James Bonner

As Senior Vice President of Strategic Programs, Major General (Ret) James Bonner provides executive leadership in strategic planning and execution, stakeholder engagement, business development and organizational growth and serves as a special advisor to the CEO. MG Bonner retired in August 2024, bringing 36 years of distinguished military service to the EMKS | CORTEK team.

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​Over the course of his career, MG Bonner served across the globe with assignments in Panama, South Korea and Afghanistan. He served two strategic assignments in the Pentagon. Following his assignment in the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), James was personally selected as the Special Assistant for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction, Counterterrorism Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) detailed from the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict and Director of Materiel, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff G-8. At the FBI, he developed the interagency coordination/whole government approach to the defense of the National Capitol region and counter WMD/counter-terrorism response to a terrorist event. On the Army Staff, he directed the efforts of eight divisions: Chemical and NBC Defense; Command, Control, and Signal; Ground Maneuver; Air and Missile Defense; Precision Strike; Focused Logistics; Intelligence/Electronic Warfare; and Aviation prioritizing requirements of a $120B budget across 5 years of programing.

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MG Bonner has a proven record for leading large complex organizations to tackle critical risk to the security of the United States (Domestic and Foreign) by building comprehensive strategies which included international partners. He has commanded at every level from Platoon (35 personnel) to a 2 Star Command-The Maneuver Support Center of Excellence/Senior Mission Commander of Fort Leonard Wood Missouri (28,000 personnel) excelling across diverse organizations: Conventional, Airborne, Ranger, FBI (Interagency), JSOC, and HQDA G8.

 

In 2017, MG Bonner was selected by the Chief of Staff of the Army to Command the 20th CBRNE Command (1 Star level), the only Command in the Department of the Army that has assigned all Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosive Ordnance Disposal forces in the Continental United States (16 States/19 Installations). Jim’s ability for creative solutions and embracing change allowed him to reorganize this complex and dispersed organization while increasing the readiness as it prepared for combat on the Korean Peninsula.
In 2020, he was hand-picked by the Chief of Staff of the Army to command the Maneuver Support Center of Excellence and Senior Mission Commander of Fort Leonard Wood Missouri (2 Star level). He was charged with conducting all Homeland Defense training and to develop the strategy for the Army to address a new warfighting function (Protection) based on changing threats to the military.

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MG Bonner hails from Anna, Illinois. He graduated from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and commissioned a second lieutenant in 1988. He holds a Master’s degree in Administration from Central Michigan University and attended the Naval War College obtaining a Master’s degree in National Security and Strategic Studies. He is married to his hometown sweetheart Debra, and they have two daughters: Lauren, who is married to an Army Officer stationed in Germany, and Alision, an attorney in Charleston, South Carolina.