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.