The Asia Pacific Civil-Military Centre of Excellence last month said farewell to a man with enormous energy and vision, its founding Executive Director Michael (Mike) Smith AO, who has officially retired from the Centre.
Retiring Centre ED Michael G Smith
Mike has had a long and distinguished career in both the military and the government and non-government sectors. Mike served as an Officer in the Australian Army for 34 years, rising to the rank of Major General.
After retiring from the military in 2002, he was CEO of Austcare, an independent non-government aid and development agency that focuses on human security, and in 2008, became the inaugural Executive Director of the Centre.
Mike’s tenacity and drive was instrumental in the success of the Centre in its formative years and his leadership and guidance will be missed by all.
New Centre ED Dr Alan Ryan
Dr Alan Ryan has been announced as the New Executive Director of the Centre. His most recent appointment was as the Principal of the Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies at the Australian Defence College.
Dr Ryan has a long and distinguished history in academia and strategic policy. He was previously the Senior Adviser to the Minister for Defence, Senator the Hon. Robert Hill. In that role, he was responsible for advising the Minister on intelligence, operations, strategic and international issues.
He has also worked as a consultant, providing consultancy services on strategy, security and crisis management to clients that included Australian government departments, the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations in the United Nations.
From 1999 to 2003, he was the Senior Research Fellow in the Army’s principal conceptual research institution, the Land Warfare Studies Centre. Prior to that Dr Ryan was a senior lecturer at the University of Notre Dame Australia, where he was also Assistant Dean in the Colleges of Arts and Sciences and the College of Law. He was director of the university’s Politics and Law programme. He previously worked as a contract manager in intellectual property commercialisation for The University of Melbourne and the University of New England.
Dr Ryan has a Ph.D from the Centre for International Studies at Cambridge University and a BA (Hons.)/LL.B from the University of Melbourne. He served with the Australian Army Reserve between 1981 and 1994 and on attachment with the British Territorial Army from 1987 to 1991.
He has an extensive record of publication on history, defence and strategic issues. He is an adjunct Professor in the Graduate School of Management at Latrobe University.
Dr Ryan will start with the Centre on February 1, 2012.
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