Biography Hans Damen

Hans Damen was born in Eindhoven and raised in Valkenswaard, The Netherlands. He attended the Royal Military Academy from 1979 to 1984, earning a degree in Finance and Economics. Commissioned as a lieutenant into the Paymaster Corps, he held positions such as internal auditor and provincial administrator. He later became captain and led the Organization and Information Instruction Group at the Paymaster Training Center. In 1990, he was posted to the MOD Directorate General for Economy and Finance and was promoted to major in 1991. From 1992 to 1994, he attended the General Command and Staff College.

In 1994 he was posted to the General Policy Department of the Army Staff, where in 1995 he became Secretary of the Commander of the Army. In 1997, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and became head of the G4 Logistics Division of the First Division “7 December”. In that period ltcol Damen was also commander of the Disaster Assistance Response Team and in this role he went on a mission to Albania for the AFOR emergency relief operation for Kosovar refugees in the spring of 1999. He was chief of staff of the Dutch contingent KFOR in Kosovo from June to December 1999.

Upon returning from this mission, he was posted to the Army Staff as deputy head of the Planning Department. From 2002 to 2004 he was deputy head of International Planning Affairs of the Defense Staff, with NATO, United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Canada in his package. In 2004 he was posted to the Permanent Military Representation of the Netherlands at NATO HQ in Brussels and promoted to colonel. From 2007 to 2009 he commanded the Training and Training Center Logistics in Soesterberg. In that period he also took part in the Government Management Course at the Dutch Institute for Public Administration.

From 2009 to 2011, Colonel Damen was Deputy and Acting Commander of the Operational Support Command Land, responsible for combat service support and logistical support for all Army missions and exercises. He led the large reorganization of all material logistic units of the Army from 2011 to 2013. He led large parts of the SAP implementation in the Army between 2009 and 2018.

From 2012 to early 2014, Colonel Damen was the first commander of the newly established Material Logistics Land Command and he was responsible for logistical support and maintenance of all land systems of the Ministry of Defense.

In 2014 he was promoted to brigadier general and he became Director of Support of the Royal Netherlands Army. He initiated the Land Maintenance Initiative, which brought the cooperation between the (Dutch) Defense Industry and the Army to a new, higher level.

In April 2018 General Damen became J4 at the Netherlands MOD and leader of the Defense Task Force Logistics, responsible for (inter)national logistics cooperation and the enablement of large-scale military operations in and outside Europe.

Hans Damen was elected Best Civil Servant of the Netherlands in 2013 and Logistics Guru in 2018.

Brigadier General Damen retired from the army in June 2019. Since that date, Hans Damen has been working as divemaster and as an independent entrepreneur in his own company, Insparcom.nl. He is available for projects and assignments in the field of crisis management, innovation, organization, logistics, (international) cooperation and communication. In addition, he speaks and moderates at conferences.