Previously Sir Stuart was the 32nd Chairman of the Military Committee of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO); the most senior and longest standing military structure in the Alliance.
Air Chief Marshal Peach was NATO’s most senior military officer and the Military Adviser to the Secretary General and the North Atlantic Council. In addition, he was the United Kingdom’s most senior serving officer.
He was educated in the West Midlands, attended the University of Sheffield (BA), University of Cambridge (MPhil in International Law and International Relations), RAF Staff College and the Joint Services Command and Staff College (HCSC). He holds four honorary Doctorates from UK Universities: Hull, Kingston, Sheffield and Loughborough, in Technology and Letters (DTech, DLitt).
Commissioned into the Royal Air Force in 1974, Sir Stuart qualified as a nuclear, weapons and electronic warfare instructor.
Operational service includes Belize, Hong Kong and Germany in the 1980s. After several staff tours he was Air Commander (Forward) in HQ KFOR (NATO) in Kosovo and was Deputy Senior British Military Adviser in US HQ Central Command 2001-2002.
He was Director General Intelligence Collection in the Ministry of Defence 2003-2006 and Chief of Defence Intelligence and Deputy Chairman of the UK Joint Intelligence Committee 2006-2009, where he held the UK seat at the NATO Intelligence Board. He held the appointment of Chief of Joint Operations at PJHQ from March 2009 to December 2011, commanding all UK Force Elements in support of NATO operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.
He was then the first Commander of the UK Joint Forces Command from December 2011 to Apr 2013. He was Vice Chief of the Defence Staff from May 2013 to May 2016 and was responsible for all UK military personnel in NATO. He was Chief of the Defence Staff from July 2016 to June 2018 and assumed the role of Chairman of the Military Committee of NATO in June 2018, his fourth four-star appointment.
He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Defence Studies, an Honorary Fellow of the Downing College Cambridge and Royal Institute of Navigation. He was knighted by HM The Queen (KCB) in 2009, and became a Knight Grand Cross of the British Empire (GBE) in 2016.
Air Chief Marshal Peach is married with two children.
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