Mark Bibbey

Mark Bibbey is an Associate Dean and Academic Adviser at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies. Following a career as a Royal Marines’ officer and retiring as a colonel, Mark Bibbey was the Chief Executive of two Third Sector businesses before being selected by the NESA Center as an Associate Dean and Academic Adviser in late 2020 to work on a Saudi Arabian National Defense University related project.

His military career encompassed operational experience in Command and at staff from Northern Ireland, the Balkans, the U.S. Central Command AOR, and UN Peacekeeping operations (primarily in Africa). He commanded the Command Support Group (now named 30 Commando Group) in the 3 Commando Brigade, was Director (Commitments) in HQ Royal Marines, Chief of Staff to a UK 2-star HQ embedded within US CENTCOM, and held two one-star diplomatic appointments in Islamabad and at the UK Mission to the UN in New York.

Mark Bibbey was educated at Durham University, the Commando Training Center, the Army Staff College, the Open University, and the Royal College of Defense Studies. He has also been a member of the Directing Staff (Faculty) on three occasions: at the Maritime Warfare Center, where he was responsible for teaching Amphibious, Joint and Coalition operations to RN and Allied officers appointed to Command and facilitating joint and coalition seminar wargaming for the MoD; at the RN Staff Course; and the Advanced Command and Staff Course. He was a member of the Change Management Team, which transitioned the (UK’s) single Service Staff Colleges into the Joint Services Command and Staff College and, ultimately, the Defense Academy. He is also a Dutch linguist and has a working knowledge of French.