In a change of direction he was appointed CEO of the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency, part of the Department of Transport at a time of turbulent industrial relations.
Cardy's style was frequently combative; he published articles in journals and books * critical of the ambivalence of successive governments towards volunteers.
At the MS Society he led a vigorous campaign to persuade the UK departments of health to fund drugs for the disease, including advertisements in the broadsheets press in 2000 lampooning ministers' reluctance.
** At Macmillan he argued energetically for the interests of people affected by cancer broadly, widening the charitable established focus beyond nurses and doctors, reshaping its services and changing its identity and brand accordingly.
He was a member and later chair of the Government Affairs Committee of the Royal Yachting Association between 2010 and 2019 and a governor of Solent University from 2011 to 2017.