Dr. Robert A. Sanders is a retired U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG Corps) Captain, a legal/national security educator, a former federal government organization counsel and private industry military communications and weapons systems engineer. For more than two decades he developed the critical thinking of diverse groups of global leaders and supported the international human rights, international law, military, and diplomatic objectives of the United States. He has served as a staff attorney and legislative director working with the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, as a federal civil defense counsel, and as a federal criminal prosecutor and defense counsel in the United States, afloat on Navy ships, and overseas. He was previously a U.S. Naval War College Military Law and Operations Professor (2014-2019); Director, U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Institute of International Legal Studies (2011-2014); Commanding Officer, U.S. Naval Legal Service Office, North Central (2007 and 2009-2011); Deputy Assistant Judge Advocate General (Military Personnel) (2007-2009); and the in-country legal mentor for the Afghan National Army’s 1st Judge Advocate General and the Ministry of Defense’s 1st General Counsel equivalent (2004-2005). Dr. Sanders has served on several Boards of Directors including prior service on the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society Board; on the U.S. Secretary of Defense’s Recovering, Wounded, Ill and Injured Members of the Armed Forces Task Force; and on multiple youth sports organization boards. Dr. Sanders began his current service on the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island Board of Directors in September 2016. He is a former MIT Seminar XXI Fellow, a DEOMI TRIP Intern, and a Leadership Rhode Island program participant.