Lawson W. Magruder III
LTG, US Army (Retired)
Lawson Magruder is a native of Texas. Upon graduation from the University of Texas at Austin in 1969, he launched a thirty-two year career in the US Army attaining the rank of Lieutenant General. He served worldwide in numerous tactical commands. He was in combat in Vietnam and Somalia and participated in two major disaster relief operations in our own country. As a general officer, he commanded CJTF Kismayo in Somalia, the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, US Army South and JTF Panama, and the historic 10th Mountain Division. He concluded his career as the Deputy Commanding General and Chief of Staff of US Army Forces Command, the Army's largest command and the land component for Homeland Defense. His military awards include two awards of the Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal, four awards of the Legion of Merit, two awards of the Bronze Star Medal, the Combat Infantryman's Badge, the Ranger Tab, the Master Parachutist Badge and the highest peacetime awards from the countries of El Salvador, Colombia, Belize and Argentina. He is the highest- ranking officer commissioned from the University of Texas at Austin's Army ROTC program.
Since retirement from the Army in September 2001, Lawson has held a wide variety of consulting jobs to include being an executive coach for leaders in the construction industry. From 2003-2005 he served as Vice President for National Security Programs for Battelle Memorial Institute- the largest not for profit research and development company in the world. During his tenure with Battelle, he helped form its Office for Homeland Security. From 2005-2007 Lawson served as the Executive Director for the University of Texas at San Antonio's Institute for the Protection of American Communities and the Associate Vice President for Research Alliances. In January 2007 he helped form the Authentic Leadership Partners (ALPS) whose mission is developing authentic leaders.
Lawson holds a BBA in International Marketing from the University of Texas at Austin, a Masters of Arts in Personnel Management from Central Michigan University and is a graduate of the Army War College and Command and General Staff College.