Brigadier General Michael Bender

Managing Director and Head of Management Staff

BBAINBw

Brigadier General Michael Bender has over 30 years of experience in ministerial, leadership, staff, and international assignments. After training as a mountain infantry officer and studying mechanical engineering at the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich, he held numerous leadership positions, from platoon leader and company commander to commander of a mountain infantry battalion and Mountain Infantry Brigade 23. He gained international expertise at NATO's International Military Staff in Brussels and at the NATO Defense College in Rome. At the Federal Ministry of Defense, he held key positions in both the policy area and in the immediate vicinity of political leadership, including as office manager for the State Secretary for Armaments. With his broad experience in troop leadership, strategic planning, armament and procurement, and international cooperation, General Bender is one of the most prominent young leaders in the German Armed Forces. He is currently the managing director of the BAAINBw and head of the management staff, and has also led the establishment of the German Armed Forces Innovation Center in Erding.