faculty

Expertise:
Transformational change, organizational development, leadership, leader development, strategy development and strategic planning, continuous improvement, operational excellence, supply chain management. 

Experience: 
MG Thurgood is uniquely qualified having served over 28 years leading large military organizations on active duty and as a member of the Army reserve while simultaneously holding senior executive and C-level positions in a variety of for-profit industries including PepsiCo where he led their strategy and innovation team; Sam’s Club where he led one of three $15B operating divisions; president of the largest operating division of a health care performance improvement company, and was the CEO of “The Exchange”, the DOD’s $10B for-profit retail organization with stores in 30 countries. He has experience leading large ERP implementations and system integration efforts. MG Thurgood’s military experience include assignments in Europe as a logistics officer responsible for port clearance operations and multi-modal shipment of cargo throughout Europe and as the lead transportation planner for NATO training exercises. He served as the operations officer of a Forward Support Battalion and has commanded at the company, battalion, brigade and flag officer level. 

His most recent military assignments include Commanding General, the 143rd Transportation Command and Deputy Commanding General, 377th Theater Support Command, Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) with follow on assignments as Deputy Commanding General and Chief of Staff, United State Army Reserve with responsibility for execution of an annual budget of over $9B and oversight of 200,000 Soldiers world-wide. MG Thurgood also led the Army-wide Employer Partnership Initiative designed to reduce veteran unemployment. MG Thurgood’s last assignment was as the Deputy Director (IMA), Office of Business Transformation (Office, Secretary of the Army) with responsibility for design of major Army end-to-end business processes. Currently serves on a variety of not-for-profit boards. 

Scholarly Work/Publications/Awards: 
Leadership and Character: Why it Matters. Paper presented at the 2014 Institute of Behavioral and Applied Management. Proceedings published 2015; The X Factor: Sustaining Individual and Organizational Xcellence. Amazon Digital Services, Inc.; Construct for Developing an Integrated Leadership Model: Linking the Correlates of Effective Leadership, Development and Succession Planning. Ann Arbor, Michigan. ProQuestU.S.; Understanding the Customer. Presentation at the International Intermodal Expo, Dallas, Texas; Integrating the Supply Chain. Presentation at the Council of Logistics Management, Chicago, Illinois; The Role of the Logistics Leader in Purchasing Freight and Transportation, Transporgistics. Brigham Young University Leadership Alumni Award (2008); Various military awards. 

MG Thurgood (Retired) is a frequent invitational speaker addressing leadership, strategy, healthcare and veterans issues and has testified before the House Armed Services Committee on global DOD retail operations and Soldier and family issues. 

Education: 
Ph.D., Organizational Development and Leadership, Capella University
Masters, Strategic Studies, Army War College

Masters, Business Administration, Boston University

BA (Political Science), Brigham Young University 

Organizations: 
Executives In Action; America’s Future Series, Hire Heroes USA, American Leadership Academy