Biography
Craig Mullaney is an entrepreneurial leader, experienced advisor, and coach to global business leaders with a record of exceptional results produced under high-pressure and crisis scenarios. Throughout his career, he has successfully led organizations of all sizes in the military, political, government, start-up, and corporate sectors. He is a New York Times bestselling author, Rhodes Scholar, Army combat veteran, and trustee of the US-Japan Foundation. Born and raised in Rhode Island, Craig is the son of a gas company foreman and nurse. A state champion wrestler at Bishop Hendricken High School, with his nomination for an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point by U.S. Senator John Chafee, Craig was the first in his family to attend college. He majored in history and French, completed over 450 jumps with the parachute team, led operations for the Corps of Cadets, and graduated second in his class. After completing Army Ranger School, he was a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford, rowing for Lincoln College’s first boat and earning two master’s degrees, one in diplomatic history, the other in economic history. Craig served his country as an infantry officer in the storied 10th Mountain Division. He led his platoon in over 200 combat missions in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, becoming the most decorated platoon in the division. He later served in the Army’s Old Guard at Arlington National Cemetery. Over the course of his Army career, Craig earned the Bronze Star, Army Commendation Medal with “V” device (combat valor), Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Ranger Tab, and Parachutist Badge. He taught on the history faculty of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, was nominated for the teacher of the year award, and overhauled the academy’s graduate fellowship preparation program. His legacy was a record three-year yield of 40 scholarships, including six Rhodes scholarships for Annapolis graduates. After resigning from the Army, Craig joined the national security team on the Obama-Biden 2008 presidential campaign, advising then-Senator Obama on military and geopolitical issues and protocol – covering everything from the conflict in Afghanistan, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and coaching the President-elect on how to do a proper military salute. Following President Obama’s election, Craig was appointed to the Pentagon Transition Team and later to the Office of the Secretary of Defense-Policy where he advised Secretary Gates throughout the surge of over 50,000 coalition forces into Afghanistan. Craig then became a senior advisor to USAID Administrator Shah and helped launch Development Innovation Ventures, USAID’s “DARPA for Development.” While in government, Craig served on official delegations to China, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq. He moved to Silicon Valley in 2011, first serving as an executive at Ustream (acquired by IBM) and later at Facebook (now Meta) in roles encompassing strategic partnerships, communications, and operations. He founded Meta’s Executive Leadership Program, taking it from virtually no executives using the platform in a significant way to onboarding and advising more than 400 global public figures and CEOs on how social media could help them further their business needs and reputations. He also crafted Meta’s partnerships with TED, Milken Global Conference, and NASA, including a record-shattering campaign seen by 65M people. Craig spent five years as a partner at Brunswick Group, advising Fortune 500 CEOs in a variety of areas, including corporate reputation, public affairs, M&A, CEO transition, and crisis. During his time at the leading crisis & reputation firm, he created Brunswick’s “Connected Leadership” practice to advise CEOs on digital-first communications. He scaled the practice globally from the ground up to a 165-client, ~$30M business with 35% CAGR. Craig also established Brunswick’s US-Japan practice group, growing the US team to 10 Japan specialists, enabling Brunswick to win large, complex, multi-jurisdictional mandates. To date, Craig has generated up to $10M in annual revenue for Brunswick from new and existing clients through relationship building, teamwork, compelling pitches, and fee negotiations. He is the author of The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier’s Education, a New York Times bestseller with over 115,000 copies sold. He has appeared on CBS, CNBC, BBC World News America, National Public Radio, Bloomberg, and The Daily Show. His writing has been featured in The Guardian, Vanity Fair, Brunswick Review, and Forbes and his column on leadership can be found on LinkedIn. As a public speaker he has addressed audiences ranging from Harvard Business School to J.P. Morgan and given the convocation speeches at the University of Kentucky and the University of Mississippi. Craig is a founding advisory board member of With Honor, an adjunct fellow of the Pell Center of International Relations, a member of All Saints Church, and a Scott M. Johnson fellow of the US-Japan Leadership Program. An avid explorer, Craig has travelled to 60 countries and once hiked solo over the Alps from Germany to Italy, ascending 36,000 vertical feet to raise money for disabled veterans. Craig resides in Bethesda, Maryland with his wife Tomoko and four sons. When he’s not cheering them on at ice rinks and baseball fields, Craig enjoys playing guitar and improving his Japanese.
