Profile

Tommy Sowers

As a two tour Iraq veteran, Tommy brings a wealth of leadership experience to IAVA having served 11 years in the U.S. Army as a Ranger, Green Beret and West Point professor. As Senior Advisor in the Development department, Tommy represents IAVA before external audiences, promoting the organization’s critical work and helping IAVA meet yearly fundraising goals.

A native of Rolla, Missouri, Tommy was commissioned into the Army’s Corps of Engineers in May of 1998.  Assigned to the 1st Infantry Division, he deployed to Kosovo where he led a platoon of Combat Engineers.  He later attended Army Special Forces Training, where he graduated first in his class of Green Berets.  From 2004-2006, he served two tours in Iraq, where he commanded a group of Green Berets in a wide range of counterinsurgency operations.  Tommy received the Combat Infantryman’s Badge and two Bronze Stars.  He is a graduate of Duke University and the London School of Economics, and is currently pursuing his PhD in Government on the New GI Bill.

"We worked together as Special Operators and I was immediately impressed by Tommy. Everyone is. He has exceptional aptitude, the ability to break a complicated problem down into its component parts very quickly. Tommy was something of a Keynesian. I was more of an economic classicist. But our philosophical differences weren't nearly as important as the values we had in common." -- Jason Lewis, IAVA Member Veteran and investment banker, in TIME's "The New Greatest Generation"

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