Erika Robuck is the national bestselling author of The Invisible Woman, Hemingway’s Girl, Call Me Zelda, Fallen Beauty, The House of Hawthorne, and Receive Me Falling. She is also a contributor to the anthology Grand Central: Postwar Stories of Love and Reunion, and to the Writer’s Digest essay collection Author in Progress. Her forthcoming novel, Sisters of Night and Fog, is about real-life superwomen of WWII, Virginia d'Albert-Lake and Violette Szabo. In 2014, Robuck was named Annapolis’ Author of the Year, and she resides there with her husband and three sons.

Dr. Isaiah (Ike) Wilson III, PhD is the President of the Joint Special Operations University (JSOU). He is a master strategist and a leading advocate for change in America’s concepts of and approaches to security and defense policy, and affairs of war and peace. A decorated combat veteran, former army aviator, and strategist, he most recently served as Director (Chief), Commander’s Initiatives Group, for the Commander, U.S. Central Command. A full professor of political science, Dr. Wilson formerly served as a professor and academic program director at West Point, where he also founded the West Point Grand Strategy Program. He has also taught extensively at the undergraduate and graduate levels at a number of prestigious colleges and universities, including Columbia University, Yale University, George Washington University, and the National War College. Prior to his appointment with U.S. Special Operations Command, Dr. Wilson was the Director of the U.S. Army War College (USAWC) Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) and USAWC Press. Dr. Wilson has numerous publications to his credit, including, Thinking Beyond War: Civil-Military Relations and Why America Fails to Win the Peace. Dr. Wilson is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and an International Affairs Fellow with New America.  He also serves as a professor of practice with the School of Politics and Global Studies at Arizona State University. 

Colonel (Ret.) Lee Van Arsdale has served as a Soldier and business executive. As a Soldier, his assignments were primarily in U.S. Army Special Forces, with 11 years spent in a U.S. Army Special Mission Unit. In the course of his 25-year Army career, Lee served in three combat zones in leadership positions, and was decorated for valor with the Silver Star and with the Purple Heart for wounds received in combat. Additionally, he participated in numerous classified operations, on a global scale, while in a leadership capacity. Following his military career, Lee was the Assistant General Manager for National Security Response at the Bechtel Nevada Corporation; he incorporated Unconventional Solutions, Inc., a private consulting firm; he was the founding Executive Director of the University of Nevada Las Vegas Institute for Security Studies, was the Chief Executive Officer of Triple Canopy, Inc., an integrated security solutions company, and the Chief Executive Officer of Creative Radicals, a software company. He now serves on the boards of select companies. 

Lt. Gen. Marshall B. "Brad" Webb is the Commander, Air Education and Training Command, Joint Base San Antonio–Randolph, Texas. He is responsible for the recruitment, training and education of Air Force personnel. His command includes Air Force Recruiting Service, two numbered Air Forces and Air University. The command operates more than 1,400 trainer, fighter and mobility aircraft, 24 wings, 11 bases and five geographically separated groups. It trains more than 293,000 students per year with approximately 60,000 active duty, Reserve, Guard, civilian and contractor personnel. 
 
Lt. Gen. Webb graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1984. He is a command pilot with more than 3,700 flying hours, including 117 combat hours in Afghanistan, Iraq and Bosnia. Prior to his current position, the general was the Commander of Air Force Special Operations Command and has commanded the 20th Special Operations Squadron, the 352nd Special Operations Group, the 1st Special Operations Wing, the 23rd Air Force, Special Operations Command Europe and NATO Special Operations Headquarters. His staff assignments include duty at Headquarters AFSOC, the Joint Special Operations Command and in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.