Andrew is a graduate of the Australian Defence Force Academy and the Royal Military College Duntroon. As a former military officer he has commanded at all levels including unit command of the 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment and brigade command of the 7th Combat Brigade.

Andrew’s operational service includes two tours of East Timor including in command of a rifle company, and two tours of Afghanistan including in command of the Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force – Two battlegroup. His overseas military postings include as an instructor at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, as Plans Branch Chief at United States Pacific Command and as a student at the Royal College of Defence Studies in the United Kingdom.

Other notable military postings include a twelve month secondment to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, six months as a Visiting Military Fellow at the University of NSW where he researched and published a paper on optimising Australia’s veteran support system, and eighteen months as the Deputy Coordinator of the National Bushfire Recovery Agency. Andrew also recently led a Chief of Defence Force directed research project which included the publication of a paper titled Preparing for the Future: Key Organisational Lessons from the Afghanistan Campaign, and co-led a Defence Recruiting and Retention Tiger Team aimed at optimizing Defence recruiting and retention.

 
On retiring from fulltime military service, Andrew was appointed as the First Assistance Coordinator General, National Resilience Capability Programs at the National Emergency Management Agency.

Andrew has a Bachelor of Science (Maths and History), a Masters of Management (Defence Studies) and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

He is married to Caroline and they have one daughter (Jessica 9) and one son (Hugo 7). His hobbies include hang gliding, surfing, and playing the guitar.