Brigadier General Gareth Collett CBE CEng MSc (EOE) BSc (Hons)FIExpE.
experience
Gareth joined the British Army in 1986, enjoying junior service with 5 Airborne Brigade, the United Nations, NATO and as Capability Manager to Director Special Forces. He retired from military service as the Ministry of Defence’s Senior Explosive Ordnance Engineer and Head of the Bomb Disposal profession in 2018, having conducted bomb disposal duties across Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Balkans, Iraq, the Middle/Far East and East Africa.
In 2019, Gareth took up the position of Chief Technical Advisor to UNDP in Yemen, providing advice and guidance to the Humanitarian Coordinator, local security forces and civil communities on the threat posed by explosive hazards above and below the high water mark. This advice extended as far as technical oversight for explosion risk aboard the stricken oil tanker Safer during planned salvage operations.
As a Chartered Engineer with the Engineering Council and Fellow of the Institute of Explosive Engineers, Gareth is a world-leading subject matter expert on countering improvised explosive devices (C-IED) in both a military and humanitarian context, the effects of weapons systems on people, infrastructure and the economy, and how problems posed by them can be overcome within existing resources. His vision is a world where the effect of weapons, ordnance, munitions and explosives (WOME) on humanity is significantly diminished and his mission has been consistently to save life.
He is client-focused, collaborative and consistent and his team’s promise is the utmost commitment to those National Authorities and organisations facing danger each day. Having been the Head of Profession, a Senior Diplomat, a Managing Director, Charity Trustee and Commander of multi-national bomb disposal assets on operations, Gareth and his team bring the full spectrum of tools necessary to deliver excellence in the WOME domain backed up by profound operational experience, bags of personality, the utmost confidentiality, and academic rigour.
““Rarely has one individual made such a significant impact in overhauling explosive ordnance disposal and search capabilities. He brings coherence and intellectual underpinning to complex problem sets at the strategic level and is inherently modest about his achievements””