User:Ltshepherd

Leland Tony Shepherd born Dec 4, 1967 is a US Army Officer/Colonel and the current Commander of the 233rd Regiment in the United States, Arkansas Army National Guard. Shepherd was born in British Guyana and immigrated with his parents and siblings in 1988, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During his military career, Shepherd also served as a Battalion Commander for 2/233rd BN, Executive Officer for 39th BTSB and Deputy J6 in the State of Arkansas. Shepherd served in two tours to Iraq with 39th Infantry Brigade, 2004-2005 and 2007- 2008, serving as the S6 in both deployments. Shepherd is currently a Vice President of Operations at PODS Enterprise, LLC for the Western United States. He served as the CEO of Choice Communications in U.S Virgin Islands from 2010 - 2016.

Shepherd was born in New Amsterdam, Guyana on the northeastern coast of South America and was raised in Kitty, a town in the capital city of Georgetown. His parents, George and Gwendoline Shepherd, immigrated to the United States to Philadelphia from Guyana, in 1988 and were both educators in Guyana. George Shepherd served as a High School Principal and Gwendoline served as Home Economics teacher. His father is deceased and his mother Gwendoline is currently a Registered Nurse (RN) in Roslyn, PA. Shepherd’s early and high school education were in Guyana. Shortly after immigrating, he earned an Associate’s degree from Montgomery Community College in Electronic Engineering, and joined the Army as an X- Ray Technician and subsequently moved to Little Rock Arkansas. In Arkansas he continued higher education, where he earned a Bachelor's degree in Organizational/Business Management from Philander Smith College. He joined the Arkansas Army National Guard in Oct 1994 and entered into Officer Candidate School (OCS) in 1997 and received a commission as an Army second Lieutenant in Aug 1998. His further academic achievements include a Master of Arts degree- Information Technology (IT) Management from Webster University, A Master of Arts degree from the prestigious Army War College – Military Strategic Leadership and he earned a Doctorates degree from the University of Charleston, in Executive Leadership.

Shepherd is the recipient of numerous U.S. military awards and decorations, to include a bronze star for his work in Iraq in 2004. He was awarded the prestigious Order of Mercury, Bronze in 2017; The award represents the highest standards of integrity, moral character, professional competence and selflessness, for those who have contributed significantly to the Army Signal Corps. Shepherd resides in Los Angeles, CA and is married to Zandral Shepherd of Little Rock, Arkansas. The Shepherd family includes sons; Anthony, Ryan, Wells and Lukas and daughter Logan.