Keynote speaker selected for 2012 Product Show & Conference

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Focusing on a theme of Leadership for the 2012 Product Show & Conference, April 21-24 in San Antonio, Texas, the ISA Board and Conference Planning Committee selected Four-Star General Stanley McChrystal to deliver the Opening Session Keynote presentation. General McChrystal’s presentation is scheduled for Sunday, April 22 in the Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center.

Participants will learn from the former Commander of U.S. and International Forces in Afghanistan about Four-Star Strategy Lessons. A dynamic, powerful speaker, McChrystal impresses audiences with field-tested leadership lessons. He stresses a uniquely inclusive model focused on building teams capable of the relentless pursuit of results. When old systems fall short, he believes true leaders must look for ways to innovate and change. Citing stories from his career, McChrystal reveals a four-star management strategy, stressing openness, teamwork, and forward-thinking.

General McChrystal’s Biography
Former Commander of U.S. and International Forces in Afghanistan
Senior Fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs

A one-of-a-kind commander with a remarkable record of achievement, General Stan McChrystal is widely praised for creating a revolution in warfare that fused intelligence and operations. He is also known for developing and implementing the counter-insurgency strategy in Afghanistan and for creating a comprehensive counter-terrorism organization that revolutionized the way military agencies interact and operate.

A four-star general, he is the former commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan and the former leader of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), which oversees the military’s most sensitive forces. His leadership of JSOC is credited with the December 2003 capture of Saddam Hussein and the June 2006 location and killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. McChrystal, a former Green Beret, is known for his candor, innovative leadership, and going the distance. Called “one of America’s greatest warriors” by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, few can speak about leadership, teamwork, and international affairs with as much insight as he can.

The son and grandson of Army officers, McChrystal graduated from West Point in 1976 and trained at the Special Forces School in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He was later commissioned as an infantry officer and spent much of his career commanding special operations and airborne infantry units. During the Persian Gulf War, McChrystal served in a Joint Special Operations Task Force and commanded the 75th Ranger Regiment. He also completed year-long fellowships at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1997 and at the Council on Foreign Relations in 2000. He was promoted to brigadier general in 2001.

In 2002, he was appointed chief of staff of military operations in Afghanistan. Two years later, McChrystal was selected to deliver the nationally televised Pentagon briefings about military operations in Iraq. From 2003–2008, he commanded JSOC and was responsible for leading the nation’s deployed military counter-terrorism efforts around the globe, assuming command of all international forces in Afghanistan in June 2009. President Obama’s order for an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan was based on McChrystal’s assessment of the war.

McChrystal retired from the military in 2010. He now serves on the board of directors for JetBlue Airways, Navistar, and the Yellow Ribbon Fund. In 2011, he returned to public service after the Obama administration invited him to oversee Joining Forces, a high-profile initiative that supports military families. McChrystal currently leads its three-member advisory board. He is also a senior fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, where he teaches a popular course on leadership.