Admiral William McRaven

Admiral William H. McRaven, is a retired U.S. Navy Four-Star admiral and the former Chancellor of the University of Texas System. During his time in the military, he commanded special operations forces at every level, eventually taking charge of the U.S. Special Operations Command. His career included combat during Desert Storm and both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He commanded the troops that captured Saddam Hussein and rescued Captain Phillips. McRaven is also credited with developing the plan and leading the Osama bin Laden mission in 2011.
As the Chancellor of the UT System he led one of the nation’s largest and most respected systems of higher education. As the chief executive officer of the UT System, McRaven oversaw 14 institutions that educated 220,000 students and employed 20,000 faculty and more than 80,000 health care professionals, researchers, and staff.
McRaven is a recognized national authority on U.S. foreign policy and has advised Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and other U.S. leaders on defense issues. He currently serves on the boards of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the National Football Foundation, the International Crisis Group and ConocoPhillips.
McRaven graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 1977 with a degree in Journalism, and received his master’s degree from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey in 1991. He is currently on the faculty of the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas Austin.
McRaven is the author of three books, SPEC OPS: Case Studies in Special Operations Warfare, and two New York Times Best Sellers, Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life and Maybe the World, and Sea Stories: My Life in Special Operations.
He met his wife, Georgeann, while they were students at UT Austin, and they have three grown children. McRaven stays active with his writing, teaching, speaking and board commitments.