General Colin L. Powell, US Army (Ret.), was commissioned as an Army second lieutenant upon graduating from college in 1958, and went on to serve in the United States Army for 35 years, rising to the rank of four-star general. Powell was President Ronald Reagan’s National Security Advisor, chaired the Joint Chiefs of Staff for both President George H.W. Bush and President Bill Clinton, and was the 65th Secretary of State. He has received the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart, two Presidential Medals of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal, a French Legion of Honor award, and an honorary knighthood bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II. Powell is a strategic adviser at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a director of Bloom Energy and Salesforce.com., on the museum council of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, and on the Council on Foreign Relations.