As Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Gard also acts as a consultant, specializing in education, international security issues, and national security and defense policy. He serves as a board member and military advisor to the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, an international humanitarian and advocacy organization, the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation, and the Bulletin. He chairs the board of directors of the Development Engineering Research Institute. He also is a member of the board of governors of the APEC Education Foundation and the board of trustees of the Chapman Foundation that supports K-12 educational institutions.

Dr. Gard is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the International Institute of Strategic Studies and the Pacific Council on International Policy. From 1987 to 1998, he served as president of the Monterey Institute of International Studies. During his tenure, student enrollment increased 61%, faculty 120%, and the physical plant and endowment each grew three times larger. For the previous five years, he was director of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies Center in Bologna, Italy, following an appointment as Visiting Professor of International Relations at the American University in Paris.

Dr. Gard served in the US Army from 1950 to 1981, when he retired as a lieutenant general. His assignments included combat tours in Korea and Vietnam; Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs; Military (Executive) Assistant to the Secretary of Defense; Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations; Director of Human Resources Development; Commanding General, Fort Ord & 7th Infantry Division; and president, National Defense University. A graduate of the US Military Academy, Dr. Gard earned a Masters in Public Administration and a PhD in Political Economy and Government, both from Harvard University. He has published chapters for books and numerous articles and op ed essays.