The Institute for Defense and Business Appoints New President

CHAPEL HILL, N.C., Aug. 22, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Institute for Defense and Business (IDB) today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Major General James L. Hodge, U.S. Army ( Ret.) as President and member of the Board of Directors.  General Hodge succeeds Mark Cramer who helped to found the IDB in 1997 and has served as President and a member of the Board since 2007.  The Leadership transition will take place by Oct. 13, 2014.

James G. Martin, Chairman of the IDB Board of Directors and former Governor of North Carolina, remarked "we are excited to welcome General Hodge as IDB's new President and as a member of the IDB Board.  His outstanding career in the Army focusing on logistics, training and strategic planning, and his recent leadership experience in the private sector, make him an ideal choice to lead the IDB into the future.  We are extremely grateful for Mark Cramer's contributions to the IDB from its formation and his exceptional leadership of the organization over the last 7 years through periods both of rapid growth and Department of Defense budgetary challenges." 

"It has been my privilege and honor to lead a truly remarkable team of professionals at the IDB," noted Mark Cramer, outgoing IDB President.  "All of us deeply appreciate and are humbled by the dedication and sacrifices of those men and women who serve the Nation that we support through the IDB's education programs.  General Hodge is a proven leader who will be a tremendous asset to the organization.  I have had the pleasure of knowing General Hodge for a number of years and very much look forward to working with him as we transition IDB leadership." 

"I'm very excited about the opportunity to build on the tremendous success that Mark Cramer has had leading the IDB," said General Hodge, incoming IDB President.  "My main goal will be to develop new, relevant education and training opportunities to add to the outstanding programs currently offered by IDB while maintaining its already exceptional quality and high standards."

With 34 years of military service, General Hodge retired from the U.S. Army in 2012, last serving as Commanding General Combined Arms Support Command, Sustainment Center of Excellence and the Senior Mission Commander for Fort Lee, Virginia where he was responsible for development and execution of training for all Army logisticians and the development of doctrine and force development for all logistical units.  General Hodge served as the 3rd Infantry Division Support Command Commander during the initial attack into Iraq and the fall of Baghdad in 2003.  His previous military assignments included Commanding General, Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command and Commanding General Army Materiel Command, Southwest Asia.  General Hodge currently works for EXELIS Mission Systems as Senior Operations Coordinator for the Logistics and Supply Chain Management Services line of business worldwide.  He has a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy, as well as Master's Degrees in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College, and Systems Management from the University of Southern California.

"I have known Jim Hodge for over 20 years, and as he rose through the ranks of the US Army, he and I worked together on many different occasions," noted IDB Board of Directors member LTG Bill Mortensen, USA (Ret.). "Jim has always impressed me as a world-class logistician and exemplary leader.  He appreciates the necessity of the military and the private sector working shoulder-to-shoulder to support our warfighters and fully supports the important contribution academia can make in that effort.  All of us in the IDB welcome Jim and his wife Michelle to the IDB Team."

About the IDB
The IDB is a non-profit research and education institute formed in 1997 by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the state of North Carolina. The institute provides custom executive education programs in the areas of logistics and technology, life cycle systems, leadership and organizational transformation, strategic studies, stabilization and economic reconstruction, and the IU-UNC LogMBA program.

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SOURCE Institute for Defense and Business