John serves his clients in three general areas:

• Strategy Formation & Strategic Planning : Original and creative exercises that help organizations develop or refine their strategy – their plan to position themselves for competitive advantage and achieve great outcomes. Delivered in facilitated off-site sessions or with corporate leaders in the office. John can address business model evaluation, organizational transformation, market and internal analysis, leading change, and performance management in these sessions.
• Governance Design & Board Structure : Help in creating, clarifying, and improving the governance structure of an organization. A very experienced company and non-profit director, John aids in design, assessment, and transformation of the organizations corporate and governance structure to maximize alignment and performance.
• Executive & Leadership Development & Coaching : Executive coaching from an experienced CEO and Chairman. Executive assessment for leaders, leadership teams, and the design and implementation of leadership development programs.

Over the past twenty years, John has served as CEO, President, or COO or several different companies – both public and private – in different industries. He has been a director on ten corporate boards and a trustee or director of over a dozen non-profit enterprises. He is the Executive in Residence and Professor of Practice in the School of Business at George Mason University, where he teaches strategy and leadership. A former US Assistant Secretary of State and decorated combat veteran, he is the winner of a number of different leadership awards in business and for public service. An experienced facilitator and teacher, he moderates leadership seminars for The Aspen Institute and writes a monthly column on leadership and strategy issues for Washington Technology magazine. His classes on Strategy and Leadership are the highest rated courses in Mason’s MBA program. He has a major business leadership book being published in 2018.

In addition to his leadership work, John has developed a deep experience in strategy and governance best practices across a range of enterprises. As a strategist in his board roles or as a strategic consultant, he has helped dozen of companies and numerous non-profits or charities to develop strategic plans, refine business models, and assess their performance and the need to change or transform. He has facilitated strategic planning off-sites and exercises for a number of different organizations ranging from multi-billion public companies to large non-profit charities to small private schools. His clients believe that his unique blend of strategy, governance, and leadership experience and work integrates what is traditionally 3 difficult and often disconnected areas with which organizations can often struggle.

Prior to teaching, writing, and consulting, John was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Sotera Defense Solutions, Inc. (Sotera), formerly Global Defense Technology & Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:GTEC), and a member of its Board of Directors from 2008-2013. Hillen took the company public in 2009 and the company’s IPO won the ACG National Chapter “Deal of the Year” award. Dr. Hillen is the former COO of Island ECN, a capital markets trading firm in New York City that was sold to Reuters for over $500M in 2002. He was also the head of the defense and intelligence group of American Management Systems and was the first President of what is now CGI Federal, Inc. He has been voted one of Washington DC’s 100 most influential business leaders and was the Chairman of the Professional Services Council, one of the DC region’s largest industry associations, from 2012-13.

John graduated from Duke University, holds a Master’s Degree from King’s College London, a doctorate from Oxford, and received his MBA from the Johnson School of Management at Cornell.