Dr. Michael J. Devine offers the unique perspective of a scholar with half a century of close ties to Korea and the Korean American community, as well as practical experience in the management of historical institutions. Devine is an adjunct professor of history at the University of Wyoming. Previously, he was the director of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library, a professor of history and the director of the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming. He was a Peace Corps volunteer to Korea and a two-time senior Fulbright lecturer at Korean universities. He received his MA and PhD in American History from Ohio State University. 

Brigadier General (Ret.) Chris Stockel currently serves as the vice president of the Civil Affairs Association, senior U.S. civil military operations (CMO) advisor to the Korean Battle Simulation Center (KBSC), and the Korean Defense Veterans Association New York City Metro Chapter president. He commanded infantry, special forces, and civil affairs units, culminating at the one-star level as commanding general (CG) of the 351st Civil Affairs Command (CACOM) in Mountain View, CA and as the acting Combined Forces Command (CFC) C9 (civil affairs), Korea. 

As CG of the 351st, he was responsible for nearly all civil affairs operations in the INDO-PACIFIC. Previous to this, he was deputy commanding general, U.S. Army Civil Affairs & Psychological Operations Command (Airborne) and chief of staff (COS) of the 352nd CACOM. Before this, he was the commander civil military operations center (CMOC) and deputy COS strategic effects Operational Command Post (OCP)Third Army/ARCENT, Kuwait. He deployed twice to Iraq – once as a CA officer and later as the PAO for CJSOTF-AP. 

Other assignments included interagency duty with State counter- terrorism at Main State in the CT bureau, formerly S/CT, a joint assignment with USSOCOM, and Special Operations USEUCOM (SOCEUR). His training assignments, tours, and deployment postings included numerous European, Asian, Central American, Caribbean, East African, and Middle Eastern countries (including Egypt, Iraq, UAE, Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar, Lebanon, and Kuwait). He spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations focused on China, at AUSA LANPAC in Hawaii on HADR, and testified about Iraq before Congress to the House committee on State and Foreign Operations. 

Stockel earned a BA in Mathematics/Computer Science with a minor in German from Trenton State College including a year abroad at the Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Germany and a Master’s Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College. He is a life member of the Council of Foreign Relations. While in uniform he held DoD language ratings in German, Arabic, and Spanish. He is ranger and special forces qualified. His numerous awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, German Parachute Badge, Latvian Special Forces Parachute Badge, Indonesian Parachute Badge, Cote d’Ivoire Parachute Badge.