Renée Kidson
Biography
Colonel Renée Kidson CSM is currently Colonel Domestic Operations and Plans in Headquarters 5th Brigade of the Australian Army. Renée is a dual-career exemplar. Her military career has spanned 27 years to date, which she has proudly served as a Reservist concurrently with her civilian executive career. In her ADF capacity, she has served on multiple deployments internationally and domestically, most notably as Task Group Commander in New South Wales during Operation BUSHFIRE ASSIST 2019–2020, for which she received the Conspicuous Service Medal. Other career highlights include serving as Commanding Officer of the 5th Engineer Regiment, and as the founding Director of the Army Research Centre.
A scientist and economist by training, Renée’s current civilian role is Executive Director Strategy in Navy Fleet Headquarters in Sydney.
Renée has six degrees, including a PhD in Science from Trinity College Cambridge, and a Master of Economics (Honours) from the University of Sydney. In 2022 she completed the MBA at Deakin University as part of the Defence and Strategic Studies Course. For her MBA work, including her thesis on Defence scalability, Renée was awarded the Dean’s Merit List academic prize.
