No man is an island, in pursuit of wisdom while leading in complexity

Vice Admiral Mark Mellett

Irish Defence Forces

Vice Admiral Mark Mellett (DSM) is Chief of Staff of the Irish Defence Forces. He has forty two years’ service in the Irish Defence Forces and is the first naval officer to serve as Chief of Defence. He is a recognized change leader, contributing to ongoing transformation and positioning the Irish forces in a post-modern setting. Vice Admiral Mellett has extensive experience at home and abroad, including in Afghanistan and Lebanon, in combined and joint operational missions. He has service as a specialist Naval Diving Officer and Commander of three seagoing commands. Vice Admiral Mellett is a champion of internal and external organisational diversity. An advocate for better gender balance in the forces, he led the introduction of a Diversity and Inclusion Strategy in the Defence Forces (the first of its kind in the Irish Public Service). He is a strong advocate of external networks and partnership with other militaries, state bodies, research institutes and enterprise. He was co-founder of the Irish Maritime and Energy Resources Cluster, an innovation partnership between the military, academia, and enterprise, which received the Prime Minister’s Public Service Excellence Award in 2012. Holder of a Doctorate in Political Science and a Masters in Government and Public Policy, Admiral Mellett has a keen interest in research with a focus on European security, innovation, diversity and values-based leadership. He is currently an Adjunct Professor of Law at University College Cork.