vailsymposium

Mari K. Eder, retired U.S. Army Major General, is a renowned speaker and author, and a thought leader on strategic communication and leadership. General Eder has served as Director of Public Affairs at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies and as an adjunct professor and lecturer in communications and public diplomacy at the NATO School and Sweden’s International Training Command. She served in a number of senior positions in the Pentagon, on the Army Staff, as Deputy Chief of Public Affairs and Deputy Chief of the Army Reserve, and with the Department of Defense’s Reserve Forces Policy Board. General Eder speaks and writes frequently on communication topics in universities and for international audiences and consults on communications issues.

She has an established record of scholarship, research and publishing. Her book, “Leading the Narrative: The Case for Strategic Communication,” is used in a number of university communications courses. Her latest communications book, “American Cyberscape: Trials and the Path to Trust,” was released in November 2020. She is the author of numerous case studies and articles on military ethics, leadership, strategic communications and two books of children’s stories.

A deeply inspirational book, “The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line,” was released in August 2021. The Library Of Virginia awarded it the People’s Choice Award in October 2022. The second in the series, “The Girls Who Fought Crime,” was released in August 2023.

Ret. Maj. Gen. Eder was recently awarded the Daughters of the American Revolution Medal of Honor and named the Historic Hotels of America 2023 Historian of the Year.

When not writing, lecturing or traveling, Ret. Maj. Gen. Eder works with rescue groups, fostering rescue dogs.