John Wiles is an executive consultant with the Federal Quality Consulting Group (FQCG), on special assignment from the Department of Defense (DoD). He works with government executives to transform culture and systems to create innovative solutions for a customer-driven government. He uses the principles of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and the recommendations of the Vice President's National Performance Review when he customizes and instructs seminars, and consults with executives.
John has extensive experience in both the public and the private sectors, as leader, manager, and consultant. John's career in DoD has given him invaluable experience in all aspects of technical and general management. He has held a wide range of key positions in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the US Air Force. At the Air Force Flight Test Center, he developed strategic and tactical plans, and promulgated them throughout the organization. Most recently, he was the Director of the Defense Evaluation Support Activity (DESA). Under his guidance, DESA became the model of a re-engineered organization: customer-oriented, cost-effective, innovative, and rapid-response. DESA successfully marketed itself in a fee-for-service environment by focusing on ascertaining and meeting clients' true needs, within their budget and schedule constraints. For leading this transformation, he was awarded the Exceptional Civilian Service Award by the Secretary of Defense.
In his private sector experience, John consulted to several small businesses, allowing them to compete successfully in the technical arena against much larger companies. He also was the board chairman of a highly successful credit union, leading its transformation to a market-driven strategy during banking deregulation. In addition, he is a Senior Adjunct Professor of Management for Golden Gate University.
In addition to the Secretary of Defense Exceptional Civilian Service Award, John has received many other awards during his career. He was a Sloan Fellow at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and has a doctorate in systems engineering from UCLA. John is a decorated combat veteran, retiring as a Colonel from the US Air Force Reserve. He and his wife, Marilyn, reside in Alexandria, Virginia.