Senior Advisory Panel
LtGen Walt Gaskin, USMC (Retired)
Mr. Gaskin is the Chief Executive Officer of La Porte Technology Defense (LAPORTECH). LAPORTECH is focused on becoming the leading engineering Technical Development Plan (“TDP”) supplier with capability to design, test, retrofit, and roll-out new and existing small and medium quantity specialty defense and commercial vehicles using the latest original equipment manufacturer engines, transmissions, parts, and accessories in a seamless single-point solution.
Mr. Gaskin previously served as the Managing Director in Charge of Operation Management Complex of Global Bank in Irvine CA.
Additionally, he is an active board member of Savannah State University Foundation, Rise Against Hunger, Consortium For Africa, Marine Corps University Foundation and the American College of National Security Leaders (ACNSL).
Military Career
Lieutenant General Gaskin served as the Deputy Chairman of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Military Committee in Brussels Belgium providing military and operational advice to NATO’s Secretary General and North Atlantic Council from 2010 until his retirement in 2013.
Lieutenant General Gaskin’s first assignment as a General Officer was the Commanding General, Training and Education Command. Other assignments as a General Officer include service as the Vice Director of The Joint Staff, Commanding General of Marine Corps Recruiting Command, Chief of Staff, Naval Striking and Support Forces-Southern Europe and Deputy Commanding General.
Lieutenant General Gaskin also served as the Commanding General of the 2d Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, NC from June 2006 until July 2008. In addition to this role, he simultaneously served as the Commanding General of II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward). During this tour, Lieutenant General Gaskin led II MEF (FWD) during its year-long deployment to Al Anbar Province, Iraq as the Commanding General of Multinational Forces-West. Lieutenant General Gaskin has also served with 3rd Force Service Support Group (Echo and Foxtrot Logistics Support Units); 3rd Marine Division (Division Command Center) in Okinawa, Japan; and with Combined Forces Command C/J-3, Seoul, South Korea as the Head of Ground Forces Branch.
Military and Civilian Education
A graduate from Savannah State University’s NROTC Scholarship Program with a Bachelor of Science, he also earned a Summa Cum Laude Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Oklahoma, and completed the Senior Executive Seminar from the JFK School of Government, Harvard University.
His military education includes Amphibious Warfare School; Army Command and Staff College; Army War College; and the Combined/Joint Force Land Component Command Course.