About

John is a recently-retired U.S. Air Force brigadier general, an inspirational leader, a keen strategist, a passionate innovator, and a national security expert. He has vast whole-of-government leadership experience – from cutting-edge technology to our nation’s most sensitive international relationships. He is the founder and president of Capital Leadership LLC, developing the leaders our nation needs and fostering a leadership style that breaks barriers, challenges convention, and ignites innovation.

John retired as the Assistant Deputy Undersecretary of the Air Force, International Affairs, responsible for worldwide international engagement on behalf of the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force while leading the services’ entire $240 billion security cooperation portfolio. Prior to that, John was the Senior Defense Official and Defense Attaché to Iraq, leading on the front lines in the most challenging environment. He has been an F-15E combat pilot, an F-22 test pilot, the commander of Joint Base Andrews, and the commander of Edwards Air Force Base.

John has written and spoken extensively on leadership, innovation, technology, national security, security cooperation, cross-cultural relationships, risk management, resilience, and international affairs. He maintains a robust schedule of international-level media engagements including: The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News and World Report, PBS, Time Magazine, NewsNation, Fox News, Newsmax, War on the Rocks, Scripps News, Die Welt, The Times of Israel, Ukrainian TV, Victory News, and Voice of America. He holds engineering degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University, and has been married to Dr Melonie Teichert for over 26 years. They have three remarkable children and continue to serve together as Team Teichert.