Donovan Campbell

Donovan Campbell is a decorated military officer and a young Fortune 500 executive whose lessons about leadership and teamwork came the hard way, through three combat deployments—two in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. He was awarded the Combat Action Ribbon and a Bronze Star with Valor for his time in Iraq. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood, which Bing West has called ''the finest small–unit description of a platoon at war in Iraq'' and which Entertainment Weekly has said ''isn't as much a story of war as it is a story of love.'' It was also recently named one of ''The Best Military Books of the Decade'' by Military Times.

Campbell grew up in Dallas, graduated with honors from Princeton University and Harvard Business School, and finished first in his class in the Marines' Basic Officer Course, something he initially enrolled in because he thought it would look good on his résumé. However, in his senior year of college, he says, ''I decided that I had been afforded opportunities that most Americans hadn't had, and that I therefore owed more to my country than did most of its citizens.'' Upon graduation, he was appointed a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, eventually commanding the platoon known by its radio call sign ''Joker One.'' Campbell led his men through some of the bloodiest battles of the war in Iraq, holding them together with determination, their love for one another, and their faith in God and their fellow soldiers.

After his combat tours he returned to Dallas, where he is working at PepsiCo and living with his wife and two daughters. Campbell has now become the face of military officers returning home and entering the business world. Corporations are eager to recruit veterans because of the principles they have learned in the military: a humble servant–leader mentality, a maturity beyond their years, a willingness to shoulder responsibility, and an understanding of personal sacrifice for the greater good. In these difficult economic times, Campbell explores how these core values, which he embraces and conveys to others through his writing and speaking across the country, can be applied to help re–instill confidence in the American economy and trust in its business leaders. His lecture appearances include Harvard Business School, the Air Force Academy, Wake Forest University, BENS (Business Executives for National Security), and Military Ministry and he has been widely interviewed in broadcast and print.

Works by this Speaker

Joker One

After graduating from Princeton, Donovan Campbell, motivated by his unwavering patriotism and commitment, decided to join the service, realizing that becoming a Marine officer would allow him to give back to his country, engage in the world, and learn to lead. In this immediate, thrilling, and inspiring memoir, Campbell recounts a timeless and transcendent tale of brotherhood, courage, and sacrifice.

As commander of a forty-man infantry platoon called Joker One, Campbell had just months to train and transform a ragtag group of brand-new Marines into a first-rate cohesive fighting unit, men who would become his family: Sergeant Leza, the house intellectual who read Che Guevara; Sergeant Mariano Noriel, the “Filipino ball of fire” who would become Campbell’s closest confidant and friend; Lance Corporal William Feldmeir, a narcoleptic who fell asleep during battle; and a lieutenant known simply as “the Ox,” whose stubborn aggressiveness would be more curse than blessing.

Campbell and his men were assigned to Ramadi, that capital of the Sunni-dominated Anbar province that was an explosion just waiting to happen. And when it did happen–with the chilling cries of “Jihad, Jihad, Jihad!” echoing from minaret to minaret–Campbell and company were there to protect the innocent, battle the insurgents, and pick up the pieces. After seven months of day-to-day, house-to-house combat, nearly half of Campbell’s platoon had been wounded, a casualty rate that went beyond that of any Marine or Army unit since Vietnam. Yet unlike Fallujah, Ramadi never fell to the enemy.

Told by the man who led the unit of hard-pressed Marines, Joker One is a gripping tale of a leadership, loyalty, faith, and camaraderie throughout the best and worst of times.

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