Mr Barry Vryenhoek (BRIG Retired)

Originally from Christchurch, Brig (Rtd) Barry Vryenhoek became an officer in the Royal New Zealand Artillery Regiment after completing his commissioning course at OCS Portsea (Australia) in 1977.

Since then he has held a wide range of training, regimental, functional staff and change management roles within the Army. He has senior level operational experience in Bosnia, East Timor and Tampa, Florida where he was the New Zealand Defence Force Senior National Representative to United States Central Command (US CENTCOM) for the Global War on Terrorism.

He attended the United States Marine Corps Command and Staff College, the Australia Defence Force’s Joint Services Staff Course (JSSC) and more recently the United Kingdom’s Royal College of Defence Studies.

His more recent appointments include Chief Financial Officer for the New Zealand Army, Chief of Staff Land Command, Commander 2nd Land Force Group and Director of Future Capability, HQ NZDF. Brig (Rtd) Vryenhoek’s last military appointment within the New Zealand Army was as the Deputy Chief of Army.

In April 2007, Mr Vryenhoek retired from the New Zealand Army as a military officer and was selected as the successful candidate to be the General Manager, Corporate Support, Army General Staff, Headquarters New Zealand Defence Force.

Mr Vryenhoek has an MBA from Massey University, an MA (Hons) in Strategic Studies and has completed a Senior Executives Financial Course at the Harvard Business School.