Rebecca Halstead

Expertise

Inspirational speaking (nationally and internationally; corporate and academic), developing leader training programs, leader coaching, consulting and advising, strategic level leadership, logistics, supply chain management, asset protection, physical security, risk management, diversity and inclusion, coaching and mentoring.

Experience

In 2010, following 27 years of service in the U.S. Army and retiring after achieving the rank of Brigadier General, Becky founded her own company, STEADFAST Leadership. In this capacity, she has worked in the corporate sector speaking on leadership, as well as in the academic sector (Harvard, Duke, Columbia University, Penn State, Ithaca College, Virginia Military Institute, McIntire School of Business at the University of Virginia, etc). Becky and her book are the focus of the Thayer Leader Development Group’s first online leadership series.

Prior to retiring from the Army, Becky had over 15 years of executive‐level leadership experience, developing and training high-performing, complex and diverse teams capable of strategic planning and execution. She has a proven record of leading change, building successful teams in demanding environments (Afghanistan and Iraq, Germany, South America), and creating innovative solutions, systems and programs to complex problems. She is an experienced leader and logistician, a highly effective communicator, and a strategic planner with exceptional organizational skills.

Becky is a 1981 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and achieved an historic milestone as the first female graduate of West Point to be promoted to General Officer. She was the senior Commanding General (equivalent to CEO) for logistics in Iraq, and was the first female in U.S. history to command in combat at the strategic level. In this capacity, she was responsible for leading over 200 multi‐disciplined units (20,000 military and 5,000 civilians) located across 55 different bases, providing supply, maintenance, transportation and distribution support to over 250,000 personnel serving in Iraq.

During active service, she served in Europe as the Deputy Commanding General (equivalent to Chief Operating Officer) for the 21st Theater Support Command and has experience leading a multi-national team in wholesale level logistics operations. Prior to Europe, she served as the Chief Advisor to the Combatant Commander (Four Star General) for Southern Command, whose responsibility encompassed military training and operations for South America. She was also responsible for coordinating directly with high‐level organizations such as Office of the Secretary of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Department of State, U.S. Congress, U.S. Ambassadors and equivalent foreign military and civilian organizations.

Becky honorably served with the U.S. Army and retired as a General Officer in 2008. The culmination of her career came in 2006 when she became the first female Chief of Ordnance and Commanding General of the Army’s Ordnance Center and Schools (equivalent to President of a University), responsible for the leader development and institutional training for the second largest branch in the army with over 100,000 members of the Ordnance Corps.

Scholarly Work/Publications/Awards/Distinctions

• Recipient of the National Women’s History Project award for “Generations of Women Moving History Forward"
• Ordnance Corps Hall of Fame
• Thayer Hotel Room Dedication for Distinguished Graduates
• Subject of the Harvard Business Case Leadership Study, STEADFAST Leadership
• New Jersey Women Hall of Fame
• Author, 24/7: The First Person You Must Lead is You!

Education

• Honorary Ph.D. degree, Doctor of Military Science, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA
• M.S., National Resource Strategy (Advanced Manufacturing) Industrial College of the Armed Forces, National Defense University, Fort McNair, Washington DC
• M.S., Advanced Military Studies (Visionary Leadership), Army Command & General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, KS
• B.S., Engineering U.S. Military Academy, West Point, NY