Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

Claes Göran Gunnarsson (born 8 March 1950) is a retired

Swedish Coastal Artillery The Swedish Coastal Artillery () has its origin in the Archipelago Artillery that was raised in 1866. The Coastal Artillery was formed from the Archipelago Artillery, the Marine Regiment and parts of the Artillery in 1902. Kustartilleriet, abbr ...

Swedish Amphibious Corps The Amphibious Corps (, Amf) is the Marines, marine infantry arm of the Swedish Navy, with an emphasis on coastal defence. It has its roots in the Swedish Coastal Artillery, coastal artillery (, KA) but after the end of the Cold War it was seen as ...

officer. His senior commands include as head of the General Training and Management Directorate. Gunnarsson is known for leading the special working group assigned with investigation which units would be disbanded in accordance with the Defence Act of 2004. Gunnarsson served in the

Swedish Armed Forces The Swedish Armed Forces (, literally ''Defence Force'') are the Military, armed forces of the Kingdom of Sweden. It consists of four separate military branches, the Swedish Army, the Swedish Navy, the Swedish Air Force and the Home Guard (Swed ...

for over 30 years before retiring in 2005. He then served as Director General of the Rescue Services Agency, as CEO of

Storstockholms Lokaltrafik Storstockholms Lokaltrafik known as SL, () is the public transport organisation responsible for managing land-based public transport in Stockholm County, Sweden. SL oversees a network that includes the Stockholm Metro, ''Tunnelbana'' metro, Stock ...

and as managing director of the Greater Stockholm Fire Brigade.

Early life

Gunnarsson was born in

Borås Borås ( , , ) is a city (officially, a locality) and the seat of Borås Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 114,556 inhabitants in 2024. It is widely known for being a textile city, home to worldwide brands and companie ...

, Sweden.

Career

Military career

Gunnarsson became a lieutenant in 1974 and he attended the

Marine Corps Command and Staff College Marine Corps University is a military education university system of the United States Marine Corps. It is part of the Naval University System and accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools t ...

at the

Marine Corps Base Quantico Marine Corps Base Quantico (commonly abbreviated MCB Quantico) is a United States Marine Corps installation located near Triangle, Virginia, covering nearly of southern Prince William County, Virginia, northern Stafford County, and southe ...

from 1991 to 1992. After his time at Quantico, Gunnarsson was posted to the Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters, Plans and Policy Directorate, as a section head. In 1994, he took command of one of the marine defense battalions in the Vaxholm Coastal Artillery Regiment (KA 1). Gunnarsson was commanding officer of the ''Marinens krigshögskola'' (MKHS) from 1995 to 1996 and was promoted to colonel in 1996. He was then sent to

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

as Chief Military Observer of the

United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka UN Mission of Observers in Prevlaka (UNMOP) was established on 15 January 1996 in Security Council Resolution 1038 as a peacekeeping mission to monitor the demilitarization of the disputed Prevlaka peninsula by carrying out daily foot and vehic ...

(UNMOP) based out of

Cavtat Cavtat (, ) is a village in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia. It is on the Adriatic Sea coast south of Dubrovnik and is the centre and the main settlement of Konavle municipality. History Antiquity The original city was founded by the ...

. Gunnarsson served as the first mission commander from January to November 1996. In 1997, he was promoted senior colonel, and posted as Chief of the Naval Staff. In 1999, he was promoted to major general and assumed the position of Assistant Head of Plans and Policy Directorate, Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters. This posting made him the Supreme Commander's main planner for long term planning and responsible for the

' annual reports to the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

and the ''

Riksdag The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the parliamentary sovereignty, supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportional rep ...

''. In 2002, Gunnarsson was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed head of the General Training and Management Directorate (''Grundorganisationsledningen''). On August 28, 2003, it was decided that a special working group would prepare a basis for the following year's Defence Act on what the Swedish Armed Forces's general organization would look like in the future. The group included, among others, Gunnarsson together with the director Dan Ohlsson, senior adviser Johan Appelberg and the desk officer Mårten Sundmark from the Ministry of Defence and colonel Carol Paraniak and colonel Bo Bengtsson from the Swedish Armed Forces. This group traveled around Sweden in 2004 to be able to make a decision about which units should be disbanded. As soon as they arrived at a place it said the "Death Squad is in town" in the local newspapers. Gunnarsson led the group, whose real name was the ''Arbetsgruppen Grundorganisation'', AG Gro. Gunnarsson was scheduled to take up the position of Chief of Training & Development (''Produktionschef'') at the newly organized headquarters from 1 July 2005. Instead, Gunnarsson chose to retire on the same date.

Business career

Gunnarsson then worked with company development. In January 2006, the Swedish government appointed Gunnarsson as Director General of the Rescue Services Agency in

Karlstad Karlstad (, ) is the 20th-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Karlstad Municipality, the capital of Värmland County, and the largest city in the province Värmland in Sweden. The city proper had 67,122 inhabitants in 2020 with 97,233 inhabitan ...

. He took office on 1 March 2006. He was also chairman of the Rescue Services Agency's Board of Directors and the ''Centrum för risk- och säkerhetsutbildning'' ("Center for Risk and Safety Training"). Furthermore, he was a member of the ''Rådet för räddningstjänst '' ("Rescue Services Council") and

Folke Bernadotte Academy The Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA) () is the Swedish government agency for peace, security and development. FBA conducts training, research and method development in order to strengthen peacebuilding and statebuilding in conflict and post-confli ...

's program and activities council. On 23 February 2010,

's Board of Directors appointed Gunnarsson as permanent CEO after serving as acting CEO in the fall of 2009. He left that post on 23 June 2011. Gunnarsson took up the position of managing director of Greater Stockholm Fire Brigade (''Storstockholms brandförsvar'') on 1 December 2012. Gunnarsson has also been chairman of the National Swedish Road Safety Organization (''Nationalföreningen för trafiksäkerhetens främjande'', NTF) and a board member of SOS Alarm Sverige AB.

Personal life

Gunnarsson is married to Christel with whom he has two daughters.

Dates of rank

*1974 –

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

*1996 –

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

*1997 –

Senior colonel __NOTOC__ Senior colonel is an officer rank usually placed between a regular colonel and a British brigadier or American brigadier general. Use Most western militaries tend to equate a senior colonel as being on the level of a "brigadier general ...

*1999 – Major general *2002 –

Lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

Honours

*Member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences () is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden and was founded on 12 November 1796 by Gustaf Wilhelm af Tibell. The academy is an independent organization and a forum for military (army and air force) and de ...

(1998) *Member of the Royal Swedish Society of Naval Sciences (1993)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunnarsson, Goran 1950 births Living people Swedish Coastal Artillery major generals Swedish Amphibious Corps generals Swedish businesspeople People from Borås Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences Members of the Royal Swedish Society of Naval Sciences United Nations Military Observers (people)