General David Petraeus
Commander, U.S Central Command
May 20th, 2010
General David Petraeus is the 10th and current Commander, U.S. Central Command. Petraeus previously served as Commanding General, Multi-National Force - Iraq (MNF-I) from January 26, 2007 to September 16, 2008. As Commander of MNF-I, Petraeus oversaw all coalition forces in Iraq. Petraeus was the General George C. Marshall Award winner as the top graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College—class of 1983. He subsequently earned a M.P.A. degree (1985) and a Ph.D. degree (1987) in International Relations from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. He later served as Assistant Professor of International Relations at the U.S. Military Academy and also completed a fellowship at Georgetown University. He has a BS from the U.S. Military Academy—class of 1974—from which he graduated as a distinguished cadet. Petraeus has garnered numerous accolades in recent years.
At the close of 2009, Foreign Policy magazine profiled him as 8th on its list of “Top 100 Global Thinkers.” Earlier in 2009, he received the World Trade Center Tampa Bay’s Sam M. Gibbons Lifetime Achievement Award, American Legion's Distinguished Service Medal, the Atlantic Council's Military Leadership Award, the Union League Club of Philadelphia's Abraham Lincoln Award, the National Father's Day Committee's Father of the Year Award. Also in 2009, Petraeus received the National Committee on American Foreign Policy's George F. Kennan Award, the National Defense Industrial Association's Eisenhower Award, the Office of Strategic Service's William Donovan Award, the No Greater Sacrifice Freedom Award, and the Congressional Medal of Honor Society's Distinguished Citizen Award. He was also named as one of the "75 Best People in the World" in the October 2009 issue of Esquire, as well as a Distinguished Member of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment.
Ryan C. Crocker
Former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq
February 3rd, 2010
Ryan Crocker was named Dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University in December 2009. He retired from the Foreign Service in April 2009 after a career of over 37 years. He served as an Ambassador five times: Iraq (2007-2009), Pakistan (2004-2007), Syria (1998-2001), Kuwait (1994-1997) and Lebanon (1990-1993). He was a member of the faculty at the National War College 2003-2004. From May to August 2003, he was in Baghdad as the first Director of Governance for the Coalition Provisional Authority. He served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs from August 2001 to May 2003. Since joining the Foreign Service in 1971, he has had assignments in Iran, Qatar, Iraq and Egypt, as well as Washington. He was assigned to the American Embassy in Beirut during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and the bombings of the embassy and the Marine barracks in 1983.
Born in Spokane, Washington, he grew up in an Air Force family, attending schools in Morocco, Canada and Turkey, as well as the U.S. He received a B.A. in English in 1971 and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 2001 from Whitman College (Washington). He is a member of the College’s Board of Overseers.
Crocker received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian award, in 2009. He received the Presidential Distinguished Service Award in 2007 and 1994 and the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service in 2008 and 1997. He also holds the Secretary of State’s Award for Distinguished Service, the Distinguished Honor Award and Award for Valor as well as the American Foreign Service Association Rivkin Award for creative dissent. In January 2002, he was sent to Afghanistan to reopen the American Embassy in Kabul. He subsequently received the Robert C. Frasure Memorial Award for “exceptional courage and leadership” in Afghanistan. In September 2004, President Bush conferred on him the personal rank of Career Ambassador, the highest in the Foreign Service.
In May 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the establishment of the Ryan C. Crocker Award for Outstanding Achievement in Expeditionary Diplomacy.