Major General Marcus Thompson was born and raised in country Victoria. On graduation from the Royal Military College in 1988 he was allocated to the Royal Australian Corps of Signals. As a junior officer, he served in a variety of command, regimental and Special Operations appointments. As a Major, Major General Thompson was posted to the Directorate of Minor Capital Projects within Support Command (Army) as the Project Manager – Communications. Following attendance at Army Command and Staff College in 2000, he commanded the independent 103rd Signal Squadron. On promotion to Lieutenant Colonel, Major General Thompson was posted to Army Headquarters to raise the Directorate of Network Centric Warfare - Army. During this time he deployed to Iraq as the as the J6 of Joint Task Force 633. Major General Thompson commanded the 3rd Combat Signal Regiment during 2005-06. His tenure included the deployment of the Regiment (minus) to Timor Leste, for which he was awarded a Commander Joint Operations Commendation. Following unit command, he was posted to the Directorate of Officer Career Management – Army, where he served as the Career Advisor Lieutenant Colonels, and Staff Officer Grade One Postings. On promotion to Colonel in January 2009, Major General Thompson was seconded to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) as the Senior Advisor Defence Policy and Operations. He remained at PM&C during 2010 as the Deputy National Security Chief Information Officer, before returning to Army Headquarters in July 2010 to advance Army’s counter improvised explosive device capability. Major General Thompson attended the Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies in 2011. Upon promotion to Brigadier in December 2011, he was posted to Headquarters Special Operations as the Director General Special Operations Capability. In 2013 he deployed as the Director CJ35 Future Operations at ISAF Joint Command in Afghanistan, for which he was awarded the United States Legion of Merit (Officer). During a period of long term schooling in 2014, he completed a PhD in Cyber Security. Major General Thompson was subsequently appointed as Commander 6th Combat Support Brigade. Major General Thompson currently holds the appointment of Head Information Warfare for the Australian Defence Force. Major General Thompson was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2014 Queen’s Birthday Honours List. He holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering with honours from UNSW, a Bachelor of Business from RMIT, a Masters of Defence Studies from UC, a Master of Arts in Strategic Studies from Deakin University, and a PhD in Cyber Security from UNSW. He completed the Stanford Executive Program at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 2018. Major General Thompson is an Engineering Executive and Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia, a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, an adjunct Associate Professor with UNSW Canberra Cyber, and an adjunct Professor with the School of Engineering and Mathematics at La Trobe University.