Jeannette Haynie
Founder & Executive DirectorJeannette Gaudry Haynie, PhD, is a career Marine Corps officer and combat veteran with a PhD in International Relations. A New Orleans native and a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, she is a Cobra attack helicopter pilot by trade with multiple operational deployments. After leaving active duty for the Reserves upon the birth of her second child, she returned to school to study national security decision-making and conflict through a gender lens. She earned her Master of Arts in Political Science from the University of New Orleans and her Doctorate in International Relations from The George Washington University while serving on the Joint Staff and in the Marine Corps Commandant’s think tank.
Dr. Haynie’s academic research focuses on the intersections of gender, leadership, and security, connecting her operational experiences and academic work. As a Reservist and on active duty, she advised the senior leadership of the Marine Corps on critical and creative thinking for warfighting effectiveness and served as a subject matter expert on the international Women, Peace, and Security agenda. She played an integral role in developing the outline for a learning philosophy for warfighting effectiveness and developed the vision for strategic talent management for warfighting effectiveness for the Corps’ new talent management office. Dr. Haynie has served as an adjunct at The George Washington University, teaching courses in Gender and Conflict and International Relations. She currently serves as an adjunct in Tulane University’s Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy, teaching Quantitative Methods with a focus on quantitative assessment of social vulnerability and resilience. She served as Senior Fellow at nonprofit Women In International Security, where she conducted research into the gender dimensions of various security phenomena.
Dr. Haynie is a member of the Presidential Leadership Scholars’ Class of 2019, where the roots of the Athena Leadership Project were planted. Along with her husband, a fellow Marine Corps officer, she leads a leadership program for youth that seeks to develop critical and creative thinking skills while helping children learn and grow from failure. Additionally, with a group of six fellow Naval Academy female classmates, she founded an outreach organization as part of a nonprofit alumni group, the Sisterhood of Mother B. SOMB connects graduates and military leaders through weekly articles, social media outreach, and a growing list of other efforts. As part of SOMB, Dr. Haynie co-hosts “Waypoints”, a military-focused podcast on leadership, gender, and service. She runs marathons, works on her pull-ups, and she and her husband have three children.
Kyleanne Hunter
Managing DirectorKyleanne Hunter, PhD, is a Marine Corps combat veteran with multiple combat deployments as an AH-1W “Super Cobra” attack pilot. She finished her active duty time in the Marine Corps’ Legislative Liaison Office in the House of Representatives. She is as Assistant Professor of Military and Strategic Studies at the United States Air Force Academy, a Nonresident Fellow at the Brute Krulak Center for Innovation and Creativity at Marine Corps University, and a Senior Adjunct Fellow at the Center for New American Security. She holds a Bachelors of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, and a Masters of Arts and a Doctorate from University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies.
Dr. Hunter’s research focuses on the intersection of social integration and military effectiveness, with a focus on gender and unconventional warfare. While completing her dissertation, she was a researcher in residence at University of San Diego’s Kroc School of Peace and Justice. She was co-primary investigator for the Nonviolent Actors in Violent Conflicts project funded by the Carnegie Foundation. Her work has been published in Journal of Peace Research, Armed Forces & Society, and Signs, as well as popular publications such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic, and San Diego Union Tribune. She is co-editor of Invisible Veterans: What Happens When Women Become Civilians Again (Preager Press, 2019)with Kate Thomas Hendricks.
Dr. Hunter is also an adjunct professor of Security Studies at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. She created a first of its kind course in gender and war, which is being integrated in the forthcoming Women, Peace and Security Certificate. She served as the Chair of the Employment and Integration Subcommittee for the Secretary of Defense’s Advisory Committee of Women in the Services (DACOWITS). In this capacity, she used her operational experience and academic research to make policy recommendations that directly impact the lives of service members while making our military more effective. She was part of the Department of Veterans Affairs inaugural class of “Women Veteran Trailblazers,” and named as one of HilllVets 100 most influential veterans in 2018. She serves on the advisory board for Impact:PEACE. She and her husband reside in Colorado Springs, CO.