Tracy Tafolla

A member of the National Defense Industrial Association, Tracy Tafolla began his undergraduate education at North Iowa Area Community College. After earning an associate’s degree there, he gained admission to the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. He graduated with a bachelor of arts in geography and was immediately commissioned into the United States Marine Corps as a second lieutenant. Tracy Tafolla later returned to academia in 2008 in pursuit of a master of science in national resource strategy. He completed the program in one year at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.

Serving the military for nearly three decades, Mr. Tafolla held positions in infantry, intelligence, and special operations training group and was promoted to the rank of colonel. He also spent a year heading the Marine Air Ground Task Force, Training Branch, Training and Education Command. In 2009, Colonel Tafolla was appointed the Director of the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate and tasked with drafting Non-Lethal weapons systems paper for the Department of Defense. Today, Tracy Tafolla is in the process of retiring from the Marine Corps and overseeing defense acquisitions of advanced weaponry.