Navy veteran William 'Bill' Becker channels deep-sea service to steer students forward
Becker is merging military experience, student mentorship, and cutting‑edge research for leadership development.
In the 1990s, a nuclear submarine manned by 100 people sat hundreds of feet below the ice caps of the Arctic in international waters.
On that submarine, for 90 days at a time, was William “Bill” Becker, a Navy junior officer in his early 20s who was responsible for leading 30 enlisted sailors as well as directing the movements of the submarine as officer of the deck.
Now, Becker is a professor of management in the Pamplin College of Business’ MBA program at Virginia Tech where he is using his military experience, including the lessons learned from his sailors, to shape his research and the academic success of his students.
“My views on leadership were shaped significantly by my experience in the military,” said Becker. “I share with my students that leadership these days is really finding what fits your style and taking care of your people first, rather than worrying about yourself.”
For seven years, Becker was stationed in Groton, Connecticut, during the end of the Cold War, where he was in charge of the electrical equipment on two nuclear submarines.
“As an officer, we needed to know and learn everything about the ship. My main area was electrical equipment, but we had to know about navigation, intelligence, weapons, communication systems, and much more,” he said. “At that point, I felt like I had the most responsibility I ever had in my life at age 23.”
After leaving active duty as a lieutenant, Becker continued to serve his country in the U.S. Navy Reserves, from which he retired in 2017 as a commander. After the reserves, Becker spent a few years in industry as an engineer before transitioning to academia.
He started as a high school teacher in 2000 before joining Texas Christian University as an assistant professor in 2010 after completing his Ph.D. In 2016, he moved to Virginia Tech as an associate professor, later becoming a professor in 2022.
Becker teaches graduate courses on leadership, negotiation, and organizational behavior. One of the key lessons he teaches his students is the importance of knowing yourself, your triggers, your blindspots, and your strengths and how to find ways to make yourself a more effective leader. He also helps students, especially veterans, understand their traumas and how they can grow as leaders.
“One of the great things about our MBA program is that it can be an evening program, which is conducive for military veterans. We have a lot of veteran students who have experiences from Afghanistan and Iraq,” said Becker. “I’m really happy when they feel comfortable to come talk to me because building a community both as veterans and as part of the MBA program is really important in shaping their leadership skills and their success.”
Outside of his teaching responsibilities, he is conducting research on emotions in organizations and leadership as they relate to organizational behavior. One of his current research projects is in partnership with Ph.D. students to study generativity, which is how people try to further the next generation of employees, including how organizations support themselves internally.
For Becker, generativity is also a topic that hits home for his Navy family. Currently, his son is serving on a nuclear submarine and holds a similar rank to what Becker held during his service as a lieutenant junior grade. In addition to his son, his younger sister retired as a commander, and his younger brother also served on submarines and is currently a lieutenant commander in the reserves.
