Our twenty-fourth recipient, Brigadier General James A. Ryans II, completed the AMP at Harvard Business School in May 2018. Jim currently serves as the Commanding General of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Western Recruiting Region, San Diego, CA, previously serving as a Marine Corps Fellow to the Council on Foreign Relations. Prior to his selection as a Fellow, he served as the Senior Military Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy. James previously served as Deputy Commander of Taskforce Southwest, a task-organized Marine Unit designed to deploy to Afghanistan and as Commanding Officer of 8th Marine Regiment, 2d Marine Division, in Camp Lejeune, NC. He has also served in 2d Marine Division as a rifle platoon commander and rifle company executive officer in 1st Battalion 8th Marines, a rifle company commander in 2d Battalion 8th Marines, and a battalion commander in 3rd Battalion 6th Marines, and as the Commanding Officer of Headquarters Battalion. He served as Assistant Operations Officer, Operations Officer and Executive Officer of 8th Marine Regiment. Additionally, Jim has served as the Future Operations Officer of the II Marine Expeditionary Force, with Marine Corps Recruiting command, with Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron 1, and the Joint Staff. He has completed multiple combat deployments and participated in Operation Silver Wake, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation Enduring Freedom. James graduated from Jacksonville University with a BS in Physics, and his military schools include Infantry Captains Career Course, Marine Corps Command and Staff College, and the Naval War College.
Jim and his wife, Krista Lee, have four children.