![\"John](\"http:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/wilsoncenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2020\/06\/JohnHillen.jpg\")
Hampden-Sydney College and the Wilson Center for Leadership in the Public Interest are thrilled to announce the Honorable Dr. John Hillen as the new James C. Wheat Chair in Leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHampden-Sydney College and the Wilson Center for Leadership in the Public Interest are thrilled to announce the Honorable Dr. John Hillen as the new James C. Wheat Chair in Leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Established\nin 1993, the Wheat Professorship enables students to learn about both the\ntheory and the practice of leadership under the guidance of visiting leaders\nfrom various arenas. As the Wheat Professor, Hillen will teach Leadership and\nEthics\u2014a required course for students earning a minor in Leadership in the\nPublic Interest\u2014and will develop a special topics class on leadership in\nAmerican institutions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA primary\ngoal of the Wilson Center of Leadership in the Public Interest is to connect\ntheory and practice,\u201d said Wilson Center Director Ryan Pemberton \u201900. \u201cDr.\nHillen\u2019s experience in the classroom, boardroom, halls of power, and in combat\nwill help our young men connect their time at Hampden-Sydney and in the Wilson\nCenter to the world beyond our gates. I am confident that each of his classes\nwill have a waiting list.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hillen is\nan award-winning CEO and leadership expert, former Assistant Secretary of\nState, public intellectual, decorated combat veteran, and popular business\nschool professor. He is the\nauthor of several books, most recently What Happens Now? Reinvent Yourself as a Leader Before Your Business\nOutruns You<\/em>, which was\nrecognized as one of the top business books of 2018. He is currently the CEO of\nEverwatch Solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I’ve been teaching and writing about leadership in various settings\nnow for 20 years,\u201d Hillen said. \u201cIt is very exciting to bring that teaching\nexperience and the leadership lessons I’ve learned in military, diplomatic,\ngovernmental, non-profit, and commercial roles to our students at the Wilson\nCenter. We aim for these young men to be the CEOs, mayors, pastors,\ncoaches, teachers, generals, and other leaders of tomorrow. To help\nthem on that journey is a privilege.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n From 2013\nto 2019, Hillen served as the Executive-in-Residence and Professor of Practice\nin the School of Business at George Mason University, where he taught strategy,\nleadership, and management courses, twice winning the outstanding professor award\nin the MBA program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “The interdisciplinary approach to teaching leadership at the Wilson\nCenter is exactly what is needed today, in my opinion,\u201d Hillen\ncontinued. \u201cToo many institutions suffer from overly specialized expertise\nin their leaders, which does not necessarily translate into the strategic\nsagacity, broad-minded vision, and ethical foundation that should buttress all\nleaders. In the finest traditions of liberal arts education, we will\nteach those skills to our young men to prepare them to be in the front ranks of\ntheir communities and organizations.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hillen\nserved for eight years as a trustee of Hampden-Sydney College and is the\nbenefactor of the Hillen Seminar Room in the Wilson Center, named for his\nfather. He received the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Medallion from Hampden-Sydney\nCollege in 2016 and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the College\nin 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “The ancient mission of Hampden-Sydney\nCollege, \u2018to form good men and good citizens,\u2019 inspired me from my first\nencounter with the College,\u201d Hillen added. \u201cWe can sometimes over-inflate\nthe challenges of our age, but it is no exaggeration to say that this mission\nis needed now more than ever. The decline in civic education, the overt\nspecialization of so much curriculum, and the rancor in our politics are all\nconnected. We need to produce well-rounded and thoughtful leaders to be\nthe virtuous citizens that America’s founders told us would be needed to\npreserve a free and fair democracy. To be able to contribute to that education\nfor young men aiming to be citizen leaders of their communities and their\ncountry is a high honor.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. Hillen\nwill assume his new role on July 1, and a celebration in his honor will be held\nin Washington, DC, on Friday, October 9. <\/p>\n\n\n\n ###<\/p>\n\n\n\n Extended Biography:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nHonorable Dr. John Hillen is an award-winning CEO and leadership expert, former\nAssistant Secretary of State, public intellectual, decorated combat veteran,\nand popular business school professor. He served for eight years as a trustee\nof Hampden-Sydney College, received the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Medallion from\nHampden-Sydney College in 2016, and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws\ndegree from the college in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. Hillen\nhas been teaching and writing on leadership issues for 20 years. He is the\nauthor of several books, most recently What Happens Now? Reinvent Yourself\nas a Leader Before Your Business Outruns You<\/em>, which was recognized as one\nof the top business books of 2018 by several organizations. He also writes a\ncolumn on leadership and business strategy for Forbes<\/em> magazine and Washington\nTechnology <\/em>magazine and moderates leadership seminars for the Aspen\nInstitute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hillen is\ncurrently the CEO of Everwatch Solutions, a mid-sized defense technology firm\nin northern Virginia. From 2013 to 2019, Hillen served as the Executive-in-Residence\nand Professor of Practice in the School of Business at George Mason University,\nwhere he taught strategy, leadership, and management courses. He twice won the outstanding\nprofessor award in the MBA program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Prior to\nteaching in the School of Business at George Mason, he was the President and CEO\nof Sotera Defense Solutions, Inc.\u2014a company that Hillen took public in 2009 in\none of the few successful IPOs in the American economy that year. The recipient\nof numerous leadership awards in the military, government, academia, and\nbusiness, Hillen has been named one of the 100 most influential business\nleaders in the DC area. He continues to serve on the boards of several\ncompanies and a number of nonprofits and charities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unanimously\nconfirmed by the Senate in 2005, Hillen served as the Assistant Secretary of\nState for Political-Military Affairs in the second half of the Bush\nadministration and in that capacity spent much of his time with U.S. and allied\ntroops in war zones from Iraq to Afghanistan to the southern Philippines. He\nhas written or edited several books on international security affairs and has\npublished articles in dozens of journals and newspapers, including Foreign\nAffairs<\/em>, The New York Times<\/em>, The Wall Street Journal<\/em>, and The\nWashington Post<\/em>. He has appeared on every major television network and was\nan on-air commentator for ABC News for a number of years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hillen,\nwho served for 12 years as an Army reconnaissance officer and paratrooper, was awarded\nthe Bronze Star for his role in the Battle of the 73 Easting during Operation\nDesert Storm. He recently spent nine years on the Chief of Naval Operations\nExecutive Panel, the federal advisory committee supporting the head of the U.S.\nNavy, and received the Navy\u2019s Meritorious Public Service Award in 2017. He\nwas the military advisor on the original Call of Duty<\/em> video game series\nset in World War II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. Hillen\ngraduated from Duke University with degrees in public policy studies and history\nand was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship after graduation. He holds a master\u2019s\ndegree in war studies from King\u2019s College London, a doctorate in international\nrelations from Oxford University, and an MBA from the Johnson School of\nManagement at Cornell University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hampden-Sydney College and the Wilson Center for Leadership in the Public Interest are thrilled to announce the Honorable Dr. John Hillen as the new James C. Wheat Chair in Leadership. Established in 1993, the Wheat Professorship enables students to learn about both the theory and the practice of leadership under the guidance of visiting leaders … <\/p>\n