Lieutenant General Pierre Gérard

Lieutenant General Pierre Gérard was born in Cologne, Germany, in 1964. He spent most of his career in operational units. 

After graduating from the Royal Military Academy in 1989, he served as platoon commander, deputy company commander and company commander in an infantry battalion stationed in Siegen, Germany.

Between 1995 and 1999, he was in charge of the education and training of the young officers in the Belgian Infantry School. 

Subsequent to his Command & Staff Course, he was assigned to the “Régiment Chasseurs Ardennais” where he successively served as Deputy Operations Officer and Operations Officer.

In 2004, as a major, he became the deputy G3 Operations of the Land Component Command and one year later, attended the Senior Staff Course at the Belgian Defence College. 

He then served as a Brigade Operations Officer and after being promoted, he took over the command of the “Median Battalion Chasseurs Ardennais” from 2008 to 2011. In 2012, he graduated from the U.S. National War College and earned a Master of Science degree in National Security Strategy. Back to Belgium, Colonel Pierre GERARD got in charge of the bilateral relations with African countries at the Department of Strategy of the General Staff. 

In December 2014, he became the Director of Operations to the Belgian Minister of Defence. 

After promotion to the rank of Major General, in September 2017 he was assigned to the Eurocorps as Deputy Commander, to then become the Commander of the Land Component on October 18, 2019.

On June 26, 2023, he was promoted to Lieutenant General to serve as Belgium's permanent representative to the NATO and European Union Military Committees.

Over his career, he has been deployed twice to the Balkans, in 1992 and 1995, and twice to Afghanistan, in 2003 as a Detachment Commander and in 2009 as a Detachment Commander OMLT and Senior Mentor in an Afghan infantry “Kandak”. 

Lieutenant General Pierre Gérard is married to Stéphanie. 

They both share a passion for mountaineering, outdoor activities and wilderness.