Rob Ten Eikelder

Rob ten Eikelder (1956) studied at the Netherlands Royal Military Academy from 1975 to 1979. In 1979 he became a signal officer of the Royal Netherlands Army. After several positions in active service, including battalion commander, he was promoted to colonel in 1999 and took the position of head of Communication and Information Division of the Royal Netherlands Army staff. In this position he was responsible for the policy with regard to Command, Control and Communications for the Royal Netherlands Army and introduction of a new C3 system. Whilst a captain, he completed cum laude the education for chemical engineer (MSc) at the Delft University.
In 2001 he continued his career by joining Thales, after 25 years military service. He fulfilled several positions as Marketing and Sales Director in Naval and Air Defence domain. In 2005 he also established the Battlespace Transformation Centre Netherlands. From July 2009 till 2012 he was based in Colombes, France, and responsible for the Marketing and Sales of Border Surveillance Systems and Ground Surveillance Radars of Thales. From 2012 he had the position of Marketing and Sales Director for Africa and Saudi Arabia with the focus on Maritime Safety and Security.  
From mid- 2013 he is based in Abuja, Nigeria as Business Development Director Nigeria for all domains of Thales. Thales is a global technology leader in the Aerospace, Transportation, Defence and Security markets.