Chief Executive Leadership Institute Honors General Mark Milley with Lifetime of Leadership Award

General Mark A. Milley, 20th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will accept the Lifetime of Leadership Award from the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute during the virtual Yale CEO Summit on December 15. The award will be presented by Ashton B. Carter, 25th U.S. secretary of defense; Jeh C. Johnson, 4th U.S. secretary of homeland security; General Stanley A. McChrystal (ret.), former commander, Joint Special Operations Command; and John D. Negroponte, 23rd U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, first U.S. director of national intelligence.

General Milley, as the nation’s highest-ranking military officer, is the principal military advisor to the president, secretary of defense, the National Security Council, and the Homeland Security Council. General Milley has held multiple command and staff positions in eight divisions and Special Forces during a highly distinguished 41-year military-career, including serving as the 39th chief of staff of the U.S. Army and commanding general, III Corps. A native of Massachusetts and son of two distinguished World War II servicemembers, General Milley graduated from Princeton University in 1980, where he received his commission from Army ROTC.

Summit organizer Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean for leadership studies at the Yale School of Management, commented: “General Milley is the embodiment of not only the soldier-scholar ideal but what it means to be a courageous soldier-statesman. He has long modeled extraordinary brilliance, strategic savvy, and personal humility in service to our nation. An avid student of military history who holds two master’s degrees in addition to completing a 185-page-long thesis on guerrilla combat, General Milley has been a forceful, tireless advocate for modernization of the armed forces and ensuring competitiveness and preparedness in the face of a new generation of challenges and a rapidly evolving security landscape. Never one to shy away from tough but righteous battles, General Milley is a bold, courageous, and decisive leader. The entire nation owes General Milley a debt of gratitude for his thankless, steadying influence, and our nation is more safe and secure today as a direct result of General Milley’s courageous leadership.”

The Lifetime of Leadership award celebrates those transformational leaders whose character and sustained contribution span sectors, decades, and generations with wise ambassadorial service and mentoring, contributing powerfully to improve business performance, economic growth, creativity, community vitality, human understanding, national strength, and global relations. Previous recipients include: Lester Crown, chairman emeritus of Henry Crown and Company; Carla A. Hills, U.S. trade representative (1989-1993) and fifth U.S. secretary of housing and urban development; Andrew J. Young, mayor (1982-1990), Atlanta, Georgia, and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (1977-1979); Farooq Kathwari CEO, Ethan Allen; David Stern, commissioner emeritus, National Basketball Association; Maurice R. Greenberg, chairman and CEO, CV Starr & Co.; John Whitehead, co-chairman (1976-1985), Goldman Sachs; and Al Gordon, honorary chairman, Kidder, Peabody & Co.

The Summit theme is “2022’s Promise for Business: Achieving Social Harmony with Health and Prosperity.” The event promises to be a lively, candid discussion with distinguished global corporate leaders from across industries.

Among those top leaders participating are the CEOs and leaders from: Brooklyn Nets/BSE Global, GM, Xerox, Siemens, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Mattel, Freeport-McMoRan, AMC Entertainment, Bain Capital, The Goldman Sachs Group, Honeywell International, Dell Technologies, Atlas Merchant Capital, Edelman, Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co., Pfizer, eBay, Starbucks Corporation, Steelcase, IBM Corporation, Stanley Black & Decker, HP Inc., Otis Elevator Company, Union Square Hospitality Group, Snap-on Incorporated, Unilever, The Clorox Company, ADP, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Dunkin’ Brands, and the National Football League.

A full list of CEO Summit participants can be found online.

Conference partners include AccuWeather, Deloitte, Evercore, Gladstone Place Partners, IBM, Korn Ferry, Stagwell, and UPS.