Dean Stott
Dean Stott (born 3rd April 1977) is a former British Special Forces Soldier, 2x World Record holder, adventurer, philanthropist, author, and international speaker. After making it through the Special Forces 6-month selection process, Dean became one of the very first army members to join the SBS (Special Boat Service).
Dean left the military in 2011, after 16 years of service. He then established a career in the private security sector, then in 2016 decided he was ready for a new project. He began to train to cycle the Pan-American Highway from Argentina to Alaska to raise £1,000,000 for 11 of the UK's mental health charities.
Dean is now an international speaker, presenting to FTSE 100 companies, sporting bodies, military departments, schools, and businesses. Dean has presented talks to 10,000 people at the O2 Arena through to 25 local children in impoverished areas.
Career
Military
Dean Stott started his military career in the Royal Engineers, serving with 59 Independent Commando Squadron, also as an instructor on the AACC (All Arms Commando Course) and senior diving instructor at the Defence Diving School.
It was Dean's love for the water, and the fact that the majority of his career had been wearing a green beret serving with 3 Commando Brigade, that Dean decided to go down the non-traditional route for Army candidates and applied for SBS and not the SAS. Dean was successful in his 6-month special forces selection process and became one of the very first Army members to join the SBS.
Dean made the decision in 2010 to leave the military after 16 years’ service; however, 2 weeks after his decision, Dean sustained a parachuting accident, which left him with a torn ACL, MCL, lateral meniscus, hamstring, and calf. Dean spent his last year in the military fighting to get an operation in order that he could have physiotherapy and return to normal fitness; however, with errors in the Forces medical system, Dean sustained delays which affected his recovery.
Private Security Sector
On leaving the military, Dean established a career in the private security sector. Dean was deployed straight away to Libya to help set up the British embassy and DFID project in Benghazi during the revolution. Over the last 5 years, Dean has been operating in a number of hostile environments, providing Crisis Management Planning, Teaching and Mentoring, Consultancy, Surveillance, or Physical protection in several countries.
In 2014, Dean found himself being deployed back to back to numerous countries and was only home 21 days of that year. This year also saw the troubles reignite in Libya with the Tripoli war during the summer, which resulted in numerous western embassies and NGOs evacuating the country. Dean was responsible for evacuating numerous NGO individuals who remained trapped in the country and also came to the aid of the Canadian Embassy. As the other embassies had evacuated at speed by shutting down their offices and moving out, the Canadians had to stay back, close down, and collapse their offices as they would not be returning.
The international airport had been burnt down and was now a staging post for the battle of Tripoli. Dean returned to Tripoli via road from Tunis and spent the next few days liaising with local militias, planning, and successfully executing the safe evacuation of the Canadian Embassy (18 x military, 4 x diplomats) to Tunis by road.
Philanthropy
PAH (Scotland)
In January 2018, Dean's wife Alana Stott created PAH (Scotland), a charity that worked alongside Heads Together, a mental health initiative set up by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke of Sussex. PAH (Scotland) created the project The Pan-American Highway Challenge, which aimed to raise: £1,000,000 for Heads Together's charity partners, end the stigma surrounding mental health, and break a Guinness World Record[1].
The Pan-American Highway Challenge involved Dean Stott cycling 14,000 miles from Ushuaia to Prudhoe Bay in an attempt to break the World Record, which sat at 117 days. On the 1st February 2018, Dean Stott pushed the first pedal across the start line and currently holds the previous Guinness World Records for Fastest time to cycle the length of South America (Cartagena to Ushuaia) in 48 days and 54 minutes[2]on the 21st March 2018, 10 days faster than the previous record before him and Fastest cycle journey of the Pan-American Highway in 99 days, 12 hours and 56 minutes[3] breaking the previous record before him by 17 days.
The campaign ended on the 22nd January 2019, where Dean and Alana Stott distributed the final amount of money raised to the charity partners within Heads Together.[4]
Breaking Chains Global
Following the success of working with Heads Together, the charity changed its name to Breaking Chains Global and objectives to include working to fight against Modern Slavery.
Breaking Chains is a collaborative force eradicating modern slavery through CARE (Collaboration, Awareness, Rescue, and Education).
It aims to collaborate with charities, NGOs, governments, businesses, and high-profile influencers to raise awareness of the issue, to increase the rescues of victims, and use the appropriate tools to educate the public.
Breaking Chains will act as the umbrella organisation for the collaboration, which involves bringing together the charity partners' initiatives and help share ideas to drive funding towards the initiatives proposed by each charity.
Dean Stott, as an Ambassador of the Breaking Chains Campaign, will set off to kayak the river Nile through some regions of human trafficking to raise awareness and become the first man to kayak the entire length of the Nile.
Publications
Dean published his first book 'Relentless' on the 3rd October 2019. The book is about his early years in the military and how he transitioned from the military to civilian life, right up to the very intimate and detailed journey behind the scenes on the Pan-American Highway[5].[6]
Television
In 2015, Dean had the opportunity to be the Chief instructor for the series SAS: Who Dares Wins, in which he turned down due to his loyalty to his ex-comrades within Special Forces, and that of his high-profile clients.
Dean assisted as an advisor on the Channel 4 documentary Spies and provided an unofficial advisory role on Captain Phillips.
References
- ↑ Whitaker, Thomas (January 24, 2018). "Prince Harry's pal puts his best foot forward in £1million cycle challenge". HELLO!. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Kristen, Stephenson (2018-04-04). "Special Forces soldier smashes record for cycling the length of South America". Guinness World Records. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Press, Association (15-15-2018). "North-east man breaks cycling record in time for the wedding of his friend, Prince Harry". Press and Journal. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help); Check date values in:|date=(help) - ↑ Laura, Ferguson (10-08-2018). "Record-breaking cyclist Dean hands out £500,000 to mental health charities". Evening Express. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help); Check date values in:|date=(help) - ↑ Mark, Chandler (17 June 2019). "Headline pre-empts inspirational book from ex-Special Forces soldier Stott". The Bookseller. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Dean, Stott (2019). Relentless. UK: Headline. Search this book on
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