John P. Abizaid
Senior Advisor
John P. Abizaid is the Principal Partner of JPA Partners and a Senior Advisor within Lazard's Geopolitical Advisory group.
Abizaid is a retired U.S. Army four-star General, who most recently served as the United States Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He served as the Distinguished Chair (Emeritus) of the Combating Terrorism Center at the United States Military Academy at West Point and was the first Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.
Gen. Abizaid was awarded honorary degrees from Dartmouth College and Norwich University. He has worked with the Preventative Defense Project at Stanford University and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and served on the CIA's External Advisory Board. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He led the Dover Inquiry Panel and co-chaired the 2014 National Defense Panel, as well as leading several other national-level assessment panels dealing with military issues.
Gen. Abizaid has served as a board member for USAA, Virtu Financial, and RPM International and has advised a number of smaller firms and their leadership teams. From 2016 to 2018 he served as the senior advisor for the Secretary of Defense to the Ukrainian Minister of Defense. In 2015, he was inducted into the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame.
Gen. Abizaid retired from the United States Army in May 2007 as Commander of U.S. Central Command, after 34 years of active service. A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, he commanded units at every level, serving in Grenada, Lebanon, Kurdistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. Units under his command include the 1st Infantry Division, a brigade in the 82nd Airborne Division, a Parachute Battalion Combat Team and two Ranger companies.
Gen. Abizaid studied at the University of Jordan in Amman, holds a master's degree in Middle Eastern studies from Harvard University, and has deep expertise in regional as well as international strategy.
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