Leigh Wakeling Email & Phone Number

North Carolina, United States

Clayton, North Carolina, United States

Co-Owner of a thriving start-up in a competitive and growing marketplace. During Start-up, I was directly involved with critical building and infrastructure improvements necessary to accommodate distilling operations and host 100+ patrons for tastings, events, and social gatherings. I worked closely with company partners to develop strategies, goals, and objectives to grow brand awareness. We Collaborated closely to establish pricing and achieve marketing milestones.

As Leader of a 50 person Operational Section I was directly responsible for planning, scheduling, and allocating resources for a 24 month readiness cycle. Additionally, risk management and risk mitigation were at the forefront and a large part of daily operations. I directly managed a $1 million operations budget and >1 Million in equipment, aligning resources to operations, resulting in strategic success. In this role I served as the principal advisor to senior leadership responsible for assessing organizational risk, resolving conflicts, and ensuring quality control. I also coordinated and supervised the professional development and technical proficiency of active duty personnel across multiple technical domains.

I led and supervised the operations of a 6-person Special Tactics team; mentored teammates on professional career development; assessed professional performance and made promotion recommendations. I deployed multiple times to Afghanistan, Iraq, Africa, among other Countries in support of joint special operations.

Combat ControllerI completed multiple deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq and Africa providing fire support and air traffic control during joint operations. Combat Controllers proved pivotal to the success of Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation New Dawn and many other unnamed operations during the global war on terror. These were the most formative years where I mastered the integration and collaboration of cross-functional teams which later became a foundation of success of both military leadership and entrepreneurship success's.

Bachelor Of Science - Bsl, Interdisciplinary Studies, Summa Cum Laude

Associate Of Science - As, Strategic Operations