M6 Leadership Spotlight: Greg Bendewald

This week’s leadership spotlight is with Greg Bendewald. As a Senior Program Manager at the Irregular Warfare Center (IWC), Greg leads a team of over 40 contractors who support the IWC. Greg proudly served in the U.S. Army, spending several decades with Special Forces Special Operations. 

Tell us about your background and your role at M6.

My background…where do I start? I spent several decades in the U.S. Army. Most of that time was spent with the Special Forces. I’ve been with M6 for nearly two years, and I’m currently serving as a Senior Program Manager for Morgan 6 at the IWC. I lead a team that has approximately 40 contractors supporting the IWC – 12 are M6 employees and the rest are from one of our subcontractors. 

When we first started out with the IWC, our support looked a lot different than it does now. We have three senior M6 people supporting the IWC from the regional perspectives: Sandor Fabian, who is running the EUCOM and the AFRICOM portfolios; Mark Grzegorzewski, who is running the CENTCOM and the SOUTHCOM portfolios; and, then we have Josh Hastey, who’s running the INDOPACOM portfolio. 

The team also has other duties and responsibilities such as publications and taking on the publication of PRISM: The Journal of Complex Operations. PRISM has been around for several decades, and it’s a preeminent Department of Defense journal. We’ve co-published two journals with the previous Editor-in-Chief, and then we’ll be moving forward publishing our first one in the coming months.

How do you resonate with M6’s core values?

The core values that M6 brings are a lot of the similar ones that I grew up with in the Department of Defense. So, it’s easy for me to resonate with them from the warrior ethos standpoint. The other thing I like about M6 is they have a very tight knit group there, and I think everyone feels really comfortable working with them. You really feel like you’re part of the company, and not just receiving a paycheck or being a number like at a bigger company.

What’s been your most rewarding experience at the company so far?

I like doing start-up type work. We were able to help shape what the Irregular Warfare Center was going to look like, and then also contribute toward the reorganization of what it will look like going forward. That’s the sort of thing that I find the most rewarding. It’s a very dynamic and fast-paced type of operation.  

Also, both of my boys happen to be members of the Department of Defense, so anything I can continue to do to sort of mentor that next generation is something that I enjoy doing. I can do that at M6.

How are you finding working remotely is going?

I think it does present a lot of challenges, among them being keeping people informed and keeping people on the same page. It’s going probably a little bit better than I thought it would go. Part of the reason is that we do have several touch points throughout the year, so we’re able to bring people together. 

For example, in September we hosted the Irregular Warfare Center, the Post 9/11 Lessons Learned Conference at the U.S. Naval Academy. It was a very successful conference and we brought about half of the team together. We also had about a quarter of the team gather for a colloquium seminar that took place in Crystal City, followed by an Intel Conference. In December we’ll have the TILT-C, so there are lots of opportunities for the team to come together. 

So, those touch points are helpful. If it’s purely remote, I think it would be a lot more difficult, but it’s nice to have those opportunities where people can say, ‘Oh, okay, I know you now,’ and they can actually have real conversations and get to know each other over lunch and whatnot.

Is there a recent project that you’ve worked on that you’d like to share, along with the impact that it had?

Getting PRISM launched is probably going to be the biggest and the most rewarding thing for this contract period. Getting that journal over to the IWC was a huge endeavor. Michael Miklaucic is going to stay on as the Editor-in-Chief, Emeritus and three of our PHDs will be co-editors-in-chief;  Josh Hastey, and Sandor Fabian, and Kevin Stringer, who is with Valens Global. It’s a robust team supported by several folks in graphic design, editing and online support all coming together to produce a world class journal. 

The publication goes out to several thousand people globally – to Americans and to foreign nations as well. We’ll send journals to all the war colleges and to the major universities like West Point, the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy, etc., and a lot of senior leaders that retire also receive copies of it. It’s a great way for us to influence a much broader network, and keep things going with our allies and partners as well.

Are there any changes PRISM readers should expect?

There are some people who really want to have that paper copy in hand, you know. There has been a bit of resistance to going digital, but we’re thinking of trying to take it that way as much as possible. But we’re also cognizant of the fact that we have a lot of senior leaders who are still going to prefer to have that paper copy and the nice, glossy pictures that they can comb through. 

With that in mind, one of the things that we’re doing is notifying everyone who receives the journal currently through the mail. We’re going to put together a little postcard sharing with them that the IWC is going to be taking the publication over and also give them the optionality to receive the journal digitally in the future. If we can get even 25% of subscribers to opt in digitally, that would be a success for us. 

Rapid Fire Questions

What’s the best title you’ve ever had, personal or professional?

Dad

What’s the best location you were stationed or a place you’d want to be stationed if you had the choice? 

Okinawa, Japan, serving as a combat diver for Special Forces. It’s one of the most beautiful places to dive in the world.

What can we find you doing in your free time?

I try to stay fit and active. You know, later this afternoon, I’ll be out there hitting the pickleball around. Hopefully, I’ll get back to rock climbing in another month or so, once my shoulder heals up.

Are there any books or movies that you’ve watched or read lately that you want to tell people about? 

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare with Henry Cavill kept me captivated recently while traveling for the IWC.

Who would you like to have dinner with or be stuck on a desert island with?

I’d have dinner with Elon Musk, but I’d be afraid to be stuck on a desert island with that guy.