Telling the CGSC and Foundation story in NYC

The CGSC Foundation conducted an outreach event in New York City, May 16, 2016, to inform and educate the attendees on the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and the CGSC Foundation. Foundation Vice President A. Edward (Tony) Major was the hometown host of the event conducted at the Union League Club along with the Foundation Chairman Lt. Gen. (Ret.) John Miller, CEO Doug Tystad, trustees Gary Vogler, Tom Mason, and Mark “Ranger” Jones and Foundation Director of Operations Ann Soby.

Foundation Vice President and NYC hometown host Tony Major welcomes guests to the Foundation’s outreach event in NYC’s Union League Club, May 16.

Nearly 80 guests were in attendance, including a number of members of the West Point Society of New York, members of the Union League Club, two international officer CGSC graduates that are currently assigned to the United Nations, and a few other CGSC alumni, most notably Col. Norma Bradford who travelled to New York on personal leave and at her own expense to help tell the CGSC/Fort Leavenworth story to attendees. A special guest for the evening was Montel Williams and the key speaker for the evening was retired Gen. David Petraeus, a former CGSC commandant and recipient of the Foundation’s 2012 Distinguished Leadership Award.

In addition to these guests, Koji Abe, the Deputy Consul General of Japan in New York, and Dr. Che Young Kim, the Deputy Consul General of Korea in New York, attended the gathering. Also, Minsun Kim, the president of the Korean American Association of Greater New York, and several of her colleagues were present for the evening.

The evening began with a reception for invited guests in the grand dining room of the Union League Club, which provided ample opportunity for Foundation leadership and trustees to visit with the guests and discuss the information displays around the room that showed facts and figures about Fort Leavenworth, CGSC and the CGSC Foundation. Vice President Tony Major then welcomed the guests and turned the event over to Foundation Chairman Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Miller who introduced Petraeus.

Petraeus started his talk with an endorsement of the importance of CGSC to the nation and how the Foundation supports the college mission and then spoke about his area of special expertise – the national and international situation in the world today.

“His talk was a tour-de-force of global political, military, and economic factors that influence the current environment,” said Tystad. “And importantly for the Foundation, he ended his message by emphasizing the importance of CGSC to the nation and finished with a strong endorsement for the Foundation.”

Retired Gen. David Petraeus was the guest speaker at the Foundation’s NYC outreach event May 16.

After Petraeus’ remarks General Miller concluded the evening with an appeal for attendees to learn more about the College and to support the Foundation. Many of the attendees stayed well after to talk with Foundation representatives and learn more.

“I can’t say thank you enough to Tony for his hard work on making this a successful outreach event.” Tystad added. “We had a great audience that learned a lot about the College and Foundation.”

In his message to Foundation staff and trustees upon his return to Fort Leavenworth, Tystad also thanked trustee Ranger Jones for assisting with the arrangements for General Petraeus and Montel Williams to attend; Ann Soby for coordinating everything to make the event happen; and trustees Gary Vogler and Tom Mason who travelled from Washington, D.C. to help tell the story and to prepare for a similar event they will host in D.C. later this year.

See the full photo gallery here.