A program built for service: The Major General James Wright Scholars Program at William & Mary
For more than a decade and a half, the Raymond A. Mason School of Business at William & Mary has partnered with the United States Army to equip a select group of military officers with advanced management education designed to strengthen the operational effectiveness of the Army and the leadership capabilities of the officers who serve it.
Since its launch in 2011, the Major General James Wright (MGJW) Scholars Program has prepared active-duty officers to return to service with enhanced analytical, strategic, and leadership capabilities, skills increasingly essential in an era where military readiness depends not only on battlefield expertise but also on sophisticated organizational management and decision-making.
While there are many existing partnerships between civilian universities and the U.S. military, the MGJW Scholars Program stands apart. Rather than a fellowship program designed for senior officers, it is a highly focused accelerated MBA program for mid-career Army officers, carefully structured to align with the operational needs of the Army and the professional development trajectory of its rising leaders.
“Modern military leadership requires the ability to manage resources, lead large organizations, and make decisions in environments filled with uncertainty, ambiguity, and complexity. A rigorous business education strengthens those capabilities,” said Dean Todd Mooradian. “The MGJW Scholars Program allows officers to gain those tools at a critical point in their careers and then return quickly to service where those skills can have an immediate impact.”
Designed to blend business with the military’s needs
The MGJW Scholars Program was established to provide advanced, graduate-level civil schooling opportunities to active-duty Captains and Majors. Each year, a small cohort of highly competitive officers is selected through the Army’s Broadening Opportunities Program and sent to Williamsburg to earn their MBA.
The program’s design reflects both the realities of military service and the strategic importance of advanced management education. Students complete the full MBA curriculum in approximately 14 months, allowing them to quickly return to operational roles while remaining on track for promotion and advanced leadership assignments in the Army.
Jonathan “JD” Due, Executive Director of the Mason School’s Center for Military Transition, notes that the program was built from the onset to meet the current needs of the Army.
“What makes the program particularly powerful is that it reaches officers at a pivotal stage in their careers. Captains and Majors are beginning to move into larger leadership roles, and the business education they receive here gives them a framework for managing complex systems, organizations, and resources. They then can take those skills directly back into the Army and apply them,” he said.
“Importantly,” he added, “it makes them more effective, contributing to effectively lethal teams, and returns them to Army formations with a degree of efficiency rarely seen in most professional education opportunities.”
The program’s structure also allows the officers to integrate into the broader MBA cohort, working alongside civilian classmates from diverse industries and backgrounds. The result is a learning environment that blends military leadership experience with private-sector management perspectives, an exchange that is mutually beneficial for both groups.
Leadership through application
At the heart of the MGJW Scholars Program is a commitment to applied learning.
During the second summer of the program, students complete advanced coursework and earn certification as Lean Six Sigma Green Belts, strengthening their ability to lead process improvement initiatives within complex organizations.
They also undertake a capstone consulting project that applies their newly developed analytical skills to real-world challenges within the Army. To date, MGJW scholars have completed more than 70 unique projects, collectively contributing over 60,000 hours of analytical work for various Army organizations, including commands responsible for training, doctrine, recruitment, and future force development.
Several of these initiatives have generated substantial operational and financial impact. A sampling of four projects conducted between 2016 and 2022 alone recommended nearly $450 million in potential savings for the Army through improved efficiency and resource management.
“We work closely with Army leadership to ensure the curriculum remains relevant to the challenges their officers face,” said Mooradian. “That alignment is one of the reasons the program has produced such meaningful results for both the Army and our institution.”
One Army official summarized the program’s impact succinctly, saying, “MGJW officers are highly coveted. They are routinely identified for the most difficult or complex projects in our utilization tour.”
A catalyst for mid-career Army officers
Beyond the measurable value created through their capstone work, the long-term career outcomes of MGJW graduates highlight the program’s broader impact.
Since it began, 201 Army officers have completed the MGJW Scholars Program, with 75 percent of them remaining on active duty, many more than a decade after attending the Mason School.
Impressively, out of the 84 alumni who have been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, 45 have been selected to command or lead at that rank. Nine graduates have been promoted to Colonel, with five being selected to command at the brigade level.
Additionally, 16 graduates have been selected to attend Senior Service College, one of the Army’s highest professional development opportunities.
And according to alumni of the MGJW Scholars Program, the experience was certainly transformative, with 88 percent reporting that their MBA degree and their time at the Mason School has directly benefited their military careers.
For many officers, the program represents a turning point in their professional development. “Participating in the MGJW program was the best decision I’ve made in my Army career,” one alumnus shared.
Another graduate described the outcomes more broadly, saying, “The program produces driven leaders who cultivate a culture of merit and readiness, lead with integrity, and are prepared for the future battlefield through modernization and continuous transformation.”
A model military-university partnership
The program is named in honor of Major General James Wright, a renowned general, logistician, and leader who dedicated his life to military service. When the program was first conceived in 2011, it was designed specifically for Army logisticians. However, since then, participation has since expanded beyond logistics officers.
Colonel (Ret.) John Kuenzli, who helped develop the concept of the program while serving on active duty, envisioned a pathway that would give promising officers access to world-class business education while keeping them firmly connected to operational service. Major General (Ret.) Scott West, another early advocate of the initiative, also placed an emphasis on developing leaders who can operate effectively across both military and organizational environments.
“We had been in Iraq and Afghanistan for years by the time we started the program,” Kuenzli said. “The conflicts were complex. Officers had to be proficient in their military craft while rapidly learning how to create civil stability in cities and villages that would endure by means other than military force. We were in roles that far exceeded what our military training and education prepared us for, and the complexity of the operations is exactly why our officers need the kind of education William & Mary offered.”
West had worked closely with Wright for years and remained in contact with the Wright family following his passing. When the program was named in Wright’s honor, West sought the family’s permission to carry forward that legacy.
“When you study things like supply chain management, accounting, and economics, you don’t always expect those lessons to follow you into combat,” Kuenzli said. “But the reality is that’s where those principles are the most important and yet most difficult to see and understand.”
A sustained commitment to active duty military and veterans
For the Mason School, the MGJW Scholars Program also reflects a broader commitment to supporting military service members and veterans. In addition to establishing the Center for Military Transition to aid service members as they transition from military to civilian life and careers, William & Mary has consistently been recognized as a Military Friendly institution. The Mason School also recently earned the #1 ranking among graduate schools in the 2026-2027 Military Friendly School survey.
“At the Mason School, supporting military students is not limited to a single person,” Due said. “Across our graduate business programs, we’ve made a sustained commitment to creating pathways for service members and veterans to translate their leadership experience into new opportunities. The MGJW program is one important part of that broader effort.”
Fifteen years after its launch, the MGJW Scholars Program continues to demonstrate the value of collaboration between military institutions and higher education. For the Army, the program targets Captains and Majors earlier in their careers, equipping them with management expertise that can shape the trajectory of their leadership development, and the knowledge and analytical skills gained through the MBA can be applied across many years of operational service.
In essence, the program invests in the next generation of Army leadership.
“It’s important to understand that the MGJW Scholars Program is not simply a fellowship program designed for senior officers,” Due explained. “It’s an advanced civil schooling program designed for rising leaders in the Army. The goal is to give them the education and perspective they need early enough in their careers so that it can shape their professional pathway forward for years to come.”