Donovan Campbell

Donovan Campbell is a decorated military officer and a young Fortune 500 executive whose lessons about leadership and teamwork came the hard way, through three combat deployments—two in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. Donovan has over a decade of experience leading teams in some of the most demanding environments imaginable—both on and off the battlefield—and he is passionate about bringing a focus on building individual character into the workplace. He was awarded the Combat Action Ribbon and a Bronze Star with Valor for his time in Iraq. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Joker One: A Marine Platoon’s Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood, which Bing West has called “the finest small-unit description of a platoon at war in Iraq” and which Entertainment Weekly has said “isn’t as much a story of war as it is a story of love.” It was also recently named one of “The Best Military Books of the Decade” by Military Times.

Campbell has become a recognizable face among the military officers returning home and entering the business world. In his most recent book, The Leader’s Code: Mission, Character, Service, and Getting the Job Done, he applies the principles learned in the military: a humble servant-leader mentality, a willingness to shoulder responsibility, and an understanding of personal sacrifice for the greater good to civilian life. Donovan Campbell’s lecture appearances include Harvard Business School, the Air Force Academy, Wake Forest University, BENS (Business Executives for National Security), PepsiCo, Culver’s Restaurants, and multiple appearances at the annual Barbara Bush Celebration of Reading as a featured author. He lives in Houston with his wife and three daughters.