Robert T. Jordan

Introducing: Robert T. Jordan, MBA

"I love the challenge of taking a difficult subject and presenting it in an interesting way that is easily understood by the reader. My favorite stories are about people and events that touch the hearts and minds of my readers."

Bob Jordan was awarded the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation’s 2014 Brigadier General Robert Debs Heinl Jr. Award in April 2014 for excellence in writing on Marine Corps history for his article, Urgent Fury -- Grenada, 30 Years Later: a Squad Leader's Story, in the October 2013 issue of Leatherneck magazine.

Jordan, a native of Lexington, KY, is an award-winning writer, photographer, artist and broadcaster with a successful history of increasing management responsibilities, including public affairs and investor relations executive; radio/TV station manager; chief operating officer; editorial director and group publisher for trade magazines, seminars and trade shows; and president of a financial industry publishing company.

Jordan is an expert in mass communications and strategic planning. He is president of Exeter Communications LLC in Longwood, Florida, and is the former editor-at-large for the Homeland Defense Journal. He is also a consultant, freelance writer, meeting planner, and a PR/IR and business consultant and adjunct professor who has taught Managerial Communications, and Global and Domestic Security Management at the Keller Graduate School of Management. He completed a contract with Englity Corporation of 7 years and 3 months as a senior faculty instructor in the Public Affairs Leadership Department, Defense Information School, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland,July 31,2014.

Jordan has also served as a terrorism analyst for Channel 2, WESH-TV in Orlando, FL, and appears occasionally on network news and information programs such as CNN, C-SPAN, Histories Mysteries, and PRN radio. Jordan published TERROR--Is America Safe? with co-author, Don Philpott, in August 2006. (Revised version being re-published December 2009)

Jordan enlisted in the U. S. Marine Corps November 14, 1954, initially serving in the infantry as a weapons expert and hand-to-hand combat instructor. He served during the Suez crisis of 1956 as a browning automatic rifleman, as an intelligence scout and observer, and as a squad leader.

While serving as an illustrator with Marine Corps Public Affairs Office of the 1st Marine Corps District in Garden City, NY, Jordan began to expand his expertise into radio, photography and journalism. In 1968 he attended the Combat Correspondents Orientation Course at Camp Pendleton prior to being assigned as a press escort and combat correspondent in I Corps of the Republic of Vietnam. For his service in Vietnam, Jordan was awarded the Bronze Star with combat "V", the Air Medal with two strike/flight awards, the Combat Action Ribbon and Combat Aircrew Wings, in addition to numerous campaign and service awards. He also was awarded two distinguished performance awards for radio documentary reports by the U. S. Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Assn. (USMCCCA).

In 1970 Jordan became one of two Marines selected to attend the Navy Photojournalism Course at Syracuse University. There he graduated first in a class of 15. In 1972, GySgt Jordan was selected for the LDO program and promoted to second lieutenant.

As a lieutenant, he prepared the planning for all PAO and photo support for NATO exercise Deep Furrow '74. The next year he became the assistant station manager for AFRTS Okinawa, where he was required to convert that unit from black and white to color television programming in two weeks without going off the air. Captain Jordan later became the station commander. For his service there he was awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal and the Gold Mike Award.

Captain Jordan then saw service at Division of Information at HQMC, where he was part of the planning teams that welcomed Sgt Ken Kraus home as the first returning Iranian hostage and later, the return of North Vietnamese POW Pfc Bobby Garwood. He assisted William Manchester with his book Goodbye Darkness.

In 1978, Jordan became the PAO for MCAS Beaufort, SC. There he handled sensitive issues associated with air crashes, Hurricane David, and organized the military premiere for The Great Santini. For his service there he was presented the Navy Achievement Medal.

In 1982, Major Jordan was assigned to 6th MCD in Atlanta, GA. He and his staff initiated an aggressive PANCO program, pursued an active community relations program, and generated over $2 million in documented PSAs. A series of TV recruiting spots that were written, directed and narrated by Major Jordan were selected for national distribution.

In August of 1983, Jordan was sent on temporary duty to Beirut, Lebanon, to serve as DoD and Marine Corps spokesman. As the director of the Joint Public Affairs Bureau, Jordan received international exposure as the hostile factions surrounding their positions at the Beirut International Airport increasingly targeted the besieged Marines.

On October 23, 1983, a suicide truck bomber leveled the 1st Battalion, 8th Marines headquarters, killing 241 servicemen instantly. It was Jordan's sad duty to report these deaths and to answer the queries of a 350-person press corps that was shining the light of publicity on 1000 Marines. He appeared on 20/20...on Nightline...on Frontline...on CNN reports and was the subject of a Bill Moyers special report. He was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal and the USMCCCA's special DPA award for his service there.

After returning from Beirut in December 1983, Jordan accepted speaking engagements around the country explaining what he witnessed there. One of his final contributions was to provide input to the DoD study on guidelines for handling terrorist activities. He decided to retire in April 1984 to pursue a career in magazine publishing. He was an associate editor for Leatherneck, managing editor for Sea Power, editor of TechTrends International, COO for WMP Enterprises, editorial director and group publisher for ST Publications, executive editor and association director for ProTech Communications, and then the president for Gulf/Atlantic Publishing.

From January 2000 until March 2001, Jordan was president of Market Development Consulting Group Inc. - a communications company specializing in investor and public relations. He later served as the Human Resources Manager for Addison Products Company in Orlando, FL, from August 2001 through June 2003 and served for one year on Addison's Board of Directors.

Jordan's writing credits include Cosmetics Fair, Flying Tiger magazine, Police Magazine, PizzaToday, Entertainment Revue, MoneyWorld, Naval History magazine, Leatherneck magazine, The Marine Corps Gazette, Signs of the Times, Screen Printing magazine, Defense Electronics, Defense World, Visual Merchandising and Store Design (VM&SD), and various newspapers including the Atlanta Journal and Constitution. He's been a contributing author for The American War Machine, edited a how-to manual on doing business with the U. S. Government and authored How to Start Your Own Garment Graphics Business.

Along the way Jordan completed a BS degree in Business Management and Communications with the University of Maryland at College Park, and graduated with an MBA magna cum laude from Orlando College (now Everest University. He also earned a graduate certification in eLearning Leadership, Research and Technology from UMUC in January 2012.

(Revised: July 10, 2014)