VMI Leader Journey Podcast

Retired U. S. Navy Cmdr. Kirk Lippold was the closing speaker at this year's Annual Leadership & Ethics Conference. He spoke on "Leading During Crises," through the narrative of the Al Qaeda terrorist attack on the U.S.S. Cole in 2012. His talk is not public, but he granted us this interview.

VMI is one of 10 colleges nationwide to be named a Braver Angels' College Debates and Discourse Alliance’s Communities of Practice. This episode features insights about the program from faculty mentors and cadet fellows.

In this episode, Sibi Bagavathy, an economics and business major, discusses with podcast host Maj. Catherine Roy about the efforts to educate his Honor Court peers and the Corps of Cadets on following VMI's Honor Code.

COVID, an investigation, loss... VMI's Class of 2023 has had a unique and 'wild ride,' according to First-Class President Cadet Cameron Cavanaugh. Join us for this discussion of the challenges they faced and some of their lessons learned.

Retired Col. Rick Kiernan, VMI Class of 1966, shares insights on the Institute's 150-year track record of graduating successful cadets. He discusses the media's propensity for negativity, the importance of context in any story or discussion, and his thoughts on leadership as an iterative process.

Hear Erika Cheung, CEO of Ethics in Entrepreneurship, share some lessons she's learned from her time at the failed Silicon Valley tech start-up Theranos, her later work in biotechnology in Asia, and her experiences with venture capitalism that inspired her to start her own nonprofit.

Former first battalion executive officer and center intern 2nd Lt. Derek Shockey, '22 discusses his experiences with leadership roles in the class system and regimental system, recovering from leadership failure, and the projects he's working on for this year's Annual Leadership Conference.

Seth McRoberts' says his thoughts on citizen leadership are that the leadership journey isn’t finished when one leaves VMI or the military but that we ought to bring that expertise back into any organization where we belong to make a lasting impact.

Our interview covers Walder's experiences working in the male-dominated world of national security, her leadership competencies, and how she was able to take hold of her own destiny through perseverance, determination, and education. She now devotes her time to being an upstander for women.

After participating in the Feb. 18th Courageous Leadership panel discussion detailing the first U.S. mission behind enemy lines in Afghanistan, alumni Spellmeyer, '90, and Sapp, '94, sat down to share some gained insights they've acquired since graduating from VMI.