Co-Writer for Get Back Up
Former Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force
General (retired) David Goldfein served a 37-year career as a pilot in the United States Air Force (USAF), where he commanded at every level and finished his career as the 21st Chief of Staff of the Air Force. During his time as Chief, General Goldfein developed and championed the Department of Defense’s signature joint warfighting initiative, Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2). Central to his vision was the creation of the Department’s first Information Warfare Command, which brought together the capabilities of Cyber, Intelligence, Electronic Warfare, and Information Operations. He also led the largest overhaul of the officer development and promotion system in the Air Force in over thirty years.
Goldfein held numerous command positions, notably the deployed Air Component Commander for US Central Command from 2011-2013, where he directed all air and space operations across 20 countries spanning the broader Middle East. He successfully envisioned and built the first-ever Gulf Air Operations Center, with representation from all six Gulf Cooperation Council countries inside his headquarters. He was also the 49th Fighter Wing Commander where he was the final operational Pilot trained in the F-117 and led the retirement of the aircraft.
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Goldfein currently serves as a Senior Advisor for Blackstone Investment Group, where he helps senior Blackstone leaders formulate and execute optimal courses of action based on an informed global risk assessment. In this role, he is Chairman of the Board of Draken International LLC, a Blackstone-owned company focused on US and
foreign military training.
Dave is also Chairman of the Board for Google Public Sector, a subsidiary of Google focused on bringing Google Cloud technology to solve complex problems for government. And he serves as Chairman of the Board of the USO, the nation’s leading support organization for taking care of deployed troops and their families.
Goldfein has been named a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institute and a Senior Fellow at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, where he maintains a focus on their Air and Space portfolios.
He received his commission from the US Air Force Academy in 1983, with a degree in Philosophy and later earned a master’s degree in business administration from Oklahoma City University. In 2022, Dave was selected as a Distinguished Graduate of the USAF Academy, one of only 55 since the first class graduated in 1959. He is a graduate of the prestigious Air Force Weapons Instructor Course and the Department of
State’s Senior Seminar program as a National Defense Fellow.
Dave’s greatest achievement by far is marrying his high school sweetheart, Dawn. They have been married for 42+ years and are the proud parents of two wonderful Texas Aggie daughters, Danielle and Diana, who married their college sweethearts, Reece and Cameron. Their favorite callsigns are now “Papa and Nana” to their five brilliant grandchildren, Ava, Rae, Miles, Ruby, and Remi.
Get Back Up: Lessons in Servant Leadership
Get Back Up: Lessons in Servant Leadership is a collection of stories illustrating leadership principles from two trailblazing United States Air Force Academy graduates who became Chief of Staff and Secretary of the Air Force — General (Ret.) Dave Goldfein and Dr. Heather Wilson. While the book is most relevant for young military officers, its lessons in leadership are universal.
The book begins with Heather and Dave recounting their paths to the Academy, in the same class of cadets. Heather’s decision to apply was shaped by the influence of her grandfather, a pioneering aviator. Dave’s decision was shaped by his father, a career fighter pilot and Vietnam veteran, following an initial academy rejection that almost resulted in a completely different path.
From there, the book unfolds through 14 chapters that cover leadership lessons learned through life experience. Dave tells the story of being shot down and rescued over Serbia, and Heather served in Congress during 9/11. Some of the most compelling stories were of their service together in the Pentagon under Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis.
[Gen David Goldfein (retired) and Dr. Heather Wilson / 2025 / --- pages / ISBN --- / AU Press Code: B-190 / Format: Print & Electronic]