MG Stephen J. Maranian USA (Ret.)

Major General Steve Maranian, U.S. Army (Retired) is an accomplished senior executive with 36 years of leadership experience. He is known as an innovator and change agent in two significant areas – international defense partnerships and leader development. Since retiring from the U.S. Army in 2023, Steve has divided his time between serving as an executive consultant in the defense sector; serving as a senior mentor for the U.S. Army’s Mission Command Training Program; and guest lecturing in multiple fora. With global defense expertise honed over 18 years spent living abroad, Steve excels at coalition-building with international defense partners and transforming organizations. Steve develops collaborative partnerships, while applying operational leadership and business acumen to develop and execute an enterprise vision, strategy, and tactics. A driver of change, Steve draws on a superb record of success as a leader and master communicator to build resilient, high-performing teams whose actions are informed by a strong sense of values and ethical behavior.

In his final assignment in the U.S. Army, Steve served as the first Commanding General of the 56th Artillery Command, the U.S. Army’s only headquarters responsible for integrating effects across two continents – Europe and Africa. Beginning with fewer than 100 soldiers Steve built the Theater Fires Command to an end strength of 2,500+ and full operational capability for 5 sub-components in two years, including the 2nd Multi-Domain Task Force. He oversaw $11.7M in annual budget and $150M in infrastructure contracts. In his concurrent role for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), he consulted with and advised senior allied leaders at the national level on strategy and tactics in both artillery (“lethal fires”) and non-lethal effects, such as information, cyber, space and electronic warfare.

Steve has served in several high-profile positions throughout his career, achieving significant impacts as a leader, and was often chosen to lead and modernize Army centers of educational excellence. Most notably, he served as Commandant of the Army War College, an accredited master’s degree granting institution, where he innovated new teaching approaches and curriculum change to optimize and tailor individual learning experiences. In this role he functioned as Army University’s Vice-Chancellor for Strategic Education. Prior to his leadership at the War College, Steve led the Army’s Field Artillery School while simultaneously serving as the Army’s Chief of Artillery. In the fall of 2017, Steve was hand selected by the Secretary and Chief of Staff of the Army to stand up and lead the Long-Range Precision Fires Cross Functional Team. A plank holder in what would become Army Futures Command, Steve’s efforts charted the course for the Army’s #1 modernization priority.

Known for his ability to build new organizations from the ground up, Steve develops unique executable solutions, recognizes and develops the talents and potential of aspiring leaders, and delivers the leadership and management experience to develop and hone an enterprise vision. He is excited to be taking his expertise to new challenges in the defense and education sectors as a consultant and executive coach.

Steve holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Bucknell University, an Army War College M.S. in National Security and Strategic Studies, an M.A. in Human Resources Development from Webster University, and he is a graduate of the Greek language course at the Defense Language Institute. He was also a Chief of Staff of the Army Research Fellow at the NATO Defense College in Rome, Italy where he conducted post-graduate research.