Author and Speaker Ed Ruggero has helped clients as diverse as the FBI, CitiFinancial, the New York City Police Department, Time, Inc., the CIA, Forbes, SAS Institute, Johnson & Johnson, and Hugo Boss USA develop the kind of leaders that people want to follow.

After graduating from West Point in 1980, Ed was commissioned in the United States Army and served as an infantry officer in a variety of leadership positions around the world. Following graduate school, Ed joined the faculty at West Point, and was deeply involved in the academy's mission to help cadets become "leaders of character" dedicated to service to the nation.

Ed left the service in 1991 to pursue a career as a writer and public speaker. His writings on leadership, his story-telling talents and the success of his first five novels led to his being chosen to co-author the US Army Field Manual Army Leadership, which is used throughout the service.

Ed's non-fiction work includes Duty First: West Point and the Making of American Leaders, a study of leader development at the United States Military Academy, and Combat Jump: The Young Men Who Led the Assault Into Fortress Europe, July 1943. This book, which became a one-hour docu-drama on The History Channel, tells the story of America's first large scale use of paratroopers to lead an invasion. Ed is also the co-author of The Leader's Compass, which gives leaders tools to develop a personal leadership philosophy; and The Corporate Compass: Providing Focus and Alignment to Stay the Course.

Ed's newest book, The First Men In: US Paratroopers and the Fight to Save D-Day, was published in 2006 by HarperCollins.

Ed has appeared on The History Channel, the Discovery Channel, CNBC and Fox and has spoken to audiences around the world on leadership, leader development and ethics.