Officers

Board Members

Officers of the MacArthur Society of West Point Graduates

Bill Prince, '70, President

Colonel (Retired) Bill Prince received his commission in the Infantry from West Point, Class of 1970. He served in Vietnam with both Ranger and Special Forces units. In 1978, he resigned his Regular Army commission to accept a position with the Central Intelligence Agency, subsequently receiving one of the CIA’s highest awards for valor; for extraordinary heroism in the face of hostile, armed opposition. He maintained a commission in the Army Reserve branch transferring to Special Forces. His experience in hostile areas includes: El Salvador, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Colombia and Pakistan with 11 deployments between Afghanistan and Iraq. He holds a Masters Degree from Harvard University with a focus on international relations.

Sam Thiessen, '73, Vice President

Col Sam Thiessen, USA (Ret.) is a 1973 graduate of the United States Military Academy (West Point). He is actively involved in the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) and served as Seventh Region President from 2014 to 2020. He is currently CEO at Ag Bio-Power, LC, and is a part-time analyst with the Northrup Grumman Corporation.

Scott Shires, '74, Treasurer/CFO

Scott is a 1974 graduate from West Point. While serving in the Army Scott became a Ranger, served as company commander in numerous posts, and an was aide-de-camp for a one star and three-star general. His leadership and teaching skills were recognized in his selection as the Director of Enlisted Courses for Colorado and Wyoming. Scott retired after 22 years of service as a Lieutenant Colonel. As the founder of Shires Financial, Scott has over 25 years of experience in providing investment advisory advice and comprehensive financial analysis for individuals and small businesses. His career has demonstrated outstanding management ability, especially in the area of operations, strategic planning, information and financial systems. Mr. Shires has represented numerous clients over the years in negotiations with government entities, including the EPA and the IRS. He is skilled at building effective and cohesive management teams, producing above average growth and profitability. He brings his leadership, team-building, and strategic skills to enhance the planning and implementation of strategies for the clients of Shires Financial.

Matthew Newgent, '96, Legislative Affairs

Matthew Newgent comes from a family of many military veterans. His father was an Army officer and served in Vietnam, where he was decorated with three Bronze Stars, the Purple Heart, and the Silver Star before eventually retiring. Matt has four brothers who have served in the Army, Navy, or Marines. Matt’s own path toward his service to our nation began as a student ambassador to the former Soviet Union while still in high school. After graduation, he enlisted in the Army during the Cold War as a linguist in Military Intelligence. Matt’s commitment to excellence soon opened the door to an appointment to the United States Military Academy, at West Point, NY, where he majored in Russian and minored in systems engineering. While at West Point, Matt took his second trip to the former Soviet Union. During his trip, Matt saw firsthand how Russia was enjoying some of the benefits of having turned away from communism and was embracing additional freedoms that more closely resembled a free market. Upon graduating from West Point in 1996, Matt was commissioned into the Army Corps of Engineers, became Airborne and Sapper qualified, and earned the coveted Ranger tab. Eventually, Matt lived one of his life-long dreams--being an Airborne Ranger in an airborne combat engineer unit at Ft. Bragg, NC. After being honorably discharged from the Army, Matt worked in professional medical sales for many successful years, and then began his journey as an entrepreneur. He co-founded a medical marketing start-up and later started a service-disabled veteran owned small business providing teleradiology and laboratory services to the government. In 2020, Matt teamed up with two fellow-West Point alum to create a podcast to educate Americans on the need to restore constitutional governance and preserve it for our descendants. After witnessing communism creep into American society, they realized they also needed to fight economically, so they created a company in the Parallel Economy to push back on Big Tech and Big Business.

Bill Fletcher, '74, Legal Advisor

Bill Fletcher is a 1974 graduate of West Point. Growing up an Air Force brat, having been born on Chateauroux Air Force Base in France, he joined the US Air Force after graduating. He became a pilot and has 1,750 hours flying the F-4 fighter. He served as the Executive Officer in IG office of the 116th Tactical Fighter Wing in the Georgia Air National Guard, retiring as a Lt. Colonel. Bill earned his law degree in 1986 from Emory University and has 37 years general civil practice (retired but license still active). He is licensed and practiced in all courts in Georgia including Georgia Court of Appeals, Georgia Supreme Court, Federal District Court Northern and Middle Districts of Georgia, 11th Circuit US Court of Appeals and the Federal District Court Colorado.