General William Rapp, PhD
Senior Advisor at Thayer Leadership
Major General (Retired) Bill Rapp is leadership and strategy consultant. Beyond leader development training, Bill serves on the Board of the Association of Graduates at West Point. He recently served as the Lecturer in Military Affairs in the Belfer Center at Harvard Kennedy School from 2017-2021 after serving more than 33 years as an active duty Army officer, retiring as a Major General.
His book on learning contemporary leadership from history is now on the shelves! Look for Accomplishing the Impossible- Leadership that Launched Revolutionary Change on Amazon or other book sellers!
His passion is leader development and he teaches leadership to executives in courses at Wharton Business School (UPenn), Sloan School of Management (MIT), through Thayer Leadership, and the General Officer education program of the US Army War College. He consults with several companies on leadership and leader development.
During his career, Major General Rapp served over five years in Germany, a year in Japan, and nearly four years total in Iraq and Afghanistan. He commanded an airborne sapper company in the First Gulf War, an engineer brigade in Iraq in 2005-6, and was Deputy Commander (Support) for US Forces in Afghanistan in 2011-12. During the Surge in Iraq, he served alongside General Petraeus for a year in Baghdad. He was the Army’s senior liaison to the U.S. Congress, the Commandant of the United States Military Academy at West Point, and most recently served as the Commandant of the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Among his awards, Major General Rapp has earned two Distinguished Service Medals and two Bronze Stars. He was distinguished honor graduate of Ranger School, Jumpmaster School, and the Infantry Officer Advanced Course. He is a Master Parachutist and holds the Combat Action Badge.
A graduate of West Point in 1984, Major General Rapp earned a Masters in Strategic Studies from the US Army War College and a Masters and PhD in Political Science from Stanford University.