Dr Dan Pronk, Ben Pronk, DSC and Tim Curtis are Australian Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) veterans with MBAs. They have over 60 years combined experience in leading high-performance teams, including in the most challenging operational environments such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Sierra Leone, Timor Leste and through counter-terrorism and special recovery operations. Between them they have raised specialist national capabilities, advised foreign governments and run multinational companies. Their knowledge is unique as theirs is lived experience backed by academic proof. The authors currently work to support clients in improving their capabilities at the intersection of leadership, teamwork, resilience and crisis management.
Dr Dan Pronk resigned himself to studying medicine on an army scholarship after failing dismally in his first career dream of being a professional triathlete. Upon qualifying as an army doctor Dan completed SAS selection and moved into special operations, where he served for five years, including four tours of Afghanistan. He was awarded a Commendation for Distinguished Service for his conduct in combat on his second tour. Upon discharge from the army, Dan completed an MBA and moved into medical leadership roles, including as deputy director of a regional hospital, and medical director for a state prison health service. He is also the resident medic 'Dr Dan' on Channel Seven's SAS Australia. He is married to a very tolerant wife and has three sons. In his spare time he can often be found driving his vintage Lamborghini in the Adelaide Hills.
Ben Pronk DSC began his resilience journey at the age of 16 months, when his annoyingly talented brother Dan was born. Since then, he has continued as a student, teacher and practitioner of resilience, including through his 24-year army career. The majority of this time was in the SAS, and involved multiple deployments to Timor Leste, Iraq and Afghanistan - where he was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) for leadership in combat - before finishing as commanding officer. In 2018, Ben co-founded Mettle Global, a premium consultancy that delivers resilience solutions to clients globally. He is an adjunct faculty member at the Australian Graduate School of Management at the University of New South Wales, where he delivers leadership programs within Australia's top-ranked MBA program. Ben has an MBA and a Master in Defence Studies, and is also director of VGI Partners, the co-host of the Unforgiving60 podcast, a proud husband and the father of two children.
Tim Curtis is convinced that his military career started through a clerical error that developed into 16 years of service, including with the SAS. Tim's operational deployments included in the Asia-Pacific region and Africa, as well as on special recovery/counterterrorist operations. He was selected to raise the East Coast Counter Terrorist capability in 2002, and later served as an SAS squadron commander, including leading the oper- ation to capture the North Korean drug vessel MV Pong Su. After his military career, Tim consulted to the United Nations during the Afghan parliamentary elections in 2005, before basing himself in Dubai to run multinational companies. He returned to Australia to co-found the Mettle Group of companies. Tim is the co-host of the Unforgiving60 podcast. He is on the advisory board of Starlight Children's Foundation and is a board member of the RSL in Western Australia. Tim has an MBA, is married with three wonderful children, is a poor didgeridoo player and a frequently injured sub-amateur athlete.
