wife Tamsin de Roemer's fashion label, De Roemer, which he co-founded, employs Packshaw as Managing Director[1] and CEO.[3] He is also Chairman of the travel company Joro and sits on the Board of various other companies.

Expeditions

Packshaw has been involved with or organised many expeditions, including horse riding journeys through Mongolia, motorcycle safaris, trips to both the North and South Poles and climbing Mount Everest.[3]

Pre 2000
  1. 1990 - he represented Britain in the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race which is now known as the Volvo Ocean Race[2]
  2. 1996 - he travelled through Mongolia on horseback in search of the nomadic Dukha people.[2]
  3. 1999 - he co-led a motorbike expedition in East Africa.[2]

Post 2000
  1. 2005 - he and his teammate, Christina Franco won a 450-mile man-hauling race to the 1996 position of the Magnetic North Pole.[2]
  2. 2008 - he helped guide 15-year old Camilla Hempleman-Adams to ski to the Geographic North Pole[2]
  3. 2011 - he summited Mount Everest from the North side (Tibet) along the North East Ridge.
  4. 2012 - he co-led an expedition taking three wounded soldiers from the British Army to the Geographic South Pole to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Robert Falcon Scott epic journey to the Pole in 1912. In particular the expedition was tied into one of Scott's Polar team members, Captain Lawrence Oates who was in the same Army Regiment, Royal Dragoon Guards, as the wounded soldiers and Packshaw.
  5. 2014 - he led an expedition to jetski across the Nigerian coast from Cameroon to Benin Republic to launch 'Challenge 100'.[4]
  6. 2014 - he assisted Keith Harbridge and Ollie Bainbridge, two British Army veterans who had been injured in Afghanistan, in an expedition to Antarctica. The expedition retraced the 1916 rescue mission undertaken by Sir Ernest Shackleton.[5][6]

Team Enterprise – 2015 to 2017
  1. 2015 - he co-ordinated and led a team of entrepreneurs on an expedition to ski the last degree to the Geographic North Pole raising money on behalf of The Princes Trust, in particular an initiative they have to help young entrepreneurs.
  2. 2017 - he co-ordinated and led the same team to the South Pole, raising money and awareness for the Princes Trust and The Roundhouse. Both trips achieved their aim and £1.2m was raised for the charities.

Other work

Outside of running De Roemer he talks worldwide to businesses, corporations and schools on ‘Leadership’ and the ‘Science of Achievement’. He is also part of Hewlett-Packard's worldwide 'Influencer Advisory Board' and is a 'Thought Leader' for PayPal's People Economy Campaign. He is an Ambassador for the British Governments 'GREAT' Campaign, The Prince's Trust and is also a keen supporter of the Duke of Edinburgh's Awards (DofE).

He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to expeditions, youth development, and charity.[7] He was appointed Deputy Lieutenant (DL) of Greater London in 2016.[8] He was awarded the Freedom of the City of London in 2018.

Charitable and environmental work

Packshaw's expeditions raise awareness and money for various charities, including The Prince's Trust, The Duke of Edinburgh's Award, the Roundhouse Trust and Walking With The Wounded.[1][3] they also promote awareness of environmental issues, in particular the removal of plastics from oceans, preserving biodiversity and support for renewable energy.

Where possible his expeditions have carried out scientific research from ice depths and salinity in the high Arctic (2008) to ice analysis at the North Pole (2015). On the Ernest Shackleton expedition (2014) at specific points in the Southern Ocean 8 probes were dropped to monitor and record scientific information on the oceans currents, temperature, salinity and oxygen levels.

References
  1. - Modern day 'Tour de Force' - Justin Packshaw. "Malta Independent on Sunday" 28 January 2018
  2. - Cover story with De Roemer CEO Justin Packshaw. "Business Jet Traveler" 29 September 2017
  3. - Story with De Roemer CEO Justin Packshaw. "Connaught Village News" 1 December 2017
  4. - Man Breaks - Justin Packshaw. "Conde Nast Traveller" 15 April 2015
  5. - Inspired by the spirit of Shackleton at 25 degrees below. "The Sunday Telegraph" 30 November 2014
  6. In the Footsteps of Legends – The BBC. 17 November 2012
  7. "No. 61450". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 2015. p. N23.
  8. London Gazette August 2016
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