William E. Rapp
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William E. Rapp

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Retired Army Major General William E. Rapp is a leadership consultant, educator, and author. He serves on the USMA Association of Graduates Advisory Board and consults with Thayer Leadership, LLC General Rapp currently advises the top leaders of many companies and organizations and teaches on leadership and change management. Most recently, he was a resident lecturer at Harvard Kennedy School, where he taught courses and directed the leader development program for active-duty military and intelligence fellows and the top-level executive education program for senior managers and executives. As the Commandant (president) of the Army War College, he designed and ran the Army’s strategic leadership program for one to three-star generals, while leading the college in its mission to help senior officers and civilians make the transition from operational to strategic leadership. As the Commandant of Cadets at West Point, he led the leadership, military, physical, and character development programs for the 4400 cadets. General Rapp began his Army career upon graduation from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1984, where he was First Captain of the Corps of Cadets. In his over 33 years of active service, he spent 5 ½ years in Germany, a year in Japan, and across the United States. In over 42 months in combat in three wars, he led an airborne combat engineer company in the first Gulf War, commanded a 3000-soldier engineer brigade in the Iraq War, served as General Petraeus’ personal assistant during the Iraq Surge, and commanded over 17,000 troops supplying all resource needs of the 160,000 U.S. and international force in Afghanistan in 2011-12. He also served as the Army’s senior liaison to the U.S. Congress and oversaw water resources in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest while commanding in the Corps of Engineers. His numerous military awards including two Defense Service Medals and two Bronze Star Medals as well as the Ranger Tab, Master Parachutist Badge, Combat Action Badge, and Air Assault qualification. General Rapp retired from the Army in the fall of 2017. His first book was published by Simon and Schuster in October 2021, Accomplishing the Impossible- Leadership that Launched Revolutionary Change. He has published book chapters and articles on civil-military relations, leadership, and the U.S.-Japanese security relationship. He is currently working on his next book – a leadership study of Native American warriors at the Little Big Horn. General Rapp received a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from West Point, a Master of Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College, and a Master of Arts and PhD in Political Science from Stanford University. He earned his Professional Engineer license from Virginia in 1994. He sits on the advisory boards for the non-profit Chamberlain Project and for the Association of Graduates of the United States Military Academy. A sought-after educator, leader developer, and speaker, General Rapp has brought together his academic credentials and his leadership experience to many organizations seeking to change, grow, and become more effective.
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