Christopher Deverell

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Sir Christopher Deverell
Sir Christopher Deverell.jpg
Sir Christopher Deverell
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchBritish Army
Years of service1979–2019
RankGeneral
Commands heldJoint Forces Command
4th Armoured Brigade
Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiation and Nuclear Regiment
Battles/warsThe Troubles
Iraq War
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Member of the Order of the British Empire

General Sir Christopher Michael Deverell, KCB, MBE, ADC Gen is a retired British Army officer who served as Commander of the UK's Joint Forces Command as of April 2016.

Early life and education[]

Deverell was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire.[1] He studied philosophy, politics and economics at Mansfield College, Oxford, graduating the a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1982.[2]

Military career[]

Deverell (left) with Chief of the Air Staff, Sir Stephen Hillier, and Chief of the General Staff, Sir Nicholas Carter

Deverell was commissioned into the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment in 1979.[1] He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1991 Birthday Honours,[3] and went on to command of the Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiation and Nuclear Regiment.[1] He commanded 4th Armoured Brigade in Iraq and Germany from January 2005.[1]

He was a Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Defence George Robertson, and later Geoff Hoon, circa 1998.[4]

Deverell became Director Equipment Capability (Ground Manoeuvre) from April 2007[5] and was made Director General Logistics Support and Equipment at HQ Land Forces in December 2008.[6] He became Chief of Materiel (Land) and Quartermaster General from May 2012.[7] Appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2015 New Year Honours,[8][9] Deverell was promoted to general on 5 April 2016 on appointment as Commander of Joint Forces Command.[10][11] He was appointed as an aide-de-camp from the same date.[12] He retired in May 2019.[13]

Later career[]

Deverell set up an Innovation, Strategy, and Leadership consultancy, Deverell Innovation Ventures. He became a partner at San Francisco Cybersecurity venture capital fund NightDragon Security, an advisor to New York AI business Dataminr, a mentor at the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) at Saïd Business School, and an external member of the Council of the University of Oxford.[4]

In September 2020, he wrote a The Daily Telegraph article advocating radical innovation at the MoD, including spending 10% of budgets on digital innovation, changing the traditional hierarchical information flows to any-to-many communicating for example by using secure internal social media, and the creation of a Chief Digital Officer on the Chiefs of Staff Committee.[14]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d "Major General Chris Deverell, Director General Logistics Support and Equipment at HQ Land Forces Speaks at International Armoured Vehicles this February". International Armoured Vehicles. 21 January 2011. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  2. ^ "Deverell, Gen. Sir Christopher". Who's Who 2020. Oxford University Press. 1 December 2019. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U262555. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4.
  3. ^ "No. 52563". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 June 1991. p. 6.
  4. ^ a b "About Sir Chris Deverell". Deverell Innovation Ventures. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  5. ^ "House of Commons – Public Accounts Committee – Written Evidence". Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  6. ^ Ministry of Defence: Senior Responsible Owner House of Lords, 14 January 2009
  7. ^ Defence View points June 2011
  8. ^ "No. 61092". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2014. p. N2.
  9. ^ "New Year Honours for service personnel and defence civilians 2015". Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  10. ^ "No. 61545". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 April 2016. p. 7739.
  11. ^ "The Secretary of State announces new Senior Appointments in the Armed Services". Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  12. ^ "No. 61656". The London Gazette (Supplement). 25 July 2016. p. 16081.
  13. ^ Deverell, Sir Chris (9 May 2019). "Well, career 2.0, here we go!". @chris_deverell. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  14. ^ Sir Chris Deverell (7 September 2020). "Only by innovating will MoD cut the 'Gordian knot' of too many threats and too little money". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
Military offices
Preceded by Quartermaster-General to the Forces
2012–2016 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Commander Joint Forces Command
2016–2019 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from ""