LEXINGTON, Va. Aug. 23, 2024 — Retired U.S. Navy Adm. James Stavridis, the H.B. Johnson Jr., Class of 1926, Distinguished Speaker, will address the Corps of Cadets and faculty at the academic convocation at Virginia Military Institute on Wednesday, Sept. 4, at 10:30 a.m. in Cameron Hall on Main Street. The event is free and open to the public.

A Florida native, Stavridis attended the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, and served 37 years in the Navy, rising to the rank of four-star admiral. Among his many commands were four years as the 16^th Supreme Allied Commander at NATO, where he oversaw operations in Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, the Balkans, and counter piracy off the coast of Africa. He also commanded the U.S. Southern Command in Miami, charged with military operations through Latin America for nearly three years. He was the longest serving combatant commander in recent U.S. 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, and the Navy League John Paul Jones Award for inspirational leadership, along with more than 50 U.S. and international medals and decorations, including 28 from foreign nations. He also commanded a destroyer squadron and a carrier strike group, both in combat.

Following his military career, he served for five years as the 12^th dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, where he earned his doctorate.

Stavridis has published 13 books on leadership, character, risk, the oceans, maritime

affairs, and Latin America, as well as hundreds of articles in leading journals. Two of his most popular books are, “To Risk It All: Nine Conflicts and the Crucible of Decision” and “2034: A Novel of the Next World War,” a New York Times bestseller co-authored with Elliot Ackerman. His most recent novel, “2054,” also co-authored with Ackerman, takes place 20 years in the future, and deals with artificial intelligence and geopolitics.

Stavridis is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and chief international security analyst for NBC News.

He and his wife, Laura, have two adult daughters.

-VMI-