Admiral James Stavridis

Vice Chair, Global Affairs & Managing Director, The Carlyle Group
Chair of the Board of Counselors, McLarty Associates

Admiral James Stavridis is an Operating Executive at Carlyle focused on advising executive team and investment professionals on geopolitical and national security issues.

Admiral James Stavridis is Vice Chair, Global Affairs of The Carlyle Group and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Rockefeller Foundation, following five years as the 12th Dean of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.  A retired 4-star officer in the U.S. Navy, he led the NATO Alliance in global operations from 2009 to 2013 as Supreme Allied Commander with responsibility for Afghanistan, Libya, the Balkans, Syria, counter piracy, and cyber security.  He also served as Commander of U.S. Southern Command, with responsibility for all military operations in Latin America from 2006-2009.  He earned more than 50 medals, including 28 from foreign nations in his 37-year military career.

Earlier in his military career he commanded the top ship in the Atlantic Fleet, winning the Battenberg Cup, as well as a squadron of destroyers and a carrier strike group – all in combat.  In 2016, he was vetted for Vice President by Hillary Clinton and subsequently invited to Trump Tower to discuss a cabinet position in the Trump Administration.

Admiral Stavridis earned a PhD in international relations and has published twelve books and hundreds of articles in leading journals around the world, including the recent novel “2034: A Novel of the Next World War,” which was a New York Times bestseller and “To Risk It All: Nine Crises and The Crucible Of Decision.” His 2012 TED talk on global security has close to one million views.  Admiral Stavridis is a contributing editor for TIME Magazine and Chief International Security Analyst for NBC News.

Since the first days of The Institute, Admiral Stavridis has worked closely with Dov Seidman as a founding member of the board. He is a featured speaker, contributor and guide at the NXT-GEN Fellowship for Moral Leadership.

“Strong leaders must follow the truth wherever it leads. Nothing is more dangerous than a subordinate who will shade or alter the truth in order to curry favor or impress the boss. Leadership must be built on teamwork, mutual respect, and above all a shared sense of a common objective.”