About Us
The Leader's Challenge About Us
The Leader's Challenge is led by Don Jenkins, JD Messinger and Gibson Armstrong
Don Jenkins
Don was commissioned a nuclear submarine officer following graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy. Leaving the Navy, he became a Nuclear Regulatory Commission reactor inspector. He went on to apply engineering, design and leadership principles at Hewlett-Packard and IBM.
Don then built and ran eight different businesses. He has decades of experience aligning leaders and their teams in the military, startups, operations, executive management, engineering and international consulting. Don is Managing Partner of Leaders Advantage, a consultancy which specializes in personalizing leadership development and enterprise alignment. He is active in his church and married to his wife Dr. Teresa Jenkins of 46 years. They have two adult children.
J.D. Messinger
JD graduated the U.S. Naval Academy to become a nuclear submarine officer. On leaving the Navy he joined Exxon where he led the Exxon Valdez oil spill cleanup. He then became the CEO of EY Asia where he managed the Exxon-Mobil merger and led eight corporate turnarounds. A near-death experience in 2000 led him to found The Messinger Institute to promote human potential and train heart-centered leaders. JD created, produced, and hosted the world's first entrepreneur TV show and a CNN radio show broadcast in 100+ countries. His 11 Days in May was a multi-award-winning Amazon best-seller. More recently he created an award-winning interactive multi-media eBook.
His clients over the years include Royal Dutch Shell, Phillips Petroleum, Exxon Mobil, and Wal-Mart. He lives in Dallas, Texas, has been married to Marianne for over 38 years. They have three adult children.
Gibson Armstrong
Hon. Gibson Armstrong graduated the U.S. Naval Academy to become a Marine artillery officer, where he led combat patrols in Somalia, and stood up and ran a global airborne rapid reaction combat unit. On leaving the Marines, Gibson became a Pennsylvania State Representative, serving on the Appropriations Committee.
He then joined an energy startup's senior executive leadership team, helping to grow the company till it was sold to American Electric Power (AEP). After AEP, Gibson oversaw corporate engagement at Temple University. Most recently, he served as a Bank of America vice president. Gibson lives in Annapolis, Maryland, where he is president of his Naval Academy class and mentors young naval officers.
