Dr Dennis Blease

Dr Dennis Blease DL has been a Deputy Lieutenant for Oxfordshire since 2018. He is part of the Lieutenancy team focused on the Vale of White Horse and is the Lieutenancy’s link to Wantage. He is a member of the Lieutenancy’s Honours and Awards Committee and holds the Lieutenancy’s military brief for the County.

Dennis served in the British Army for 36 years and retired as a Brigadier. He spent his last ten years in uniform working mainly with NATO, but also with the EU and the UN. As Commander of NATO’s mission in the Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia), he assisted the country in reforming its security sector and governance arrangements (2004-05).  This role in reform was then expanded by NATO to cover the whole of the Western Balkans (2006-08).  It included being an Advisor to the UN Special Envoy for Kosovo, the former Finnish President and Nobel Peace Laureate, Martti Ahtisaari.

Dennis retired from the British Army in 2008, and initially worked for Cranfield University, providing support to the UK’s Stabilisation Unit in London.  Since 2012, he has been an independent consultant, lecturing and advising on security and justice reform around the world.  His consultancy work contributed to his doctoral studies at Cranfield University, Shrivenham, where he gained his PhD in 2018.  He retired from his consultancy business in 2020. 

Dennis is a member of the Oxfordshire Historical Churches Trust (OHCT), a Trustee of the Longcot Village Trust, and Deputy Lay Chair of the Longcot with Fernham Parochial Church Council. He is a Fellow of St Birinus in recognition of his service to the local community and his fundraising on behalf of the OHCT.

Dennis is married to Kathy and they live in Longcot.