Mike Kalms is Partner in Charge, Customer & Operations | Lead Partner, Defence & Space at KPMG, Australia’s national Customer & Operations Advisory group with more than 600 partners and expert consultants. From a market perspective, he drives KPMG’s national defence industry and space accounts.

He has more than 30 years’ experience in business and government in Australia, Europe and Asia. In his (now) distant youth, Mike joined the Department of Defence, investing several years in understanding how that agency works. He then embarked on a career in industry with BAE Systems and QinetiQ – with interludes at RPDE and the UK’s NITEworks collaborative programs.

Mike has found a home at KPMG, where he has supported the 2016 White Paper as a member of the Minister’s six-person Expert Panel, worked shoulder-to-shoulder with Defence on their industry policy and approach to sovereign industry.