Stephen R. Lanza (RET) LTG, US Army

Background

Lieutenant General Stephen R. Lanza retired from the U.S. Army as the Commanding General of I Corps, a globally responsive and regionally aligned force that supports the Pacific region, and Senior Mission Commander for Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), Washington in April 2017.

During his most recent command, LTG Lanza spearheaded historic projects that ensured a Corps of more than 53,000 Soldiers remained globally responsive and regionally aligned. He focused the headquarters on supporting counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations in Iraq and Afghanistan while simultaneously serving as a Combined Joint Task Force ready to conduct expeditionary operations in the Pacific Command Area of Responsibility. Under his leadership, I Corps deployed the headquarters to Australia, Japan, and Korea and incorporated American forces in Hawaii, Alaska, and Japan to implement the Department of Defense’s initiative to rebalance forces to the Pacific while concurrently ensuring the Corps was ready to respond to Forces Command global requirements.

His command assignments include the 7th Infantry Division at JBLM; 5th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; Operation Iraqi Freedom, Iraq; and the 1st Battalion, 5th Field Artillery, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kansas. His operational deployment experience includes Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Saudi Arabia; Operation Joint Guard, Bosnia-Herzegovina; Operation Iraqi Freedom, Iraq; and Operation New Dawn, Iraq. Lanza was commissioned into the field artillery in 1980 after graduating from the United States Military Academy at West Point. He also holds master’s degrees from Central Michigan University and the National War College and has served as a National Security Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He received an Honorary Degree from Saint Martin’s University in May 2015 and currently serves on their board of trustees.