Michael (Mike) Smith is the founding Executive Director of the Asia Pacific Centre for Civil-Military Cooperation, established by the Australian Government in 2008. From 2002-2008 he was CEO of Austcare, an independent non-government aid and development agency, that focuses on human security. Mike formerly served as an Army Officer in the Australian Defence Force for 34 years, retiring in 2002. He is an Adjunct Professor at the Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance at Griffith University and a Member of the International Advisory Board of the Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy at the Australian National University. He also lectures on international security issues at the Centre for International Security Studies at the University of Sydney, and has delivered a number of keynote addresses on peace-related issues at international forums. From 2003-2005, Mike was a member of the Executive Committee of the Australian Council for International Development.

Mike graduated with the Sword of Honour from the Royal Military College, Duntroon, and during his service held command appointments from platoon to brigade level, including service in Cambodia, East Timor, Kashmir and Papua New Guinea, where he experienced the tragedies caused by conflict and/or poverty, and the need for greater civil-military coordination. His last military assignment was as Deputy Force Commander for the UN Transitional Adminis¬tration in East Timor (UNTAET), in recognition of which he was promoted to an Officer in the Order of Australia. His book Peacekeeping in East Timor: the Path to Independence (Lynne Rienner, 2003) and his chapter with Dr Moreen Dee on “East Timor” in Twenty-First-Century Peace Operations (William J. Durch (Ed), USIP, 2007) identifies the lessons for intervention, civil-military relations and peacebuilding. In 1998, he was team leader and principal author for the Australian Army's keystone strategic doctrine The Fundamentals of Land Warfare, and he is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Australian Army Journal. He has published articles on issues of national and human security, peace operations, and refugees and displacement.

Mike holds a BA in History from the University of New South Wales, an MA in International Relations from the Australian National University, and is a Fellow of the Australian College of Defence and Strategic Studies. He has a Diploma of Management and is a Member of the Corporate Directors’ Association. He was educated at Sydney Boys’ High School. He is married to Margaret Bain-Smith, and they have three adult sons. Mike is a Rotarian, a struggling golfer, and a keen rugby spectator, who enjoys reading, music and the theatre.