
General John W Nicholson Jr.
US Army (Retired)
With over 36 years of active duty service, General John Nicholson’s six years deployed in Afghanistan make him one of America’s most combat seasoned four-star generals. He led the 41- nation NATO-led Resolute Support Mission and United States Forces-Afghanistan for two and a half years. His leadership and close relations with Afghan leaders were key to brokering the first ceasefire in the 17-year war and helped enable the launch of the current peace initiative. During his four assignments in NATO as a general officer, he developed close effective relationships with the security leadership of US Allies and Coalition partners. He has commanded units at all levels from company command in the 75th Ranger Regiment to division command of the 82nd Airborne Division and command of NATO’s Allied Land Command in Izmir, Turkey.
Following retirement from active duty in November 2018, General Nicholson became the President of the PENFED Foundation which supports U.S. veterans, service members and their families. He is an Adjunct Faculty member on leadership with Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School and is a member of Harvard’s Belfer Center ‘Elbe Group’ which sustains a Track Two dialogue between retired American and Russian senior officials in the military and intelligence fields. He is also a senior mentor to rising US general officers through the National Defense University CAPSTONE and PINNACLE programs and a frequent speaker to military and academic audiences globally on leadership and security issues. He has a Lab + Retriever cross named WestPoint.