April 18, 2025 - Call of Duty Military Consultant & Assistant Sec of State Dr. John Hillen and Junior Achievement's Take a Child to Work Day

Dr. John Hillen  - Author of The Strategy Dialogues: A Primer on Business Strategy and Strategic Management

 

The Honorable Dr. John Hillen is a highly accomplished CEO, Board Chairman, former US Assistant Secretary of State, and award-winning professor. With extensive strategic leadership experience spanning business, government, the military, and academia, he is the author of The Strategy Dialogues: A Primer on Business Strategy and Strategic Management and What Happens Now? Reinvent Yourself as a Leader Before Your Business Outruns You and has contributed numerous articles on strategy to Forbes, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. The Honorable Dr. John Hillen is a board chairman, corporate director, popular college professor, and sought after speaker. In addition to his board roles, he teaches strategy and leadership at Duke University, Hampden-Sydney College, and in the MBA program at George Mason University – where he has won several teaching awards. A former public company CEO who has built and sold four mid-sized companies, he is an award-winning leadership author, a former senior US government official, a decorated combat veteran, and an executive coach. John’s newest book, The Strategy Dialogues, is a critically acclaimed guide to thinking and acting strategically. Called by Patrick Lencioni “practical as it is entertaining…John Hillen makes strategy actionable and understandable” and by Marshall Goldsmith “a must-read for anyone looking to get clarity and bring these tools to their businesses.” John uses his decades of strategic leadership experience in several fields to reveal for audiences the secrets of strategic thinking and how to shape the future for their organizations – skills that every executive needs to master. An experienced speaker, facilitator and teacher, he moderates leadership seminars for The Aspen Institute and wrote a column on leadership and strategy issues for Washington Technology magazine and Forbes. His previous book, What Happens Now: Reinvent Yourself As a Leader Before Your Business Outruns You (co-authored with Mark Nevins) was named one of the top 30 business books of 2018 and is in its third printing. Unanimously confirmed by the Senate in 2005, Hillen served as the Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs in the second half of the Bush administration and in that capacity spent much of his time with U.S. and allied troops in war zones from Iraq to Afghanistan to the southern Philippines. He has written or edited several books on international security affairs and has published articles in dozens of journals and newspapers, including Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. He has appeared on every major television network and was an on-air commentator for ABC News for a number of years. Hillen, who served for 12 years as an Army reconnaissance officer and paratrooper, was awarded the Bronze Star for his role in the Battle of the 73 Easting during Operation Desert Storm. He recently spent nine years on the Chief of Naval Operations Executive Panel, the federal advisory committee supporting the head of the U.S. Navy and received the Navy’s Meritorious Public Service Award in 2017. He was the military advisor on the original Call of Duty video game series set in World War II. In 2020 he was inducted into the US Army ROTC Hall of Fame. Dr. Hillen graduated from Duke University with degrees in public policy studies and history and was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship after graduation. He holds a master’s degree in war studies from King’s College London, a doctorate in international relations from Oxford University, and an MBA from the Johnson School of Management at Cornell University. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws from Hampden-Sydney College in 2019.

Ed Grocholski - Chief Marketing Officer of Junior Achievement   

Take a Child to Work Day and Beyond is April 24th. Thousands of kids across the U.S. will visit workplaces to gain first-hand knowledge of what it’s like to have a job and work with others. Junior Achievement, which leads Take a Child to Work Day and Beyond, has expanded the program to give kids who can’t visit a parent’s workplace for one reason or another the flexibility to experience a visit at other times throughout the year. Through experiential learning, students gain confidence and inspiration about choosing a career, learn what it’s like to work with colleagues, and understand what different jobs are all about. This is especially important in today’s digital and constantly changing world. Every company – large or small – can open its doors for young people through Child to Work Day and Beyond (formerly Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day). JA and corporate sponsor Staples provide different activity guides for skill-building activities for kids of all ages. Participating workplaces also benefit through teamwork and mentorship. Junior Achievement is the world's largest organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their future, and make smart academic and economic choices. JA learning experiences are delivered by corporate and community volunteers and provide relevant, hands-on experiences that give students from kindergarten through high school knowledge and skills in financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship. Additionally, Junior Achievement is expanding its reach to 18-to-25-year-olds to provide young adults with critical life skills, as well as to pre-K youth to ensure children get a solid head start. Today, JA reaches more than 4.6 million students per year in 99 markets across the United States as part of 12.5 million students served by operations in more than 100 other countries worldwide.