Born in Oklahoma and raised in a military Family, he currently resides in Sanford, NC. A Veteran with over 33 years in the Army and more than 28-years of Special Operations experience, he served in the Infantry with the “Old Guard” and the 82nd Airborne Division before assessing into Special Forces. He’s served in every Special Forces Non Commissioned Officer leadership position available including Group Command Sergeants Major.

At the nominative level, he served as the Command Senior Enlisted Leader (CSEL) for Special Operations Command – Africa and later helped establish the first Special Operations Joint Task Force in Afghanistan as its CSEL. He served a pivotal role as the Command Sergeants Major for the Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth and helped shape the SOF contribution for the 2015 Army Doctrine rewrite. His final military assignment was as the 15th Command Senior Enlisted Leader of Joint Special Operations Command, Ft Bragg, NC.

Upon retiring from the Army, Jeff served as an Operations Integrator for the Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Organization assigned to the United States Army Special Operations Command Headquarters. For nearly four years, he focused on identifying Global trends and innovations of Unmanned systems, Improvised Explosive Devices and critical elements of “Hardened Targets”, ensuring global threat awareness and risk mitigation efforts were incorporated in current and future operations. In 2020, he went on to serve as the Deputy Director of USASOC’s Human Performance and Wellness Directorate until 2024, effectively building and managing a new directorate comprised of a 30-person staff with an annual budget of over $40 million.

Mr. Wright has wide-ranging combat experience and deployed several times throughout his career. He participated in OPERATIONs JUST CAUSE, Panama; UPHOLD DEMOCRACY, Haiti; JOINT GUARD, Bosnia; ENDURING FREEDOM, Afghanistan; IRAQI FREEDOM, Iraq and several smaller actions/activities across the globe.
Jeff’s contributions to the force are numerous. He built lasting relationships and assisted Special Operations units in South Africa and Uganda to professionalize their Non-commissioned officer ranks. He led a diverse team of senior leaders, researchers and educators as part of a larger TRADOC effort to transform the NCO education system to a professional development system. Implementation of recommendations directly impacted the development of thousands of young NCOs across the Army. He worked with Joint Special Mission Units to highlight the operational capabilities and challenges of female contributions to SOF and provided recommendations to the SOCOM Commander during the Women in SOF Review (WISR).

Throughout the course of his service, Mr. Wright graduated from numerous education and training opportunities, including the Army Senior Leader Development Courses 1 and 2, the Keystone Course, the Special Forces Qualification Course and Ranger School. He also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Psychology from Park University.
Jeff has been awarded the Army’s Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with 2 OLCs and several Bronze Stars. In 2018, he was inducted as a Distinguished Member of the Special Forces Regiment.

Mr. Wright serves as an Advisory Board member for the Honor Foundation, an Honorary Advisory for the PROMOTE Organization and serves as a Senior Leadership Fellow for the Association of the United States Army (AUSA).

He has been married to his wife Tina for the better part of 4 decades, they have two children, both married and residing in NC and two grandchildren.