Brig. Gen. Ronald Rietbergen

Brigadier General Ronald Rietbergen was born in Delft on 2 April, 1967, and started his military career at the Royal Military Academy in Breda in 1985. Upon graduation in 1989, he was appointed platoon commander within the Air Defence Artillery in ‘t Harde. After holding several positions as a junior officer, Rietbergen transferred to the Technical Staff. After graduating as a mechanical engineer at Delft University in 1999, as a major he started as project manager at the manoeuvre materiel department of the (then) Royal Netherlands Army’s Directorate of Materiel. After two years, he transferred to an international post with the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) in Bonn, Germany. Eighteen months later, Rietbergen, as Systems Integration Officer, was promoted to Head of the Technical Section of the Boxer Project (armoured wheeled vehicle). Upon return to the Netherlands in 2004, Rietbergen was promoted to lieutenant colonel and fulfilled two postings at the Directorate of Policy of the Defence Materiel Organisation in The Hague, dealing with international materiel projects and informing Parliament. Between 2008 and 2010, Rietbergen served as Commander of 13 Maintenance Battalion in Oirschot. In 2010, he was deployed to Afghanistan at Regional Command South HQ as Head of Section CJ9 in the Stability Operations Division. After that posting, Rietbergen was assigned to the Royal Netherlands Army Staff to develop a management structure in order to execute Masterplan Atlanta, a plan to manage a major reorganization caused by serious financial cutbacks. In 2012, Rietbergen was promoted to the rank of colonel and became deputy commander of the largest and most diverse unit of the Royal Netherlands Army: Operational Support Command (Land). In this position, he also was a member of the National Operational Staff, a body designated to provide multi-disciplinary operational advice to the ministerial crisis commission. In October 2014, Rietbergen started as Deputy Director of the Joint Information Technology Command, ending in June 2017 with his departure to the Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy in Washington DC, USA. After successfully completing his study and returning to the Netherlands, on 10 July 2018 Rietbergen assumed command of the Army’s Materiel and Logistics Command, simultaneously being promoted to the rank of brigadier general. This position gives him a seat in the Army Council. From Sept 2022-Sept 2025 he held the position of Assistant Chief of Staff J4 at the NATO Joint Force Command in Brunssum, Netherlands. His current position is International Project Lead for the EU Priority Capability Area Drones/Counterdrones. Together with Coleads Latvia, Croatia and Spain the task is to accelate the defence against drones and consolidate EU industry in this domain. Brigadier General Rietbergen is married to Marjon and they have two daughters. They live in Drunen, the Netherlands.