CAPT Andrew Ledford, USN, Ph.D.

Senior LEL PMP

•  Phone: (410) 293-3128
•  E-mail: ledford@usna.edu
•   Department of Leadership, Ethics, Law, Luce Hall (Mail Stop 7-B) 112 Cooper Road Annapolis, MD 21402-5022

Captain Ledford is a Permanent Military Professor of leadership in the Department of Leadership, Ethics, and Law at the United States Naval Academy. He is also the senior Permanent Military Professor for the LEAD Division. He teaches the Naval Leadership course NL310 and offers several electives entitled: Code of the Warrior, Human Factors of Combat, and Psychology of Happiness. 

Additionally, he is the Director of the Adaptive Rapid Engagement Squadron (ARES) - a team that creates and integrates new techniques, tactics and procedures relating to the adoption of new technology such as drones and electronic warfare in modern combat scenarios.  He also serves as a member of the Naval Academy’s Institutional Review Board as well as leads a team of scholars for NATO’s Partnership for Peace Consortium for reference curriculum on Leadership in Emerging and Disruptive Technologies.  

Captain Ledford graduated from Princeton University with a Ph.D. in Sociology. His research is focused on resilience, grit, hardiness, and mindfulness, with publications in academic psychology, medical, and leadership journals. He has a recent book, Saltwater Leadership, co-authored with VADM Mustin, RADM Wray, and RDML LeClair. 

He received his Master’s Degree in International Relations from the Naval War College with a focus on Irregular Warfare and was the honor graduate of the senior class in 2010. He is a 1995 graduate of the Naval Academy with a bachelor’s degree in Ocean Engineering. 

Captain Ledford's hobbies include surfing, paddleboarding, and dog training.  Captain Ledford has decades of dog handling and training experience from game size dogs to larger canines.

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