Major General (Retired) James Bonner serves as the President and Chief Strategy Officer for CORTEK providing executive leadership to the Board of Directors in strategic planning and execution, stakeholder engagement, business development and organizational growth. He brings 36 years of distinguished military service with a specific focus on National Security while supporting other business objectives in Defense, Interagency, Health and Civilian domains. Prior to accepting the Position of President of CORTEK, he served as Senior Vice President of Strategic Programs at EMKS|CORTEK. as a special advisor to the CEO.
James also serves as a Subject Matter Expert (Counter Weapons of Mass Destruction) consultant for the Joint Special Operations University (JSOU)/United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) Think Tank at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida.
Over the course of his career, James has 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.
He 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: Commanding General, 20th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosive (CBRNE) Command (1 Star Command), Deputy Commanding General Army North/NORTHCOM (Homeland Defense), Airborne, Ranger, FBI (Interagency), Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC)/United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), and HQDA G8.
Major General (Retired) James 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 the Naval War College obtaining a Master’s degree in National Security and Strategic Studies. He has attended the University North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School for Business Executive Development. He has been inducted into the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) Hall of Fame and awarded the Order of Saint Michael-Archangel Level for his Combat Jump into Panama during Operation Just Cause. He is married to his hometown sweetheart Debra, and they have two daughters.
