Widely recognised throughout the military for her achievements, General Sharon has recently been promoted to Vice Chief of the Defence Staff (2nd in command of the UK Armed Forces) and has been appointed a Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of Bath (DCB). The unveiling of General Sharon’s portrait feels significant at a time when it has now been over 100 years of women in the Army and importantly since 2018 with the widening of roles available to include Combat as well as the more traditional roles in Intelligence, Signals and Administration.

General Sharon is a huge inspiration to Servicewomen; her successes, borne in embodying authenticity and compassionate leadership, all whilst being a mother, demonstrate the value of change.

General Dame Sharon Nesmith DCB ADC is the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff and  in that pivotal role deputises for the Chief of the Defence Staff and has responsibility for running the armed forces aspects of defence business. The General commissioned from the Royal Military Academy into the Royal Corps of Signals in 1992, spending  the majority of her early years serving in Germany, the Balkans and Iraq. Her service has been marked over those years by seismic change in the way the military has levelled the playing field for female officers and soldiers and General Sharon has been a beacon throughout that change.