About Rebecca Chapman LLB, Dip IoD, CISM - Maple Leaf Business Consulting

About Rebecca

Rebecca Chapman LLB, Dip IoD, CISM

From critical incident command to the boardroom

I’ve spent much of my career in environments where difficult decisions couldn’t simply be postponed until tomorrow.

During more than 30 years in policing, including serving as a Police Superintendent and Silver Commander, I led operational decision-making in complex, high-risk situations.

I’ve experienced what it feels like when information is incomplete, consequences matter and everyone turns towards you waiting for a decision.

I’ve also learned something equally important:

Making good decisions under pressure isn’t about being fearless or having all the answers. It’s about having a structure that helps you think.

Following my policing career, I became CEO of a cyber resilience organisation, taking the principles I’d used in operational command into a very different environment.

I built teams, managed budgets, developed partnerships, secured investment and dealt with the same challenges senior leaders encounter every day: people, performance, governance, risk, growth, reputation and uncertainty.

Testimonials

Rebecca Chapman has proven highly professional and agile at transferring policing leadership skills to business to help SMEs. With cybercrime escalating and targeting SMEs, Rebecca has shown exceptional leadership in engaging with strategic stakeholders to secure investment and support for SME cybercrime prevention. She has done this rapidly and successfully.

Colleague and Client

Rebecca Chapman (Becky) epitomises the phrase “Inspirational Leader”. Without Becky’s leadership, persuasive skills, ability to assimilate information outside of her usual work sphere, and constant enthusiasm, businesses in the North-East would not have access to protective and proactive services.

Board member and Cyber comms Specialist

Rebecca is an outstanding individual who has made a tremendous impact and will undoubtedly leave a remarkable legacy. she has a very strong regional and national profile leading the NEBRC which has acted as a beacon of good practice for the other national centres, utilising the blueprint/setup developed by Rebecca and her team which has seen services to small and medium-size enterprises both flourish and evolve.

Line Manager - Chief Constable

Becky has the courage, and vision to apply for home office funding to create the North East Business Resilience Centre (NEBRC). Armed with a vision, funding, and a ton of tenacity, she went about taking the NEBRC from a concept on a piece of paper to the success it is today. The home office evaluated the project to be a success, and a national roll-out of Cyber Resilience Centres followed at pace. No matter where an SME does business in England and Wales, there is a cyber resilience centre nearby to help. This would not be the case but for Becky’s drive, ambition, and leadership.

Detective Inspector

Rebecca Chapman (Becky) delivered an exceptional crisis management training session for our Senior Leadership Team, drawing on her extensive experience as a former Superintendent and Silver Commander. A fantastic and highly impactful session that has left us better prepared, more confident, and far more resilient. I would highly recommend Becky because her experience, combined with her engaging delivery style, left our team feeling empowered, informed and genuinely prepared for scenarios we hope we never face.

Wendy Pattison, Chief Operating Officer, The Excel Academy Partnership

Why I created Maple Leaf Business Consulting

I realised that many highly capable leaders experience the same thing when faced with an unfamiliar or high-stakes situation:

Overwhelm.

Too much information. Too many opinions. Fear of making the wrong call. Sometimes even decision paralysis.

I created Maple Leaf Business Consulting to help change that.

I don’t come into organisations to tell experienced professionals how to do their jobs.

I help leaders create enough clarity to use the expertise around them, challenge assumptions and make decisions confidently and proportionately.

My work now includes crisis leadership training, decision-making coaching, scenario exercises, organisational resilience and post-incident debriefing.

The purpose is simple:

To help people feel steadier when decisions feel heavy.

And to ensure that when something serious happens, your leaders aren’t using the real crisis as their first opportunity to practise.