Brigadier General Dr. Tomasz Kowalik

Deputy Chief of Staff of the Multinational Corps Northeast for Logistics

Brigadier General Dr. Tomasz Kowalik - born on March 10, 1974, in Gdańsk - joined the Polish Armed Forces in 1993, was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant in 1998, and began his professional military career in 1999 as the commander of an airborne assault platoon in the 7th Battalion of the 25th Air Cavalry Brigade in Tomaszów Mazowiecki.

From 2000 to 2002, he served as a specialist in the Department of Military Science and Education of the Ministry of National Defence (MON), where he worked on the reform of the military education system and was a member of the Central Examination Commission for Foreign Languages. For the next four years, he served in the Secretariat of the Secretary of State - the First Deputy Minister of National Defence and the National Director for Armaments, dealing with international matters. In 2006, he was appointed Senior Specialist in the Strategic Planning Division J-5 at the General Staff of the Polish Army. From 2008 to 2012, he served as military assistant to two Chiefs of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces. Then, from 2012 to 2015, he was seconded to NATO Headquarters in Brussels, serving as special assistant to the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee.

From 2016 to 2019, he was the Director of the Military Foreign Affairs Department at the MON, overseeing, among other things, departmental bilateral relations and Polish defense attaches. In 2020-2021, he served at the Operational Command of the Armed Forces, where he was the Deputy Chief of Staff for Support (DCOS Support). After being promoted to the rank of brigadier general in March 2021, he was assigned to the Multinational Corps Northeast in Szczecin, where he took the position of Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics (DCOS Support), overseeing matters related to resources, logistics, and communications of the Corps, including the J1, J4, J6, J8, and JMED support divisions. General Kowalik is a graduate of the General Józef Bem Military Academy in Toruń. He holds a bachelor's degree in political science from the United States Army Command and General Staff College at West Point and a master's and doctoral degree in educational sciences from Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin. He also completed a Postgraduate National Security Studies at the University of Warsaw and Postgraduate Defense Policy Studies at the National Defense University in Warsaw.

He has undergone specialized training at the U.S. Army Air Assault School, parachuting training in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, and the case method teaching course of the International Faculty Development Program at IESE Business School in Barcelona. He also participated in NATO Staff Officer Orientation, Senior Officer Policy, Resources Management Education Programme (RMEP), and NATO Logistics Operations Course (NLOC) at the NATO School in Oberammergau, as well as the Generals, Flag Officers, and Ambassadors’ Course at the NATO Defense College in Rome. He completed the Top Public Executive Course at the National School of Public Administration (KSAP) and IESE Business School, the European Security Seminar – North (ESS-N) at the George C. Marshall Center in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and the Senior Leaders’ Course at the Baltic Defense College. General Kowalik is the author of three books and several dozen articles on NATO, international security, military affairs, and military education, as well as English idioms published both in Poland and abroad, and he occasionally teaches various audiences, including lectures in English on the history of Polish military. He is fluent in English and German (both at level 4) and French (level 2+). He is married to Izabela; they have three children. Brigadier General Tomasz Kowalik has been involved in competitive sports throughout his school and student life: basketball, handball, table tennis, racquetball, orienteering, and long-distance running.

Currently, he limits his activities to running, swimming, and playing table tennis. His hobbies include military history, international relations, and collecting miniature soldiers. He has been awarded the Silver Cross of Merit, Military Cross of Merit, Medal for Long Service (3rd class), Medal for Merits for National Defense (1st class), Armed Forces Medal (2nd class), the Centennial Medal of the General Staff, and the Medal of Blessed Father Jerzy Popiełuszko. His foreign decorations include the French Ordre National du Mérite (knight), Lithuanian Medal of Merit of the National Defense System, German Ehrenkreuz der Bundeswehr (silver), and Estonian Air Force Cross of Merit (2nd class).