Honorary board Archives - Higher Ground

General James N. Mattis is a retired four-star general of the United States Marine Corps with more than four decades of distinguished military service. Known for his strategic wisdom and steadfast leadership, General Mattis commanded forces at every level, including as Commander of U.S. Central Command, where he oversaw military operations across the Middle East. General Mattis is quoted as saying, “I’m just an average Marine who was frequently at the right place at the right time, my reputation was built by the blood, sweat and tears of young troops.”

Following his retirement from active duty in 2013, General Mattis continued to serve the country as the 26th U.S. Secretary of Defense from 2017 to 2019. During his tenure, he emphasized the importance of alliances, military readiness, and principled leadership. Beyond his government service, Mattis has remained an influential voice on global security and leadership, co-authoring the bestselling book Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead. He is widely regarded not only for his battlefield acumen but also for his unwavering commitment to duty, honor, and country.

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Higher Ground

Published on:

May 5, 2025

Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster (Ret.) is a decorated U.S. Army officer, renowned military strategist, and national security expert with over three decades of service. A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, McMaster is best known for his leadership during the Gulf War, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. His groundbreaking Ph.D. dissertation, later published as Dereliction of Duty, is widely regarded as a seminal work on civil-military relations and the Vietnam War. Throughout his career, he earned a reputation for intellectual rigor, moral courage, and an unyielding commitment to principled leadership.

From 2017 to 2018, McMaster served as the 26th U.S. National Security Advisor, where he played a key role in shaping American foreign and defense policy during a time of significant global challenges. Since leaving government service, he has continued to influence public discourse through teaching, writing, and speaking on issues of global security, strategic foresight, and leadership. He is a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and the author of Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World and At War with Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump Whitehouse, further cementing his role as a leading voice in international affairs and national defense.

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Higher Ground

Published on:

May 5, 2025

Rear Admiral (Ret.) Hugh Wyman Howard III is a recognized thought leader in sustainability, disruptive technologies, leadership and human capital development, organizational performance, retention, and inclusive workplace culture. With extensive global relationships spanning business, foreign military, and intelligence services, he brings a unique strategic perspective on geopolitical risk and opportunity. His expertise includes multi-domain autonomous systems, cyber threat mitigation, electronic warfare, and space sector applications across commercial, civil, and national security domains. He currently serves as a Frontier Scientific Solutions partner, a Senior Advisor with McKinsey & Company, and public company independent director.

A retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral with over 32 years of distinguished service in the SEAL Teams and joint special operations, Wyman commanded at every level of Special Operations, including Naval Special Warfare Development Group, Special Operations Command Central, and Naval Special Warfare Command. He led multiple Special Operations Joint Task Forces, deploying globally and playing a pivotal role in early operations in Afghanistan after 9/11. His teams’ combat contributions were recognized with five Presidential Unit Citations, a Navy Unit Commendation, and four Joint Meritorious Unit Awards. His policy and interagency leadership includes senior roles with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He holds advanced degrees from the Eisenhower School, the TRIUM Global Executive MBA program, and a MIT CSAIL Executive Certificate in AI. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, an Eagle Scout, and an active community volunteer.

Written by:

Higher Ground

Published on:

May 5, 2025

Chris Boskin is a respected veteran of the magazine publishing industry, with a career that includes leadership roles in publishing and marketing at Bon Appétit, Architectural Digest, The New Yorker, Worth Magazine, Hearst Corporation, East West Network, and The Yoga Journal. She served on the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting from 2006 to 2012, including a term as Chair in 2010, and co-founded CALmatters in 2015, a nonprofit media organization focused on California state politics. Deeply committed to public service and civic engagement, Chris currently serves on the boards of the Gladstone Institutes and the UC Berkeley School of Journalism. She was also instrumental in launching the veteran programs at Higher Ground in 2004. Chris is a graduate of UC Berkeley and the Accademia in Florence, Italy.

Written by:

Higher Ground

Published on:

April 17, 2025

Michael J. Boskin is the Tully M. Friedman Professor of Economics and Senior
Fellow, Hoover Institution. He is also Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic
Research. He served as Chairman of President George H.W. Bush’s Council of Economic
Advisers (CEA) from 1989 to 1993, when he helped resolve the Third World Debt and
Saving and Loan financial crises, expand regional and global trade and place the first
effective controls on government spending while protecting the defense budget. His CEA
was rated by the Council for Excellence in Government as one of the five most respected
agencies in the federal government. Earlier, on Presidential Candidate Reagan’s Tax Policy
Task Force, he helped develop the policies that substantially lowered marginal tax rates,
indexed tax brackets for inflation, accelerated depreciation, and created IRAs and 401ks,
the economic rationale for which was predicated on his research on the effects of taxes on
saving. He later chaired the highly influential blue-ribbon Commission on the Consumer
Price Index, whose report has transformed the way government statistical agencies around
the world measure inflation, GDP and productivity.

Dr. Boskin advises governments and businesses globally. He also serves on several
corporate and philanthropic boards. He is frequently sought as a public speaker on the
economic outlook and evolving trends significant to business, national and international
economic policy and the intersection of economics and geopolitics. He writes regularly on
economic policy in the Wall Street Journal and on global economics in a bi-monthly column
syndicated in 145 countries.

Dr. Boskin received his B.A. with highest honors and the Chancellor’s award as
outstanding undergraduate from the University of California, Berkeley, where he also
received his M.A. and his Ph.D., all in economics. In addition to Stanford, he has taught at
Harvard and Yale. Author of more than one hundred fifty books and articles, he is
internationally recognized for his research on world economic growth, tax and budget
theory and policy, Social Security, U.S. saving and consumption patterns, and the
implications of changing technology and demography on capital, labor and product
markets. His current research focuses on the effects of public policies on economic growth
and income distribution. Recent publications include Defense Budgeting for a Safer World
and American Federalism Today. He is working with colleagues on a book on California.

Dr. Boskin has received numerous professional awards and citations, including
Stanford’s Distinguished Teaching Award, the National Association of Business Economists’
Abramson Award for outstanding research and their Distinguished Fellow Award, the
Medal of the President of the Italian Republic for his contributions to global economic
understanding, and the Adam Smith Prize for outstanding contributions to economics.

Written by:

Higher Ground

Published on:

May 5, 2025

Greg is the founder of ProspectHill Group, a private real estate investment firm based in San Francisco. Since its inception in 2013, ProspectHill has invested in a diverse portfolio of commercial real estate assets with a combined gross asset value exceeding $3.5 billion. These assets span a range of strategies and geographies reflecting the firm’s opportunistic approach to real estate investing.

Prior to founding ProspectHill, Greg was a founding managing member of Rockpoint Group, a global real estate private equity firm. Before that, he was a managing member of Westbrook Partners, Rockpoint’s predecessor. At Rockpoint and Westbrook, he played a key leadership role in the deployment and asset management of $10 billion in equity capital representing over $40 billion in US, Asian, and European real estate.

Over the last 35 years, Greg has been fortunate to lead hundreds of joint ventures with many of the real estate industry’s finest operators, often focusing on complex value-driven business plans. Earlier in his career, Greg held positions at Bain & Company and Morgan Stanley. He holds an AB from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Written by:

Higher Ground

Published on:

May 5, 2025