Rex Vanderwood
Consultant, Writer, and Life Coach in South Carolina
Dr. Vanderwood opened the strategic consulting firm Blackwatch International, LLC in 2013 as the managing partner and co-owner. His experience includes serving 26 years as an active duty officer, rising to the rank of Colonel in the United States Air Force (USAF).
Most recently, Dr. Vanderwood was the Deputy Commander, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. In this capacity, his senior leadership included responsibilities of $6.5B in Department of Defense assets, $220M annual budget, a full range of theater and global naval/air/joint operations, and responsibilities for more than 38,000 personnel and their families.
Prior to that, Dr. Vanderwood served as the United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) Air Force Element Commander. He directed activities and set policy issues for over 400,000 personnel in the USPACOM theater of operations, dispersed across 43 nations. He was the key interface with the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), the Joint Chiefs of Staff, other Combatant Commands, and foreign government officials across the entire pacific theater.
During Dr. Vanderwood’s distinguished military career, he served in multiple command positions, in the U.S. as well as deployed in combat theaters of operation. He has travelled extensively and conducted strategic-level business in 44 countries. He has an active Top Secret security clearance, has served in the Pentagon at both OSD and the Air Staff. From the direction of the Vice President of the United States, he was selected by the Secretary of Defense to attend advanced negotiation classes and represent the U.S. delegation in South Africa. The national objective was met with resounding success in the establishment of a defense relationship via a formal bi-national defense commission at the U.S. Vice President and South African Deputy President level. He further served in U.S./Argentina and U.S. Slovenia delegations in negotiating the establishment of stronger bi-national defense relations.