Pittsburgh Post October Luncheon

Major General Mari K. Eder, retired, military leader and bestselling author is a W. Pennsylvania native.  She retired from the U.S. Army in May 2013 with 36 years of dedicated service to the nation. Maj. Gen Eder commanded at every level in the Army, from platoon through division level. She was selected for progressively challenging positions culminating in several executive leadership assignments at the highest levels. Her last assignment was as the first Commanding General of the U.S. Army Reserve Joint and Special Troops Support Command, in Salt Lake City, UT. She previously served as the first full-time Deputy Chief of the Army Reserve.

Maj Gen. Eder has an established scholarship, research, and publishing record. Her book, Leading the Narrative: The Case for Strategic Communication, is used in a number of university communications courses. She is the author of numerous case studies, book chapters, articles on ethics, leadership, strategic communications, and two books of children’s stories. Her current series of essays, “The Information Apocalypse,” is published online by the U.S. Army War College. Her inspirational book, The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line, was published in 2021 and was recognized in 2022 by the Library of Virginia with their People’s Choice Author of the Year Award.  The second book in the series, The Girls Who Fought Crime, was published in 2023. In 2023, she received the National Trust for Historic Preservation/ Historic Hotels of America Historian of the Year award.  Major General Mari K. Eder has been chosen to be featured in the 2026 edition of the Women’s Voices…Hear Them Speak Calendar©, a Pennsylvania Women’s Hall of Achievement project—a nonprofit organization dedicated to highlighting the accomplishments of Pennsylvania women since 2012.   A third volume, The Girls Who Beat the Odds, is set for publication in January 2026. 

A Pennsylvania native, Maj. Gen. Eder grew up in Stoneboro, PA, graduating from Lakeview High School. She earned a bachelor’s degree (Cum Laude, with honors) and a master’s degree in English from Edinboro University (now Penn West) and a Master of Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, PA. She is also a graduate of the advanced program in mass communications at the University of South Carolina and completed the Training with Industry Fellowship Program with Fleishman-Hilliard Public Relations in Washington, DC. Additionally, she is a graduate of senior executive and leadership programs at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan Flagler School of Business, the National Defense University, the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and Georgetown University. She received a Doctor of Humane Letters from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in 2014.