Admiral James Stavridis, US Navy (Retired)

Vice Chair, Global Affairs, The Carlyle Group

Chair of the Board of Trustees, the Rockefeller Foundation

A South Florida native, Jim Stavridis attended the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, and spent over thirty five years in the Navy, rising to the rank of 4-star Admiral. Among his many commands were four years as the 16th Supreme Allied Commander at NATO, where he oversaw operations in Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, the Balkans, and piracy off the coast of Africa. He also commanded US Southern Command in Miami, charged with military operations through Latin America for nearly three years. He was the longest serving Combatant Commander in recent US history.

In the course of his career in the Navy, he served as senior military assistant to the Secretary of the Navy and the Secretary of Defense. He led the Navy’s premier operational think tank for innovation, Deep Blue, immediately after the 9/11 attacks.

He won the Battenberg Cup for commanding the top ship in the Atlantic Fleet, the Destroyer USS BARRY, and the Navy League John Paul Jones Award for Inspirational leadership as a Commodore. He holds more than 50 US and international medals and decorations, including 28 from foreign nations. He also commanded a Destroyer Squadron and a Carrier Strike Group, both in combat in the Middle East.

He earned a PhD from The Fletcher School at Tufts, winning the Gullion prize as outstanding student in his class in 1983, as well as academic honors from the National and Naval War Colleges as a distinguished student. He speaks Spanish and French.

Jim has published nine books on leadership, character, the world's oceans, command at sea, Latin America, ship handling, and innovation, as well as hundreds of articles in leading journals. His latest book is "2034: A Novel About the Next World War," which depicts a war with China. It hit #6 on the NYT bestseller list when it was released in early 2021.

An active user of social networks, he has over one hundred thousand followers on Twitter, friends on Facebook, and connections on Linked In. His TED talk on 21st century security in 2012 has had nearly a million views across all platforms. He tweeted the end of combat operations in the Libyan NATO intervention. His memoir of the NATO years, “The Accidental Admiral,” was released in October 2014, and he had two books out in 2017: "The Leader's Bookshelf," about fifty books that can make you a better leader; and "Sea Power: The History and Geopolitics of the World's Oceans." His latest non-fiction book is "Sailing True North: Ten Admirals and the Voyage of Character" in 2019. In all, his books have sold hundreds of thousands of copies and are in print or under contract for publication in 20 countries.

Admiral Stavridis is also the Chair Emeritus of the Board of the US Naval Institute, the professional association of the Nation’s sea services: Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marine. He is also Dean Emeritus of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, a position he held from 2013-2018.He is a contributing editor for TIME Magazine and Chief International Security Analyst for NBC News.

He is happily married to Laura, and they have two daughters – one working at Google and the other a Nurse Practioner. Both are married to physicians and have small children. Jim enjoys competitive squash and tennis (he played on the varsity team at Annapolis), and cycling rather slowly.