Defence Review 2009
Major General (RDT) L J (Lou) Gardiner, ONZM
Lou was born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1952. He joined the New Zealand Army in 1971 and entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon, Australia. He graduated in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Economics and Geography and joined the Royal New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps. He completed a number of appointments and courses, including a Fuels, Energy, Management Course at Fort Lee, USA and a two year posting to Army Office in Canberra, Australia as a Major, before being promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and Commanding Officer of the 1st Base Supply Battalion in December 1990. In 1994, he was posted to the United Nations Operations in Somalia (UNOSOM) as the Deputy Chief Logistic Officer on the Headquarters of the Peacekeeping Force for seven and half months. In late 1995 he returned to NZ, was promoted to Colonel and assumed the appointment of Chief of Staff, Support Command. At this time he completed a second degree in Human Resource Management. In Jan 1997, Major General Gardiner attended the Australia College of Defence and Strategic Studies (ACDSS) in Canberra, Australia and returned to NZ in Dec 1997 to assume the appointment of Director of Resource Policy and Plans in HQ NZDF. During 1998, he attended a Finance for Senior Executives course at the Harvard Business School.
In December 1998, he was promoted to Brigadier and assumed the appointment of Deputy Chief of Staff (DCGS). However, one week later he was appointed as the Land Commander. During his twelve months as Land Commander, he was appointed as Joint Commander for two operations. The first operation was the provision of support to the New Zealand Police Force during the security operations for APEC that was held in Auckland. The second operation was for the deployment and command of NZ forces to, and in East Timor. In December 1999, he was re-appointed to DCGS. In July 2000, he was appointed to the Chief Military Observers appointment in United Nations Transitional Authority East Timor (UNTAET) for twelve months. He returned to NZ in July 2001 and assumed his old appointment as DCGS. In December 2001 he was appointed as the NZ Defence Adviser to Australia. Lou was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for his Operational Service in East Timor, in the New Years Honours List on January 1st 2004. In November 2004 he was promoted to Major General and posted as Commander Joint Forces New Zealand.
On 1 May 2006 Major General Gardiner was appointed to the position of Chief of Army. A position he held until 1 May 2009. More recently Lou Gardiner was appointed the Chief Executive of Crimestoppers New Zealand.
Lou is married to Judith and they have three children, Matthew, Erin and Benjamin. Lou enjoys rugby, although no longer an active player, cricket, fitness training and golf. Judith is involved with education that extends to a very keen involvement with the Duke of Edinburgh program, and is an avid golfer.
