Jerry Mateparae
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Lieutenant-General Jerry Mateparae ONZM, (born November 1954) is the current Chief of the New Zealand Defence Force.
He is the first Māori to hold this office. He took office on May 1, 2006.
Lieutenant-General Mateparae, enlisted in the Regular Force of the New Zealand Army in June 1972. In December 1976 he graduated from the Officer Cadet School of Australia-Portsea, into the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment.
Lieutenant-General Mateparae had two operational postings to peace support missions. He had one 12 month tour of duty with the United Nations Truce Supervisory Organisation (UNTSO) as the Chief Observer in Southern Lebanon from May 1994 to May 1995, and he also commanded the combined-force Truce Monitoring Group on Bougainville during Operation Belisi in 1998. From December 1999 to July 2001, he was the Joint Commander for New Zealand forces in East Timor.
In February 2002 Major-General Mateparae became the Chief of Army. On 1 May 2006, he was promoted to lieutenant-general, and took up his current appointment as the Chief of Defence Force; New Zealand’s senior uniformed military appointment.
Lieutenant-General Mateparae was made an Additional Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the January 1999 New Year’s Honours for his service in Bougainville.
