Our Team

LtGen Lawrence “Larry” Nicholson (USMC, Ret.) retired after 39 years of active-duty service to the United States in October of 2018 as the Commanding General of III Marine Expeditionary Force in Japan. He was born in Toronto, Canada, and commissioned after graduating from The Citadel, in Charleston, SC in 1979. From 1980 to 1990, he served as an Infantryman in the First Marine Division, and as a Series and Company Commander at MCRD San Diego. From 1990 to 1993, he served at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Additionally, he has served as a United Nations Observer in the Middle East from 1994 to 1995, at NATO HQ in Brussels, Belgium from 2002 to 2004, as the Commander of the Warlords of 2nd Battalion 2nd Marines from 1999 to 2001, and as the Senior Military Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense in the Pentagon from 2010 to 2012. LtGen Nicholson earned a master’s degree from the United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, KS, and is a 2002 graduate of the NATO Defense College in Rome, Italy.

Multiple combat tours include service as the G-3 (Operations) of the 1st Marine Division in Ramadi, Iraq from 2004 to 2005, and as the Commander of the 5th Marine Regiment in Fallujah, Iraq from 2006 to 2007. He commanded Task Force Leatherneck and the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade in Helmand Province Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010. He later returned to Afghanistan in 2012 as the CJ-3 Operations Officer for the ISAF Joint Command (IJC). LtGen Nicholson commanded the famed 1st Marine (Blue Diamond) Division at Camp Pendleton California from 2013 to 2015.

Today, LtGen Nicholson serves as a Vice President for Execution and Leadership for the H.T. Hackney Company in Knoxville, TN. Additionally, he serves as the Chairman of the Board at Still Serving, Inc., serves as a member of the Asia Pacific Institute’s Military Statesman’s Forum, and sits on the advisory boards for Team Afghan Power, the Spirit of America, and Disabled Sports Eastern Sierras.