Major General (Ret.) Urs Gerber is the president of the Foundation Council of the Swiss Armed Forces’ Historic Material Foundation an institution responsible for collecting, maintaining and developing the “hardware legacy” of the Swiss Armed Forces.
He is co-chairing the Annual Senior Officers Seminar (ASOS) on leadership and crisis management at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) and is continuing to give talks and lectures on the situation in and around the Korean Peninsula. Furthermore, he is representing the Swiss Armed Forces on the International Military Council on Climate and Security (IMCCS). Until the end of 2019 he has been the editor-in-chief of the Swiss Military Power Revue, a military-strategic publication of the Chief of the Swiss Armed Forces.
From February 2012 until August 2017 MajGen Gerber has been the Swiss Member and Head of the Swiss Delegation to the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission, Panmunjeom, Republic of Korea, from where he retired at the end of August 2017.
Educated as historian at the University of Berne he worked as a research assistant for the Swiss National Fund before joining the Swiss General Staff in 1984 as a civil servant. After a short assignment to the Plans & Policy Directorate, Urs Gerber worked for an extended period in senior positions at the Strategic Intelligence Service heading the Analysis Division from 1998-99.
After a short stint as Senior Project Manager for Military Strategy he headed from 2002-2003 the Swiss Verification Unit mainly responsible for the implementation of arms control agreements. From 2004-2011 Urs Gerber was Head of the Euro-Atlantic Security Co-operation Division. In this capacity he has been responsible for all multilateral activities of the Swiss Armed Forces and its relations within the framework of UN, OSCE and EAPC-PfP as well as for arms control and disarmament issues of the Swiss Ministry of Defence.
From 2006-2011 he has also been the Deputy Director of the International Relations Directorate of the Swiss Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defence.
In parallel to his professional career, Urs Gerber started his militia (reserve) military career in 1973. 1981-85 he has been serving as an infantry company commander. After graduation in 1986 to general staff officer he has been assigned ACOS Intel (1986-1990) and ACOS Ops (1995-96) at division staff level. From 1991-94 Urs Gerber commanded an infantry battalion in Field Division 3 (Inf). From 1997-2003 he was assigned to the staff of 1st Field Army Corps as a senior adviser to the commanding general and as ACOS Intel (1998-99).
2004-2011 he has been a senior staff officer on the Military Strategic Staff of the Chief of the Armed Forces. Upon decision of the Swiss government of October 2011 he was promoted to Major General to take over the Swiss Delegation to the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission, Panmunjeom, Republic of Korea, by 21 February 2012.
Apart from national (general) staff and flag officer courses, Urs Gerber graduated from the ITC of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) (1993/94) and from the Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) (2000) in London.