Christopher Deverell

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.

Sir Christopher Deverell
Sir Christopher Deverell
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1979 – 2019
Rank	General
Commands held	Joint Forces Command 4th Armoured Brigade Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiation and Nuclear Regiment
Battles/wars	The Troubles Iraq War
Awards	Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Member of the Order of the British Empire

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. "Major General Chris Deverell, Director General Logistics Support and Equipment at HQ Land Forces Speaks at International Armoured Vehicles this February". International Armoured Vehicles. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
2. "Deverell, Gen. Sir Christopher". Who's Who 2020. Oxford University Press. 1 December 2019. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-262555.
3. "No. 52563". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 June 1991. p. 6.
4. "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.