faculty

Expertise
Leader development, change management, strategic planning, organizational alignment and assessments

Experience
Bill has extensive experience in leader development, having taught as a resident lecturer at Harvard Kennedy School, where he ran the leader development program for active-duty military and intelligence fellows and directed the top-level executive education program for senior managers and executives. He now consults and teaches on leadership. As the Commandant (president) of the Army War College, he designed and ran the Army's strategic leadership program for one to three-star generals, while leading the college in its mission to help senior officers and civilians make the transition from operational to strategic leadership. As the Commandant of Cadets at West Point, he led the leadership and character development programs for the 4,400 cadets.

In over 42 months in combat, Bill led an engineer company in the first Gulf War, commanded a 3,000-soldier brigade in the Iraq War, served as General Petraeus' personal assistant during the Iraq Surge, and commanded over 17,000 troops supplying all resource needs of the 160,000 U.S. and international force in Afghanistan in 2011-12. He also served as the Army's senior liason to the U.S. Congress. Bill has significant personal history as a team builder and a well-known professional reputation for developing ethical, courageous, and creative leaders. He is known for collegiality, consensus building, and resourcing and creating positive change in large organizations.

Scholarly Work/Publications/Awards

Numerous military awards and decorations including two Defense Service Medals, two Bronze Star Medals, Master Parachutist and Ranger tabs. His first book on leadership was published in October 2021, Accomplishing the Impossible- Leadership that Launched Revolutionary Change.  Bill is now working on a book on Sioux and Cheyenne leadership at the battle of the Little Big Horn that focuses on creating alignment and collective action among disparate groups where this is no directive authority.  He has published chapters and articles on leadership, civil-military relations, increasing effective voice within organizations, and on U.S.–Japan security relations.

Education
MSS, U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, PA
PhD, Political Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
MA, Political Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
BS, Civil Engineering, United States Military Academy, West Point, NY

Personal
Bill is married to a former Army nurse, Debbie, and they have three adult kids and two Portuguese Water Dogs.