COL (OF-5) Orlin Nikolov

COL Nikolov is Director of the Crisis Management and Disaster Response Centre of Excellence (CMDR COE).

COL Nikolov graduated from the High military school “P. Volov”, Bulgaria (1991) and pursued his Master’s studies at the National Defence College “G.S. Rakovski”, Bulgaria (2003). He completed a Junior Staff Officer Course—Liptovski Mikulash (2005) and a Joint Specialized Operation Course at the Joint Specialized Operation University, the USA (2006). COL Nikolov holds a PhD in National Security and is the author of multiple articles on topics such as Air Defence and Modelling and Simulations and is a member of various NATO Modelling and Simulation Groups.

COL Nikolov is the Director of the Crisis Management and Disaster Response Centre of Excellence (CMDR COE) and as such he is responsible for developing and executing the Centre’s strategic objectives in line with the organization’s mission and vision.

COL Nikolov previously served as Chief of the CMDR COE Capabilities Branch; Chief Expert in “Exercise and Training,” BGR MoD; Senior Assistant in “Simulations” branch in the BGR General Staff; Assistant in “Doctrines and training programs” branch in Training Directorate in the BGR General Staff; and Deputy Chief of the National Centre for Modelling and Simulations.

COL Nikolov has an extensive experience in project development and coordination, serving as a project manager, for instance, for the “South Eastern Europe Education and Training Network” and the “M&S Decision Making Support and Data Analysis platform for CMDR and Climate Change” projects.