Full Name
Honorable Dr. John Hillen
Speaker Bio
The Honorable Dr. John Hillen is a former US Assistant Secretary of State, decorated Army combat veteran, and former public company CEO. He continues to serve as a Board Chairman of several companies and is a Trustee or Director of a number of non-profit enterprises and philanthropic organizations. He has been the CEO of several companies, public and private, and a Director of over a dozen others.
Unanimously confirmed by the Senate in 2005, Hillen served as the Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs in the second half of the Bush administration and in that capacity spent much of his time with U.S. and allied troops in war zones from Iraq to Afghanistan to the southern Philippines. He has written or edited several critically acclaimed books on international security affairs and has published articles in dozens of journals and newspapers, including Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, National Review, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. He has appeared on every major television network and was an on-air commentator for ABC News for a number of years.
A public intellectual and experienced policy professional, Hillen has also published extensively on leadership, public policy, and strategy. His most recent book is the international best-seller The Strategy Dialogues, A Primer on Business Strategy and Strategic Management. His previous book, What Happens Now: Reinvent Yourself As a Leader Before Your Business Outruns You (co-authored with Mark Nevins) was named one of the top 30 business books of 2018 and is in its third printing.
Hillen, who served for 12 years as an Army reconnaissance officer and paratrooper, was awarded the Bronze Star for his role in the Battle of the 73 Easting during Operation Desert Storm. He spent nine years on the Chief of Naval Operations Executive Panel, the federal advisory committee supporting the head of the U.S. Navy and received the Navy’s Meritorious Public Service Award in 2017. He was the military advisor on the original Call of Duty video game series set in World War II. In 2020 he was inducted into the US Army ROTC Hall of Fame.
In addition to his undergraduate degree from Duke, Dr. Hillen holds a master’s degree in war studies from King’s College London, a doctorate in international relations from Oxford University, and an MBA from the Johnson School of Management at Cornell University. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws from Hampden-Sydney College in 2019.
Unanimously confirmed by the Senate in 2005, Hillen served as the Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs in the second half of the Bush administration and in that capacity spent much of his time with U.S. and allied troops in war zones from Iraq to Afghanistan to the southern Philippines. He has written or edited several critically acclaimed books on international security affairs and has published articles in dozens of journals and newspapers, including Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, National Review, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. He has appeared on every major television network and was an on-air commentator for ABC News for a number of years.
A public intellectual and experienced policy professional, Hillen has also published extensively on leadership, public policy, and strategy. His most recent book is the international best-seller The Strategy Dialogues, A Primer on Business Strategy and Strategic Management. His previous book, What Happens Now: Reinvent Yourself As a Leader Before Your Business Outruns You (co-authored with Mark Nevins) was named one of the top 30 business books of 2018 and is in its third printing.
Hillen, who served for 12 years as an Army reconnaissance officer and paratrooper, was awarded the Bronze Star for his role in the Battle of the 73 Easting during Operation Desert Storm. He spent nine years on the Chief of Naval Operations Executive Panel, the federal advisory committee supporting the head of the U.S. Navy and received the Navy’s Meritorious Public Service Award in 2017. He was the military advisor on the original Call of Duty video game series set in World War II. In 2020 he was inducted into the US Army ROTC Hall of Fame.
In addition to his undergraduate degree from Duke, Dr. Hillen holds a master’s degree in war studies from King’s College London, a doctorate in international relations from Oxford University, and an MBA from the Johnson School of Management at Cornell University. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws from Hampden-Sydney College in 2019.
