Major Thierry Vanden Dries (Past Speaker)

Born in Ottignies on June 11th 1966, Thierry Vanden Dries gets his high-school education at the “Lycée Emile Jacqmain” in Brussels and graduates there at the Latin-Mathematics curriculum.

In 1984, he joins the Royal Military Academy with the 140 Polytechnic Promotion.  In 1989 he ends this parts of his academic education with the academic grade of “Master in Engineering Sciences” and is promoted second-lieutenant.

After his basic training course for Logistics Officers, he starts his active career in 1990 at the Arsenal of Rocourt where he is first responsible of the Ballistics Laboratory and then in charge of the hydraulics and armament D-level workshops.

Between 1996 and 1999, promoted Captain, he is appointed at the School of the Maintenance of the Material where he is the head of the department in charge of the training of the electronics technicians.

After the Staff Course of Candidate Major, he is assigned in 2000 as supervisor of the maintenance of the armoured fleet at the Maintenance Group.

In 2002, in the new joint structure of the Belgian Defence, he becomes material manager of the Main Battle tank Leopard fleet; three years later, major Vanden Dries becomes deputy of the group material managers responsible of the combat vehicles.

In 2009, he gives a material resources management course to Burundian officers in Bujumbura, Burundi.

In 2010, he gets a new challenge as Director of the Belgian Codification Bureau.  Between 2012 and June 2015, he takes the chairmanship of the Budget and Strategic Planning sub-Committee of the Allied Committee 135 (Group of National Directors on Codification).
Since June 2015, Thierry Vanden Dries is the chairman of AC/135.