John McColl

General Sir John Chalmers McColl (b. 17 April 1952) is the current Lieutenant Governor of Jersey, sworn in on 26 September 2011. Sir John previously served as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

Army career
Educated at Culford School, McColl was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Anglian Regiment in 1973 and promoted to lieutenant on 8 September 1974. He was promoted to captain on 8 March 1979 and to major on 30 September 1984. In 1989 he became a squadron commander in the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment, was promoted to lieutenant-colonel on 30 June 1990 and to acting colonel shortly after. He was promoted to colonel on 30 June 1995 and to brigadier on 31 December 1996 (seniority 30 June). He held a variety of commands and military posts before commanding 1 Mechanised Brigade in 1997. In 1999 he became Assistant Chief of Staff at Land Command and in 2000 he was given command of 3rd (UK) Mechanised Division. In 2001 he was appointed the first leader of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

In 2003 he became Commandant of the Joint Services Command and Staff College.

In March 2004 he was deployed as Senior British Military Representative and Deputy Commanding General, Multinational Force, Iraq and at the end of that year he became Commander of Regional Forces at Land Command.

In October 2007 he became Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe (DSACEUR) in the rank of General, replacing General Sir John Reith.

He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2008 New Year Honours.

He was the preferred choice of Afghanistan for the role of U.N. super envoy after they rejected Paddy Ashdown. However on 7 March 2008 Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide was appointed as the UN representative for Afghanistan. He retired as DSACEUR in March 2011.

Lieutenant Governor of Jersey
On 26 October 2010 it was announced that he would be appointed to the role of Lieutenant Governor of Jersey. He took office on 26 September 2011.

On 5 June 2012, Sir John, and his wife Lady McColl, represented Jersey at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Dedication Service at St Paul's Cathedral.

Honours and awards