Overview
Brigadier General Ty Seidule, U.S. Army (Retired) serves as Senior Advisor to The ExCo Group and is a regular speaker on a variety of leadership topics. Seidule is a veteran, author, advisor, public speaker, and Professor Emeritus of History and former head of the Department of History at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Over the course of his 36-year army career, Seidule served as an armor and cavalry officer in command and staff positions in war and peace all over the world, including Germany, Italy, the Balkans, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Kenya.
As Senior Advisor to The ExCo Group, Seidule speaks on topics such as Trust in the Workplace, Leadership through History, Understanding Diversity through History, Hard Conversations, Institutional Change, Changing Culture, and How to use Personal Narratives.
Career History
Seidule’s latest book, Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner’s Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause, was named one of the best books of 2021 by NPR, Forbes, and others. The Associated Press called it “an extraordinary and courageous book, a confessional of America’s great sins of slavery and racial oppression, a call to confront our wrongs, reject our mythologized racist past and resolve to create a just future for all.” Seidule has made multiple national TV appearances on CBS, ABC, MSNBC, CNBC, and PBS. He has written many OpEds for national publications. The Washington Post named his OpEd, “What to Rename the Army Bases that Honor Confederate Soldiers” as one of the ten best for 2020.
Seidule is the creator and co-editor of the award-winning West Point History of Warfare. With more than a million words, ten thousand interactive “widgets,” and a thousand new animated maps, it’s the largest enhanced digital book in any field. He co-edited the four-volume West Point History of Warfare series published by Simon and Schuster, including histories of the Civil War, World War II, and the American Revolution. Each book won the Army Historical Foundation Award for Distinguished Writing.
A leader in digital and public history, Seidule partnered with Apple and Google to create digital history initiatives including virtual and augmented reality apps and Massive Open Online Courses. His short video, “Was the Civil War About Slavery” has more than 30 million views on social media, making it the most watched history lecture – in history. He also created and served as the senior editor for the digital West Point Guide to the Civil Rights Movement and The West Point Guide to Gender and War.
Seidule partnered with Nike and West Point’s athletic director to rebrand Army athletics to emphasize history. He also partnered with Nike to design football uniforms for the Army Navy football game that used history to inspire cadets and link West Point to the army and the nation. The uniforms won multiple national awards.
Personal
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin appointed Seidule to the Congressional Naming Commission tasked with redesignating Department of Defense assets that honor Confederates. His fellow commissioners elected him as Vice Chair. He also serves as a Presidential Advisor to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans and is a New America Fellow. Seidule is a Professor of History at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. Seidule received a B.A. from Washington and Lee University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the Ohio State University.