Jim Linder, a retired Army Major General and Green Beret with over three decades of command experience around the world, is a recognized leader in the world of Special Operations and Intelligence organizations as a high performing and skilled strategist.

Originally from South Carolina, Jim graduated from Clemson University as a Distinguished Military Graduate. His service has taken him to over 71 countries across Europe, into South East Asia, throughout Africa and the Middle East, and Central and South America.

As a General Officer, he created new cutting-edge capabilities and accelerated the growth of highly skilled Afghan Special Forces. He also led and directed all US Special Operations across the African continent while interacting with US interagency and African leaders to achieve US national security goals. He adeptly applied new ideas as commandant of the Army’s premier Center of Excellence for selecting and training Special Operations Forces and was the commander of all US and NATO Special Operations Forces in combat in Afghanistan during a critical period of transition. Most recently he achieved value-driven results managing a complex and agile organization of 80k persons with a $13.4B operating budget as the Chief of Staff for US Special Operations Command.

Major General Linder has master’s degrees in International Relations from Webster University and National Security and Strategic Studies from the US Naval War College. He currently serves on Spirit of America’s advisory board.