AIRCDRE Nixon has accumulated over 8,500 flying hours primarily as a tactical co-ordinator on maritime surveillance aircraft, including during six years’ service with the Royal Air Force in the early 1990s.
In 2000 AIRCDRE Nixon was the Senior National Officer and Division Head of Projects in Bosnia-Herzegovina as part of NATO’s Stabilisation Forces. He was made an Officer of New Zealand’s Order of Merit in 2001 for his leadership developing micro-business programmes to encourage displaced people to return to their pre-war communities. In 2003 he led the deployment of aircraft, air and ground crews to the Middle East as part of New Zealand’s contribution to Operation Enduring Freedom.
AIRCDRE Nixon has also filled a range of command and senior military appointments including Aircraft Captain of a RAF Nimrod crew; Commanding Officer of No 5 Squadron; and planning and development roles in operational and strategic military headquarters. He also spent three years as a Deputy Director at the Centre of Defence and Strategic Studies in Canberra. AIRCDRE Nixon has a Master of Arts (Strategic Studies) from Deakin University, and a post-graduate diploma of Arts from Massey University.
AIRCDRE Nixon left the Defence Force in 2014 to become the first permanent Director of the Enterprise Portfolio Management in New Zealand Police. He re-joined the Defence Force in June 2017. Prior to his promotion and appointment as the first uniformed NZDF’s Chief Information Officer he was the Director of the Special Inquiry Office, overseeing the NZDF’s participation in the government’s inquiry into Operation Burnham and related matters.
- Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
