Since joining the Royal Navy as a warfare officer in May 2003, Lt Cdr Bentley has enjoyed a broad variety of roles and assignments over his career which give him a holistic view of the challenges faced by defence.  Having initially trained as a helicopter pilot, he later transferred to the submarine service with operational patrols in HMS TORBAY (SSN) and HMS VENGEANCE (SSBN) between 2008 and 2010.  A qualified imagery intelligence analyst, he commanded the Reachback Operations team at the UK Joint Air Reconnaissance and Intelligence Centre (JARIC) focussing on the development of intelligence fusion techniques before providing direct support to Operation HERRICK as the IMINT Liaison Officer to Task Force Helmand, Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan in 2013.

Harnessing the technical skills gained from JARIC, he joined the UK Permanent Joint Headquarters J6 branch in October 2013 as the Information Governance lead where he was responsible for delivering SharePoint capabilities to the HQ and information and knowledge management guidance to the deployed operational community.  During this time, he completed post-graduate studies in Information Capability Management at the UK Defence Academy.

Following a tour at the UK Maritime Component Command in Bahrain, he was the force planning officer for the EU’s counter-piracy mission, Op ATALANTA before returning to PJHQ as an Operations Controller, providing 24/7 support to the HQ and UK Joint operations.

Joining NATO MARCOM initially as an operations officer for Operation SEA GUARDIAN in November 2022, he supported planning and advice on the security of critical undersea infrastructure from February 2023 onwards before leading the implementation of the NATO Maritime Centre for the Security of Critical Undersea Infrastructure following its announcement at the Vilnius summit.

Outside of work, Lt Cdr Bentley is an accomplished musician, principally a French horn player but is also the musical director of a 50-piece wind orchestra.  His other interests include property renovation, squash and the recent completion of a law degree.