Dr. Robert Brescia

Dr. Robert Brescia currently serves as a Board Director (Past Chairman) at Basin PBS television, the American Red Cross of the Permian Basin (Past Chairman), the Southwest Heritage Credit Union, and the Salvation Army of Odessa. His experience includes top leadership roles in education, corporate business, non-profit, and defense sectors. He is a sought-after speaker and writer, and a monthly columnist for the American Society for Public Administration’s “PA Times”. Dr. Brescia has also written numerous articles and delivered presentations on leadership. In 2015, the Texas Civil Rights Project recognized him as one of their “Heroes and Leaders”.

Prior to his current responsibilities, Bob served as Executive Director of the John Ben Shepperd Public Leadership Institute in Odessa. At JBS, he created the Crisis Leadership & Learning Center, a world-class, innovative computer-assisted leadership case study simulation center. Prior to those responsibilities, Dr. Brescia served as Chief Executive Officer of the Community Care College System, a multi-campus, privately-owned, for-profit career college in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was also President and Chief Executive Officer of Saint Joseph Academy, a private, independent 7-12 grade college preparatory institution in Brownsville, Texas. During his business career, Brescia served world-class, Fortune 500 organizations in highly visible operational leadership roles, primarily within the automotive sector. As Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer of Transplace, Inc., Frisco, Texas, he was responsible for the operations of an industry-leading, high-technology, software-as-a-service provider. Dr. Brescia also served Volkswagen Group of America as its Chief Logistics Officer.  Before VW, he spent five years as Vice President for Logistics at Michelin North America, the $7 billion U.S. subsidiary of Group Michelin, a global manufacturer and distributor of tires, inner tubes, wheels, and maps & guides. Recruited to the world’s leading tire manufacturer as a logistics expert to craft and execute supply chain redesign and outsourcing of Michelin’s physical distribution network, he led a broad-ranging, global award-winning network optimization initiative. Bob also previously served as a strategist and planner of logistics, distribution, and supply chain solutions supporting automobile manufacturers’ programs including Ford & Jaguar, GM, Chrysler, and VW, as well as many Tier 1 suppliers such as Delphi, Dana, Lear, Visteon, and Textron. In 2004, Bob was voted by his peers as one of the Top Five logisticians in North America.

Brescia has twenty-seven years of public service as an Airborne Ranger Cavalry soldier, NCO, and commissioned officer in the United States Army. He has exercised leadership in global logistics under the most arduous of conditions including deploying a cavalry troop unit from Germany to the Desert Storm Theater of operations during the Persian Gulf War.  Bob is a graduate of the Army War College and the Command & General Staff College, as well as many other military schools.  His qualifications and awards include the U.S. Army Ranger Tab, Airborne qualification, the Department of the Army Staff Identification Badge, two citations of the Legion of Merit, four awards of the Meritorious Service Medal, the Southwest Asia Service Medal, the Kuwaiti Liberation Medal, and the Silver Rose.

He received a Bachelor of Arts Degree (summa cum laude) in Government from Norwich University, Vermont in 1977 where he graduated first in his class.  He holds two Master’s Degrees from Boston University: A Master of Arts in International Relations (MAIR) and a Master of Science in Computer Information Systems (MSCIS).  Bob was selected and participated in the George and Carol Olmsted Foundation Scholarship program in 1984, attending the University of Paris IV (Sorbonne) and the University of Strasbourg, France.  While in France, Brescia’s academic curriculum included French and European history, political science, international relations, and European Community law.  He earned a Diplôme d’ Etudes Approfondies from the University of Strasbourg and a Diplôme de L’Institut, European Institute of Advanced Studies, Strasbourg.  Dr. Brescia graduated with distinction from the Executive Leadership Doctoral Program with the George Washington University. Such a distinction has only been given to four other graduates of the program in its twenty-five year history.

As part of his Olmsted Scholarship duties, he worked for President Reagan’s White House team for his visits to France during the period 1984-86. He later served on President Bill Clinton’s Presidential Inauguration Commission in Washington D.C. Dr. Brescia is fluent in French and has an extraordinary knowledge of the French and European culture.  During his two years in Europe as an Olmsted Scholar, he delivered many speeches and presentations on behalf of the Departments of State and Defense, most notably in conjunction with the 40^th commemoration of the WWII Normandy beachings, often working with the White House Staff, CIA, and Secret Service.  Bob’s latest book, Destination Greatness – Creating a New Americanism, is now available on Amazon and is receiving 5-star reviews. He has also authored The Americanism of John Ben Shepperd and Disruptive Power in American Discourse. Bob is a contributing author of the best-seller RFID for Dummies, a well-known guide on Radio Frequency Identification technology. His personal hobbies include reading, restoring jukeboxes, and creating LED light displays for the holiday season. Dr. Brescia is gratefully married to Marianne, the love of his life. They met and married in the Pentagon. He is the person that he is now because she loved him.

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