John, a former 3-star General with the Australian Defence Force, has more than 35 years’ experience leading large organisations with the Australian Defence Force. While in the military he served in the 3rd Brigade, Australia’s short notice deployable combat force located in Townsville, at every rank including battalion and brigade command. He served on combat operations in Somalia, East Timor, and in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, he served as the commander in charge of all Australian military and Department of Defence civilians in that theatre.
Lieutenant General John Caligari AO, DSC (Retired) provides executive leadership, cultural reform and change management mentoring, coaching and consulting; and is a director on several company boards. He is also the patron of Townsville Legacy, the 1st Battalion Association, a White Ribbon Australia Ambassador and a member of Rotary.
His last job in Defence was managing the requirements and integration of Australian Defence Force warfighting capability including balancing a $15bn capital budget.
John was awarded the Order of Australia for outstanding service in leading the transformation of processes and information systems for capability development; and awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for superior command and leadership as Commander of the 1st Battalion Group (1150 soldiers) on combat operations in East Timor in 2000-2001
John has completed the Harvard Australia Leadership Program, holds a Masters of Defence Studies from UNSW, a Master of Arts (Strategic Studies) from Deakin University, and a Bachelor of Arts. He is a graduate of the Graduate, US Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth; graduate of the Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies, Australian Defence College, Canberra; and a graduate from the Joint/Combined Land Component Commanders Course, US Army War College, Carlisle. John is also a Graduate of the Company Institute of Directors.