Eric J. Wesley has transitioned from the Army as the Deputy Commanding General of Army Futures Command and the Director of the Futures and Concepts Center. In this capacity he was charged with analyzing and assessing the future global security environment, developing a concept for the Army’s role in national security, designing the future Army, and publishing a strategy and pathway to achieve it. He currently serves as the Executive Vice President of Flyer Defense, LLC, a leading developer of electric combat vehicles. In his role, Eric serves to build a consortium of industry partners who will electrify the future battlefield. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Prior to his last assignment in the Army, LTG Wesley served for over 20 years in senior leadership positions of Army organizations from the battalion to the Army enterprise level. These positions included Commander, Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Georgia where he was responsible for the leadership and welfare of over 40,000 Soldiers, families members, and government employees with a budget exceeding $200m; Deputy Commanding General and Senior Mission Commander of the 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kansas where he was responsible for the leadership and welfare of over 25,000 Soldiers, families members and government employees with a budget exceeding $140m; and Commander of the 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kansas – a 5,000 Soldier organization.
LTG Wesley has also served in very senior staff roles characterized by significant strategic planning. He served in the White House as the Director for Afghanistan on the NSC staff where he was responsible for all military policy, strategic planning, and inter-agency integration including policy for NATO and the Afghan Army. He twice served as the lead planner in Afghanistan for two theater commanders, designing the campaign and providing strategic and operational options up to the President of the United States. He has significant experience in budgeting and programming for the United States Army as he was the deputy to the senior auditor of Army budgets and programming in 2014 and 2015. He later led the task force that designed and formed the newest 4 star command – Army Futures Command. And he twice served on the Chief of Staff of the Army’s transition team in 2015 and 2019, the latter of which he led and directed.
His most recent accomplishments include the enterprise reconfiguration for how the Army modernizes over the next decade; the drafting of the Army’s future operating concept which describes the Army’s future design and the manner in which it must fight; and drafting the Army’s modernization strategy for the next 15 years.
A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, LTG Wesley holds two masters degrees – one in International Relations and the other in National Security Policy. He is a Distinguished Graduate from the Army War College. He has been awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit (3), the Bronze Star for valor, and the Bronze Star (2).