Lieutenant General (Ret'd) Stuart Skeates

Former Deputy Commander of JFC Brunssum, NATO Former Director General for Strategic Operations, British Army

Stuart Skeates served in the Army for 34 years, retiring as a lieutenant general, before becoming a Senior Civil Servant. Educated at the Judd School Tonbridge, King’s College London, and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he was commissioned into the Royal Regiment of Artillery in 1988. During his career, he served in the United Kingdom, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Northern Ireland, the Balkans, Cyprus, Afghanistan, and Iraq. He has extensive leadership experience on military operations and spent the latter 20 years of his career in joint operations, with coalitions, with the US Marine Corps and with NATO. He was also Commandant of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He holds degrees from Kings College London, the Cranfield University Management School, he completed the advanced and Higher Command and Staff Course, the NATO Pinnacle Course and the Major Projects Leadership Academy. After leaving the Army, he worked on small boats and illegal migration initially in the Cabinet and subsequently in the Home Office. He now runs his own consultancy company, mentors at the UK Defence Academy and the Baltic Defence College and is a senior advisor to several defence technology companies. He is a member of the Master Gunner’s Committee and the Honourable Artillery Company.